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Smart News / Smart News Science

Vergenoegd Löw Wine Estate's Indian runner ducks, which patrol the vineyard for pests

An Army of Hungry Ducks Keeps This Historic South African Vineyard Pest-Free

The vineyard deploys a daily bird-based battalion to pluck snails and insects off their plants

NASA plans to use the Space Launch System rocket to bring astronauts to the moon.

Covid-19

NASA Projects Slowed by COVID-19, but New Mars Rover Perseveres

If Perseverance doesn’t launch this year, it will have to wait until 2022

Urban Coyotes Eat a Lot of Garbage—and Cats

A new study shows how city-dwelling coyotes thrive by feasting on human-linked food sources

A stained glass window designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany is one of many artworks available for your perusal.

Virtual Travel

68 Cultural, Historical and Scientific Collections You Can Explore Online

Tour world-class museums, read historic cookbooks, browse interactive maps and more

Eucalyptus trees sprout "emergency foliage" after a wildfire while their leaves regrow.

How Australia’s Wilderness Is Recovering From Wildfires

Greenery is sprouting from scorched tree trunks as the forests regrow their canopies

A gentoo penguin swimming underwater. This species, as well as others, vocalizes while hunting beneath the water's surface, research shows.

In a First, Researchers Record Penguins Vocalizing Under Water

But the scientists still aren’t sure what the birds are saying

Asteriornis maastrichtensis, the world's oldest known modern bird, had a mashup of chicken-, turkey- and duck-like features.

At 67 Million Years Old, Oldest Modern Bird Ever Found Is Natural ‘Turducken’

Remarkable fossil hints at the traits birds evolved just before an asteroid wiped their nonavian dinosaur kin

A roughly 20,000-year-old engraved, pocket-sized rock that may depict a sun, eye or flower

Cool Finds

Portable, Pocket-Sized Rock Art Discovered in Ice Age Indonesian Cave

The findings further refute the outdated notion that humans’ capacity for complex artistic expression evolved exclusively in Europe

A two-page spread from the We All Rise coloring book

Covid-19

A Detroit Gallery Is Providing Kids With Coloring Books—and Meals—Amid COVID-19

The Library Street Collective’s “We All Rise” coloring book features drawings by around 30 contemporary artists

Restoration work at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris has paused as France works to control the spread of COVID-19.

Covid-19

Notre-Dame Restoration Pauses Amid France’s Two-Week Lockdown

Lead decontamination policies enacted in August are now in conflict with measures to prevent spread of COVID-19

Covid-19

These Graphics Help Explain Why Social Distancing Is Critical

The positive outcomes won’t be immediately apparent, but will help reduce the strain on our healthcare system

Some stores have implemented special shopping hours for senior people and immunocompromised individuals.

Covid-19

Stores Launch Special Shopping Times for Seniors and Other Groups Vulnerable to COVID-19

But will that keep susceptible populations safe?

Banded mongoose use scent marking to communicate information to each other—but pathogens can hide in these secretions, too.

Where Predators Are Scarce, Mongooses May Transmit More Disease

New research hints at how different environments impact animal behavior and the spread of infection

The insect now known as Kaikaia gaga represents a new genus and species of treehopper.

Insect With ‘Wacky Fashion Sense’ Named After Lady Gaga

It’s not quite a meat dress, but Kaikaia gaga does boast some impressive horn-like appendages

This image depicts one of 20 demolition bombs dropped in 1935 in an attempt to divert lava flow.

Found: Two Bombs From 1935 Stuck in Hawai’i Volcano

After 85 years, officials plan to remove the old, undetonated bombs that were part of a 1935 plan to divert lava flow on Mauna Loa

About one-quarter to one-third of the 86 million pet cats in the U.S. are allowed outside.

New Research

GPS Study Shows Outdoor Cats Have Oversized Effect on Neighborhood Wildlife

The cats also cross the road an average of 4.5 times in six days, putting themselves in danger

Could rats be genetically wired for New York City living?

Rats May Be Genetically Adapted to New York Living

Perhaps it was not just a massive slice that made Pizza Rat a true New Yorker

The red supergiant star Betelgeuse, as seen by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)

This Fading Star Wasn’t on the Brink of Death After All—It Was Just Dusty

After four months of unexpected dimming, the red supergiant star has perked back up, and astronomers may have a new explanation for the fluke

A view of the deserted courtyard outside the closed Louvre

Covid-19

How COVID-19 Is Affecting the Cultural World

Museum closures and event cancellations abound as officials rush to contain the new coronavirus’ spread

Deltapodus prints offering the first strong evidence that stegosaurian dinosaurs were part of the Middle Jurassic landscape on Skye

A Dinosaur ‘Stomping Ground’ Surfaces on the Isle of Skye

Two sites preserve around 50 footprints, a discovery that highlights the richness of prehistoric life on the island

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