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Smart News / Smart News Science

Otters get fidgety when they're hungry.

New Research

Otters ‘Juggle,’ but the Behavior’s Function Remains Mysterious

The animals seem to fidget more when they are hungry

Jupiter seen in high resolution thermal infrared via the Gemini Observatory's Lucky Imaging technique.

Check Out These New Images of Jupiter’s Stormy Surface

The images allowed scientists to map lightning strikes and revealed holes in the Great Red Spot

Comb jelly larvae, highlighted by red arrows, shown inside an adult.

New Research

Invasive Comb Jellies Might Overproduce Babies in Summer to Eat Them in Winter

Comb jellies might have evolved to eat their young when prey runs out, but some experts are skeptical of the strategy

The Bayeux Tapestry depicts Harold II with an arrow jutting from his head, but whether the English king actually died in this manner remains a point of contention.

Medieval Arrows Inflicted Injuries That Mirror Damage Caused by Modern Bullets

New research demonstrates the immense power of the medieval English longbow

To detail the Picts' diet, researchers studied 137 skeletons buried under Portmahomack's old Tarbat Parish Church.

New Research

Why These Ancient Scottish Seafarers Didn’t Snack on Fish

New research suggests fish, which are widely celebrated in Pictish lore, were simply too special to eat

The Melbourne Zoo welcomed three baby snow leopard cubs in February.

Celebrate Mother’s Day With Nine Baby Animal Livestreams

This Sunday, celebrate the moms of the animal kingdom with kittens, polar bear cubs, eaglets and more

A bottlenose dolphin swims with her biological daughter and her adopted melon-headed whale calf.

Eight Things We’ve Learned About Moms Since the Last Mother’s Day

From pregnancy to birth and beyond, mothers, both animal and human, show off some amazing skills

The full fossil with the body of the squid on the left and the fish to the right.

Cool Finds

200-Million-Year-Old Fossil Captures Squid Viciously Entangled With Its Prey

The specimen may be the earliest known example of a squid-like creature on the attack

Reduced traffic in Los Angeles reveals a clear view of the San Gabriel Mountains beyond downtown.

Air Pollution May Make COVID-19 Symptoms Worse

Research linking air pollution to elevated death rates remains preliminary but scientists hope the pandemic spurs tighter air quality regulations

Rubble from the Museo de la Masacre de Ponce fell from the top of the building and caused the collapse of its second-floor balcony.

5.4-Magnitude Earthquake Damages Puerto Rican Museums

The Museo de la Massacre de Ponce and Casa Paoli were among the buildings affected by Saturday’s tremors

Male pug-nosed tree frogs confuse predators by overlapping their mating calls with those their neighbors.

New Research

Illusionist Frog Attracts Mates Without Unwanted Attention From Predators

The simultaneous mating calls of the male pug-nosed tree frog confuses bats but not female frogs

Short-eared dogs are the only canines that live in the Amazon rainforest.

New Research

The Amazon’s ‘Ghost Dogs’ Face 30 Percent Habitat Loss

The solitary species is hard to spot on camera, and they’re the only canine that lives in the Amazon rainforest

Nearly all of this northern curly tail’s digestion was halted by an impassable fecal mass.

Super-Constipated Florida Lizard Breaks Records With Gargantuan Poop

An unfortunate diet of pizza grease and sand clogged her innards, amassing a giant and unpassable lump of feces in her gut

The Asian giant hornet, the world's largest hornet, was sighted in North America for the first time.

No, Americans Do Not Need to Panic About ‘Murder Hornets’

The Asian giant hornet, seen for the first time in North America in 2019, is unlikely to murder you or U.S. bees, according to a Smithsonian entomologist

A meteorite found in the Sahara Desert, valued at more than $2.5 million.

Christie’s Auction House Offers 29-Pound Hunk of Moon for $2.5 Million

The rock crash-landed in the Sahara Desert after a presumed collision chipped it off the lunar surface

The men's remains, found in a 16th-century mass grave in Mexico City, bear signs of trauma and disease.

New Analysis Suggests These Three Men Were Among the First Africans Enslaved in the Americas

Buried in a mass grave in Mexico City, the trio may have been part of the first generation abducted from their homeland and brought to the New World

Emily Simpson's character in "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" shows off a diving beetle in front of the virtual museum.

Education During Coronavirus

Join a Smithsonian Entomologist and the Monterey Bay Aquarium for This Beetle-Centric ‘Animal Crossing’ Livestream

Airing on the aquarium’s Twitch channel at 4 p.m. EST today, the two-hour session will focus on the video game’s diverse insect population

Naked mole-rats pile on top of each other in large groups to sleep inside their nest. This behavior may help keep carbon dioxide levels high, lowering the animals' risk of seizure.

Naked Mole-Rats Bathe Their Bodies in Carbon Dioxide to Prevent Seizures

Expelled by animals as a waste product, the gas appears to play a crucial role in keeping these bizarre, burrowing rodents safe

A mule deer walks down the road in Yosemite Valley

With Humans Away, Animals in National Parks Are Having a Ball

Coyotes, bears and more are enjoying areas usually reserved for crowds of human visitors

This yellow lab is not involved in the research, but it still a very good doggo.

Dogs Are Being Trained to Sniff Out COVID-19

Researchers are attempting to teach eight dogs to detect the pandemic, which could help quickly screen large numbers of people in public places

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