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Smart News / Smart News Science

An artist's rendering of how Suskityrannus hazelae may have looked.

When Tyrannosaurs Were Tiny

A new study describes an early T. rex relative that stood about three feet tall and weighed no more than 90 pounds

New Research

How Do You Educate Climate Change Skeptics? Empower Their Kids to Teach Them

A new study shows that educating children may be the best way to reach parents who don’t seem to care about climate change

None

Shrimp in England’s Rural Rivers Are Laced With Traces of Cocaine

A new study also detected low levels of dozens of pharmaceuticals and pesticides in shrimp from the county of Suffolk

Future of Space Exploration

The Space Station Just Got a New Cutting-Edge Carbon Mapper

The OCO-3 instrument will watch Earth’s carbon levels change throughout the day

Narwhals Have Low Genetic Diversity—and They’re Doing Fine

A new study has traced this puzzling phenomenon to a gradual decline in the whales’ population, followed by a rapid increase around 30,000 years ago

A new study identifies the remains of two previously mislabeled species: a short-faced bear and wolf-like carnivore

Cool Finds

Divers Find Ice Age Megafauna Remains in Underwater Mexican Cave

The animals include at least seven short-faced bears and one or two wolf-like carnivores

Pandamonium

Bamboo Is Basically ‘Fake Meat’ for Giant Pandas

A new study shows the bears have a nutritional profile looks more like that of wolves and cats rather than herbivores

The 8.5-millimeter millipede had five-unit compound eyes and an unusually hairless rear end

Cool Finds

This Petite, 99-Million-Year-Old Millipede Was Entrapped in Amber

The diminutive arthropod represents not only a previously unknown species, but an entirely separate Callipodida suborder

Every additional $10,000 in total income makes a person two percent more likely to enter a creative field

Art Meets Science

Wealth Is a Strong Predictor of Whether an Individual Pursues a Creative Profession

Those from households with an annual income of $1 million are 10 times more likely to become artists than those from families with a $100,000 income

A Tibetan monk came across this mandible in 1980 while praying in the Baishya Karst Cave.

Denisovan Fossil Is Identified Outside Siberia for the First Time

A jawbone discovered in a cave on the Tibetan Plateau shines new light on several mysteries that had surrounded the ancient hominins

Hippos excrete 880 pounds of silica into Kenya’s Mara River every day

East Africa’s Mara River Relies on Hippo Poop to Transport a Key Nutrient

Hippo droppings account for more than three-quarters of the ecosystem’s silica

New Research

Climate Change Has Made Droughts More Frequent Since 1900

Tree ring data from various parts of the world shows that greenhouse gas increases have impacted soil moisture for over 100 years

Trending Today

For the First Time, Green Power Tops Coal Industry in Energy Production in April

Renewable energy outworked coal in April—and will likely do the same in May—though the trend likely won’t last once air-conditioners switch on

Researchers looked at smell tests taken by more than 2,200 people between the age of 71 and 82 years old.

New Research

Impaired Sense of Smell in the Elderly Is Linked With Risk of Death

A new study finds older people who score poorly on a sniff test are 46 percent more likely to die over the next 10 years, but researchers don’t know why

Rare One-Horned Indian Rhino Born at Zoo Miami

This is the first time that a member of the threatened species as been born via artificial insemination and induced ovulation

A plastic bag submerged in soil for three years could still hold a full load of shopping.

Do ‘Biodegradable’ Plastic Bags Actually Degrade?

A new study has found that the bags could still hold weight after being buried in water and soil for three years

Drug-Resistant Infections Could Kill 10 Million People Annually by 2050

A new U.N. report highlights the danger posed by widespread antibiotic misuse in humans, livestock and agriculture

Future of Space Exploration

One-Third of Exoplanets Could Be Water Worlds With Oceans Hundreds of Miles Deep

A new statistical analysis suggests seas hundreds of miles deep cover up to 35 percent of distant worlds

The lock of hair is set to go on view as of May 2, 2019, the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death

Art Meets Science

DNA Analysis Could Prove if This Lock of Hair Belonged to Leonardo da Vinci

Researchers will compare results of DNA test to genetic material extracted from artist’s living descendants and his alleged remains

That so  totally rocks, dude.

New Research

Green Sea Turtles Are Bouncing Back Around U.S. Pacific Islands

Surveys show the species increasing 8 percent near Hawaii and 4 percent elsewhere, though hawksbill turtles aren’t faring as well

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