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Smart News / Smart News Science

The view from Dome A during daylight hours is shown here. At night, this spot might offer the best stargazing in the world, scientists say.

This Might Be the Best Stargazing Spot on Earth, According to Scientists

A frigid hill near Antarctica’s South Pole has all the qualifications to be a superior telescope site, researchers say

A wild bumble bee seen pollinating a blueberry bush.

New Research

Wild Bees Are Worth $1.5 Billion for Six U.S. Crops

Study also finds that crop yields are often limited by a lack of pollinators

A hypothetical escape route for Regimbartia attenuata

When This Beetle Gets Eaten by a Frog, It Heads for the ‘Back Door’

New research details how this Japanese water beetle travels through the bowels of its predator to emerge out the other end, alive and unharmed

Two packages of unidentified seeds that arrived, unsolicited in the mailboxes of Washington State residents. Packaging appeared to indicate that the seeds originated in China.

Americans Plant Mysterious Seeds Despite Government Warnings

The USDA urges people not to plant unsolicited seeds they receive. Evidence suggests the packages are part of a scam designed to boost online sales

Jenni Cena, pest biologist and trapping supervisor from the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), checks a trap designed to catch Asian giant hornets on July 29, 2020.

Scientists Capture First Murder Hornet in Washington State

It’s a step in the direction of eliminating the invasive species, experts say

Newly discovered fossils indicate the Asio ecuadoriensis owl hunted and ate various smaller species of owl.

This Giant Prehistoric Owl Was an Actual Cannibal

Fossils found in the Ecuadorian Andes suggest the creature was a formidable predator

A plant press used by researchers in the Hengduan Mountains

How Ancient Monsoons and Tectonic Shifts Shaped This Flowering Mountain Hotspot

The stunning biodiversity of alpine plants in China’s Hengduan Mountains can be traced back 30 million years, according to a new study

A thick cloud of smoke floats up from the Notre-Dame Cathedral as it burns, on April 15, 2019.

Lead From Notre-Dame Fire Discovered in Parisian Beehives

The findings indicate that honey can provide important evidence of environmental pollution, scientists say

Two sociable weaver birds being recognized by a new artificial intelligence-powered software.

New Research

This A.I. Can Recognize Individual Birds of the Same Species

Humans can’t reliably tell birds of the same species apart, limiting our ability to study their behavior, but the new A.I. is 90 percent accurate

Bald's Leechbook, a tenth-century medical text that contains Anglo-Saxon medical advice and recipes for medicines, salves and treatments

This Medieval Potion Kills Stubborn Bacteria

“Bald’s eyesalve” is effective against numerous strains of bacteria—and could help treat diabetic foot and leg ulcers

The comparatively massive female anglerfish (Melanocetus johnsonii) with her tiny mate permanently fused to her belly.

New Research

Anglerfish Drop Their Immune Defenses to Find Love

Male anglerfish are major clingers. To avoid mistaking mates as foreign tissue, the deep sea couples lost part of their immune system in evolution

A vaccination kit from the American Civil War.

Civil War-Era Vaccination Kits Yield New Clues About History of Smallpox Vaccine

Researchers were able to sequence the genomes of five smallpox vaccines used by doctors in the 1860s

Bogs are perhaps best known for preserving prehistoric human remains. One of the most famous examples of these so-called "bog bodies" is Tollund Man.

New Research

Study Suggests Bones Preserved in Peat Bogs May Be at Risk

Per the paper, archaeologists need to act quickly to recover organic material trapped in the wetlands before specimens degrade

Side-by-side renderings of the marsupial saber-tooth Thylacosmilus atrox (left) and the saber-tooth cat Smilodon fatalis (right).

New Research

This Marsupial Sabertooth Was No Killer Cat

Long fangs caused many to assume Thylacosmilus was a slashing predator, but new research suggests it was a scavenger with a preference for leftovers

The huge sarsen stones that make up Stonehenge's outer ring weigh around 20 tons each and stand roughly 23 feet tall.

New Research

Archaeologists Pinpoint Origins of Stonehenge’s Mysterious Megaliths

A new study used chemical analysis to determine that the 20-ton boulders came from the West Woods, some 15 miles away

Via Getty: "With some at 4,700 years old, they are the oldest trees in the World."

Trees Live for Thousands of Years, but Can They Cheat Death? Not Quite

A new paper suggests that though humans may not notice, even the longest-lived trees are dying a little each day

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover onboard launches from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Thursday, July 30, 2020, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Here Are Three Things the Perseverence Rover Will Do When It Gets to Mars

NASA’s newest space robot will build on the goals of previous missions to find out whether life ever existed on the Red Planet

Three of the four units of the ESO's Very Large Telescope, in Chile's Atacama desert

See Two Giant Exoplanets Orbit a Distant Star in This Rare Image

Researchers used the Very Large Telescope in Chile to capture the image

Empathy goes further than shame when it comes to convincing people to change their behavior, according to public health experts.

Why ‘Pandemic Shaming’ Is Bad for Public Health

Empathy may go further than annoyance when encouraging people to change their risky behavior

Scientists have isolated the gene the makes the Australian fruit immune to a devastating disease plaguing American citrus.

New Research

How the Australian Finger Lime Could Save American Citrus

Scientists found the gene that makes finger limes impervious to a disease turning oranges green and bitter

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