Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

The reproductive structures of cycads, an ancient seed plant, heat up with infrared radiation to attract beetle pollinators, a new study suggests. 

Cool Finds

Before the First Brilliantly Colored Flowers Bloomed, Dinosaur-Era Plants Emitted Heat to Attract Pollinators

Some plants produce heat, which has long puzzled botanists. But a new study suggests that infrared radiation is an ancient method to lure beetle pollinators

Time passes by faster on Mars than on Earth.

How to Keep Time on Mars: Clocks on the Red Planet Would Tick a Bit Differently Than Those on Earth

On average, Martian time ticks roughly 477 millionths of a second faster than terrestrial clocks per Earth day. But the Red Planet’s elongated orbit causes the time difference to vary as Mars travels around the sun

Elihu Vedder's 19th-century painting "Star of Bethlehem"

The Bible’s Star of Bethlehem May Have Been a Comet, Analysis of Ancient Records Suggests

An odd star brightened for more than 70 days in 5 B.C.E., according to a Chinese text. The object may have been a comet that looked like it rose, then stood still over Bethlehem

The researchers based their conclusions on an intact ancient construction site found at Pompeii.

New Research

This Ancient Construction Site in the Ruins of Pompeii Is Revealing New Secrets About the 2,000-Year-Old Recipe for Roman Concrete

New research suggests the Romans used a method known as “hot mixing” to produce self-healing concrete, which allowed them to build structures that endured for centuries

Side view of NMNH's newly acquired Pachycephalosaurus skull, which is a rare, nearly complete specimen

Nearly Complete Skull of a Dome-Headed Dinosaur Makes Its Way to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

The remarkable skull will be on display from December 22 through December 28. After spending the next few years behind the scenes for research, it will join NMNH’s permanently showcased fossil collection

Spotted lanternflies have spread to nearly 20 states since 2014.

Bees Are Turning the Sticky-Sweet Secretions of Spotted Lanternflies Into Honey—and Some People Love the Smoky-Smelling Stuff

The invasive insects have been spreading across the United States for over a decade, leaving behind poop that bees are transforming into a less sweet, sometimes savory, honey

Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, which sits within the Milky Way

Astrophysicists Found an Abundance of Odd Elements Essential for Life in the Leftovers of an Exploded Star

The surprisingly high amounts of chlorine and potassium in a supernova remnant could help solve the mystery of where these crucial elements come from

A new study hints that Australia's first people arrived via a major northern route and a smaller southern route. 

Modern Humans Reached Australia Around 60,000 Years Ago via Two Routes, Genetic Analysis Suggests

The study bolsters one hypothesis of when people arrived at the landmass that became Australia and other islands, and presents some of the earliest evidence of seafaring

The Geminid meteor shower in 2017

The Year’s Best and Brightest Meteor Shower Peaks This Weekend. Here’s How to Watch the Radiant Geminids

A waning crescent moon should make for a fairly dark sky, allowing viewers to see up to 150 shooting stars per hour

Each strand of yarn traces the tracks that make up an ancient trackway.

This Site in Bolivia Boasts 16,600 Exposed Dinosaur Footprints—The Most Ever Found in One Location

Paleontologists counted the record-setting tracks and uncovered evidence of dinosaurs swimming and dragging their tails along what was a muddy superhighway for the animals millions of years ago

Excess weight can harm a cat's quality of life and exacerbate health conditions.

Can GLP-1s Help Fat Cats Lose Weight? The First Clinical Trial Testing the Drugs for Weight Loss in Felines Has Begun

San Francisco-based pharmaceutical company OKAVA is investigating an implant that slowly releases a GLP-1 medication for up to six months

Gas stoves are responsible for more than half of some Americans’ total exposure to toxic nitrogen dioxide, a new study suggests.

Gas Stoves Are Poisoning Americans by Releasing Toxic Fumes Associated With Asthma and Lung Cancer

In the United States, gas stoves are the main source of indoor nitrogen dioxide—a toxic gas tied to many health problems—according to a new study

"The Fall of Icarus" 

This Stunning Image Shows a Skydiver Falling Across the Face of the Sun. Here’s How the Team Captured the Mesmerizing Photo

Months of careful planning and calculations went into the shot. Then, the team had only one jump attempt to get it right

Two new studies involving thousands of participants examined how chatbots can influence political beliefs.

Can Chatting With an A.I. Bot Shift Our Political Beliefs?

New research suggests that chatbots have a greater sway on policy issues than video ads, and that spouting the most information—even if wrong—is the most persuasive strategy

The study inventoried thousands of mollusks, worms, crustaceans and other small marine creatures. 

Deep-Sea Mining Test in the Pacific Drastically Reduced Biodiversity and Animal Populations

The Metals Company wants to be the first firm to commercially mine the seafloor. The study it funded suggests that mining vehicles harm creatures in the machines’ paths

An illustration of ancient sea cows

A Trove of Sea Cow Fossils in Qatar Reveals a New Species That Munched on Seagrass 21 Million Years Ago

The findings suggest that sea cows have been engineering ecosystems in the Persian Gulf for tens of millions of years

Research indicates that coral reefs have been tuning Earth's cycles for hundreds of millions of years. 

For More Than 250 Million Years, Coral Reefs Have Had a Major Influence on Earth’s Changing Climate

The planet has been flipping between two main modes of carbon recovery depending on the state of coral reefs, new research suggests

In a new study, 79 percent of black-spotted pond frogs successfully consumed the northern giant hornet.

‘Murder Hornets’ Might Strike Terror in Humans, but These Frogs Can Eat Them for Lunch

Watch a pond frog effortlessly devour the northern giant hornet, the largest hornet in the world, while sustaining stings that are deadly to many animals

Experts spent two days trying to save the whale, which weighed roughly 20,000 pounds.

When a Humpback Whale Got Stranded in Oregon, a Native Community Turned the Tragedy Into a Revival of a Traditional Practice

Members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians salvaged a beached whale’s remains, a practice that hadn’t been performed in generations

Adult male magnificent riflebirds have ultrablack feathers covering most of their bodies.

Inspired by Bird Feathers, This New ‘Ultrablack’ Fabric Absorbs Nearly All the Light That Hits It

Researchers took inspiration from the magnificent riflebird while developing a textile that reflects only about 0.13 percent of visible light, making it the darkest fabric ever reported

Page 24 of 538