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Smart News / Smart News Science

New Research

140 Million Years Ago, a Bird-Like Dinosaur Swallowed a Lizard Whole. Here’s Why Its Final Meal Is Exciting Researchers

The lizard is a piece of a complex ancient food web being pieced together in northeast China

A reconstruction of Elektorornis chenguangi, showing the possible probing function of the elongated toe.

This Prehistoric Bird Had Weirdly Long Toes

Researchers think the newly described ‘Elektorornis chenguangi’ used its special digits to scoop insects out of trees

New Research

Mussels’ Sticky Threads Could Inspire Ways to Clean Up Oil Spills, Purify Water and More

A new review shows the sticky threads the bivalves used to cling to rocks could have lot of potential engineering applications

An olive python swallows an Australian freshwater crocodile whole

See a Python Swallow a Crocodile Whole

A kayaker captured the gruesome photographs while exploring a swamp in Queensland, Australia

Apidima 1 and reconstruction.

This 210,000-Year-Old Skull May Be the Oldest Human Fossil Found in Europe

A new study could shake up the accepted timeline of Homo Sapiens’ arrival on the continent—though not all experts are on board

New Research

Little, Transparent Fish Show Sleep Is at Least 450 Million Years Old

Imaging of sleeping zebrafish reveal their pattern of Zzz’s is similar to that of mammals and other animals, meaning snoozing has been around a long time

Lead author Emily Fobert says, “The presence of light is clearly interfering with an environmental cue that initiates hatching in clownfish"

Cool Finds

Thanks to Light Pollution, We’re Losing Nemo

In trials, light-exposed eggs hatched normally as soon as scientists removed an overhead LED designed to simulate artificial light conditions

New Research

California’s Drought Killed Almost 150 Million Trees

The forests were too dense and temperatures were much higher than in previous droughts, exhausting water supplies and leading to mass die-offs

Olafur Eliasson, "The Cubic Structural Evolution Project," 2004

Art Meets Science

Consider the Nature of Perception at Olafur Eliasson’s New Show

Tate Modern retrospective features some 40 works pulled from the artist’s decades-long career

You've goat a friend in me.

Goats May Be Able to Tell When Their Buddies Are Feeling Good or Baaad

A new study has found that the animals can distinguish between positive and negative vocalizations

Let me see you shake your tail feathers.

New Research

What This Head-Banging, Body-Rolling Cockatoo Teaches Us About the Evolution of Dance

Researchers found internet-famous Snowball has 14 unique moves and five neural traits that lead him to the dancefloor

Toxic Algal Bloom Forces Mississippi to Close All Its Mainland Beaches

Experts think nutrient-rich freshwater, diverted into the Gulf of Mexico during recent flooding, is fueling the algae overgrowth

The team derived acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, from a plant wall polymer called lignin.

Researchers Develop Plant-Based, Eco-Friendly Method to Produce Tylenol

Current manufacturing processes rely on coal tar, which is produced using fossil fuels

Cool Finds

Rare Lava Lake Found on Top of Sub-Antarctic Volcano

Satellite data located the persistent pool of liquid rock on top of Mt. Michael on Saunders Island, part of the South Sandwich Islands

July rolled in with a blaze, but that didn't smoke out Independence day spirit.

For the First Time Ever, Temperatures Reached 90 Degrees in Anchorage

Alaska is not a stranger to sweaty summer days, but climate scientists are nevertheless concerned about the recent heatwave

Catastrophic disasters like the pair of cyclones that devastated Mozambique earlier this year, seen here, can over shadow more commonplace, smaller-scale events, including intense heatwaves, storms and flooding.

One Climate Crisis Disaster Occurs Every Week, U.N. Official Warns

Governments should prioritize ‘adaptation and resilience’ measures designed to curb the effects of ongoing lower-impact climate events, experts say

Modified skulls (seen on the left in each box) versus unmodified skulls

Cool Finds

Ancient Chinese Graves Reveal Evidence of Early Skull Reshaping

Humans may have compressed infants’ soft heads with their hands, bound them between boards or wrapped them tightly in cloth

This 33,000-Year-Old Man May Have Been Killed by a Left-Handed Murderer

A new study delves into the puzzling fractures on a Paleolithic skull

I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

Not Even Chemicals Can Stop the Indomitable Cockroach

A new study suggests it will soon be “almost impossible” to control the insects with chemicals alone

These "before" (May 31, 2018) and "after" (June 19, 2019) images illustrate the Indian city's dire water shortage

Satellite Images Reveal the Extent of Chennai’s Water Shortage

Poor management, groundwater overuse and climate change-driven weather shifts are among the factors driving the crisis

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