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Smart News / Smart News Science

Built at the turn of the seventh century, the white plaster-coated road begins in Cobá and ends 62 miles west, at Yaxuná's ancient downtown in the center of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Did a Seventh-Century Warrior Queen Build the Maya’s Longest Road?

Dubbed the “white road” in honor of its limestone paving, the 62-mile path is an engineering marvel on par with Maya pyramids

This illustration, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), shows the virus' spiky, crown-like fringe that shrouds each viral particle—giving it a “coronated” appearance.

Covid-19

A Guide to What to Know About COVID-19

As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, so does misinformation. Here, you can find facts about the virus and infection it causes

The Only Known Albino Orangutan Is Doing Great After Her Release to the Wild

Alba, who was captured and caged in 2017, underwent nearly two years of rehabilitation

The trajectory of asteroid 52768 (1998 OR2), which approaches the orbits of both Earth and Mars.

The Biggest Asteroid to Fly by This Year Will Zoom Past Earth Next Month

During its visit, the asteroid, called (52768) 1998 OR2, will remain almost 4 million miles away from Earth

Jeremy Bentham's auto-icon is now on display in a glass case in University College London's Student Centre.

English Philosopher’s Dressed-Up Skeleton Goes on View in New Glass Display

When utilitarian thinker Jeremy Bentham died in 1832, he requested his preserved remains be displayed in “an appropriate box or case”

A crew harvesting grapes in Glottertal, Germany, on January 18, 2016. Temperatures must drop below 19 degrees Fahrenheit to harvest. In the final winter months of 2019, it was not cold enough to pick grapes in most vineyards.

A Warm Winter Left Germany Unable to Produce Its Famed Ice Wines

Known for their sweet flavor, ice wines are made from grapes left to freeze on the vine

Erik Farrell stands beside one of the USS Monitor's eight-ton, Civil War-era Dahlgren guns.

Why Did Restorers Search a Civil War Battleship’s Guns for the Remains of a Black Cat?

Clearing out the eight-ton, 11-foot-long cannons gave conservators a chance to follow up on the tale of an unlucky feline

A gyotaku fish print

Art Meets Science

Traditional Japanese Fish Art Could Be a Boon for Conservation

“Gyotaku,” or the art of pressing ink-dipped fish onto paper, represents a wealth of scientifically accurate data on Japan’s marine life

Henneguya salminicola, a parasite that doesn't need to breathe oxygen to survive

This Animal Doesn’t Need Oxygen to Survive

A discovery in a jellyfish-like parasite bucks the typical trends of complex life

This photo of Earth's newest minimoon was taken by the 8-meter Gemini North telescope on Hawaii’s Maunakea. The image combines three images each obtained using different filters to produce this color composite.

Earth’s New Mini-Moon Is Leaving Soon

Our planet is just one stop along the car-sized asteroid’s solar system odyssey

A dog's cold nose could be used for heat seeking.

Dogs’ Cool, Wet Noses May Be Able to Detect Heat

A new study has found that dogs can pick out objects that are warmer than ambient temperature

Carl Cotton places individual letters on a label for an exhibition featuring hybrid birds.

Art Meets Science

The Chicago Field Museum Celebrates the Work of African American Taxidermist Carl Cotton

Cotton started working at the museum in the late 1940s, but he first became interested in taxidermy much earlier

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New Research

Watch This Deep-Sea Sponge Sneeze in Slow Motion

The glass sponge can take up to a month to finish a sneeze

NASA's newest class of astronaut candidates at their graduation ceremony at Johnson Space Center.during their graduation ceremony at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in January of 2020. The class includes 11 NASA candidates, as well as two Canadian Space Agency (CSA) candidates.

So You Want to Be an Astronaut? NASA Is Hiring

For the first time in four years, eligible candidates will have a shot at joining missions headed for the moon, Mars or the International Space Station

New Yorkers use an estimated 23 billion plastic bags every year.

New York Says Goodbye to Plastic Bags

A statewide ban prohibiting the distribution of single-use plastic bags went into effect on Sunday

The mother lion, her lion cubs and her adopted spotted leopard baby, all got along just fine.

In a ‘Bizarre’ Biological Twist, a Mother Lion Adopted a Leopard Cub in India

There have been only two other documented instances of interspecies adoption—and never between animals that strongly compete for resources in the wild

3-D model of Head of Amenhotep III on Sketchfab

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download 1,700 Free 3-D Cultural Heritage Models

A new Sketchfab collection brings models of fossils, artwork and more into the public domain

So-called 'watermelon snow' sounds better than it looks and tastes; do not eat pink snow.

This ‘Blood-Red’ Snow Is Taking Over Parts of Antarctica

After a month of record-breaking temperatures, a kind of snow algae that turns ruby-hued in warm temperatures thrives

This Cranwell's frog fluoresces green in blue light

New Research

In Blue Light, Most Amphibians Have a Neon-Green Glow

Researchers at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota shed light on frog and salamander bioluminescence

Ducks can apparently eat up to 200 locusts a day, one Chinese researcher says.

Is a Duck Army Coming for Pakistan’s Locusts? Not So Fast

In the wake of a social media storm, experts question a popular plan to dispatch insect-eating birds from China

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