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Smart News / Smart News Science

On the shores of Pechevalavato Lake in Russia's Yamalo-Nenets region, people dig for more pieces of a mammoth skeleton first found by reindeer herders.

Cool Finds

Woolly Mammoth Skeleton With Intact Ligaments Found in Siberian Lake

Part of the extinct animal’s foot was recovered from the water with well-preserved, millennia-old soft tissue

New research suggests a genetic mutation some humans inherited from Neanderthals may make them more sensitive to pain than their peers.

New Research

Neanderthals May Have Been More Sensitive to Pain Than Most Humans

Modern humans with this Neanderthal-inherited gene report 7 percent more pain than other people

An 18th-century engraving depicting cross sections of a ship used to transport enslaved people from Africa to the Americas and the Caribbean

New Research Reveals the Transatlantic Slave Trade’s Genetic Legacy

Scientists investigated whether genetic data collected from 50,000 volunteers lined up with historical shipping manifests

A white tip reef shark swims above the reef near the Gambier Islands, French Polynesia in 2018

Reef Sharks Are in Serious Danger of Extinction

Researchers found that the sharks are ‘functionally extinct’ in 20 percent of coral reefs surveyed

New research posits that Johannes Vermeer painted View of Delft in September 1659 or 1658.

Art Meets Science

Astronomy Offers Fresh Look at Vermeer’s ‘View of Delft’

Analysis of sunlight and shadows suggests the Dutch masterpiece portrays the city around 8 a.m. in early September 1659 or 1658

Mathematically speaking, the honeycombs grow like crystals.

New Research

Scientists Crack the Mathematical Mystery of Stingless Bees’ Spiral Honeycombs

The waxy architectural wonders seem to grow like crystals

The Crocodylus checchiai skull analyzed in the new paper came from an approximately 10-foot-long reptile.

New Research

New Evidence Suggests Ancient Crocodiles Swam From Africa to America

The prehistoric reptiles would have gotten some help from ocean currents

A terrier fitted with GPS remote tracking device and camera

How Do Dogs Find Their Way Home? They Might Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field

Our canine companions aren’t the only animals that may be capable of magnetoreception

Release the Kraken!

The Legend, the History and the Science Behind Seattle’s New Hockey Team Name

NHL fans, meet the Seattle Kraken—named for a mythical beast that may have been inspired by the very real giant squid

Theodore Roosevelt stands with naturalist John Muir on Glacier Point, above Yosemite Valley, California, USA.

Sierra Club Grapples With Founder John Muir’s Racism

The organization calls out Muir’s racist statements and pledges to diversify leadership and deepen environmental justice initiatives

Curators at the Science and Industry Museum are unsure what purpose this object, crudely cast with a copper-based alloy, served.

Can You Help Identify This Museum’s Mystery Artifacts?

A Manchester-based science institution has a backlog of unusual objects in need of classification

Large homes in Maine, Wisconsin and Vermont, like this one, were found to have the largest carbon footprints due to use of heat in cold winters.

Rich Americans’ Homes Have 25% Larger Carbon Footprints Than Low-Income Households

The researchers calculated the carbon emissions of 93 million U.S. homes during the year 2015 and analyzed the results by income and location

An MTA worker in New York sprays disinfectant in a subway car in May.

Will Mass Transit Recover From the Pandemic?

Financial losses from low ridership and unexpectedly low sales tax revenue threaten the future of public transportation

All grizzly bears in the United States are considered "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act and cannot be hunted, a federal appeals court ruled this month.

Protections for Grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Area Upheld in Court

For over a decade, the protected status of grizzly bears under the Endangered Species Act has been under fire

Frans Snyders' Fruit Stall features a vast spread of produce from the 17th century.

Art Meets Science

Centuries-Old Paintings Help Researchers Track Food Evolution

Art inadvertently documents the domestication of carrots, wheat, watermelon and other culinary delights

A 3D model of Venus' surface featuring two coronae, which are ring-shaped geological structures associated with volcanic activity. Venus' volcanoes were once thought to be dormant but new research found that at least 37 coronae, including one named Aramaiti which is on the left in this image, are active volcanoes.

New Research

Researchers Discover What May Be 37 Active Volcanoes on Venus

Scientists had long assumed Venus’ volcanoes were dormant, but a new study suggests the inhospitable planet has 37 active volcanoes

NASA and the European Space Agency released the closest pictures of the sun ever taken last week.

See Our Sun’s Surface in Unprecedented Detail

NASA and the European Space Agency released the closest images ever taken of our sun

The top fish is a Russian sturgeon and the bottom is an American paddlefish. In between, two varieties of hybrid 'sturddlefish' created by accident.

New Research

Scientists Accidentally Bred a School of ‘Sturddlefish’

Researchers mixed paddlefish sperm with sturgeon eggs because the fish seemed too dissimilar to form a hybrid

Yosemite Valley seen from the Tunnel View lookout point in the Yosemite National Park, California on July 08, 2020. The park's sewage has now tested positive for the presence of the novel coronavirus, suggesting that some of its visitors over the Fourth of July weekend were infected.

Yosemite Sewage Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Test results suggest there were dozens of visitors carrying the novel coronavirus in the park over the Fourth of July weekend

A farmer distributes lime over a field in the UK. A new climate solution would use a similar technique to spread rock dust.

Rock Dust Could Be Farming’s Next Climate Solution

The process, called enhanced weathering, could remove 2 billion tons of CO2 from the air while fertilizing soil

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