Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

The team studied heritability of behavioral traits in three breeds: Maine Coon, Ragdoll and Turkish Van

Your Cat’s Attitude Actually Is Closely Linked to Its Breed, Survey Shows

Nearly half of breed behavioral differences can be attributed to hereditary factors

I can haz Snausage?

New Research

Dogs Evolved a Special Muscle That Lets Them Make ‘Puppy Dog Eyes’

Wolves don’t have the muscle to make that classic wide-eyed gaze, suggesting strong evolutionary pressures were at play in our pooches

The tough little egg made it all the way through the digestive system of a coscoroba swan like this one.

New Research

A Swan Swallowed This Fish Egg, Pooped It Out—and Then 49 Days Later, It Hatched

The new study is one of the first to demonstrate fish egg dispersal via avian fecal matter

Minnesota Will Pay Residents to Grow Bee-Friendly Lawns

Leaving lawns untreated and allowing flowering plants to grow can help support the endangered rusty patched bumblebee

A spotted salamander inside a pitcher plant.

Pitcher Plants Have Been Quietly Snacking on Baby Salamanders

It was previously thought that the plants rarely ate vertebrate animals

New Research

Decades After DDT Was Banned, It Still Impacts Canadian Lakes

A study of sediment cores in remote bodies of water shows the insecticide is still present in high levels, likely altering ecosystems

Francis Collins speaks during the Children's Tumor Foundation's 40th Anniversary at American Museum of Natural History on October 22, 2018.

N.I.H. Director Vows to Decline Invitations to All-Male Speaking Panels

“It is not enough to give lip service to equality,” Francis Collins said, “leaders must demonstrate their commitment through their actions”

The specimen is the first (partial) carcass of an adult Pleistocene steppe wolf—an extinct lineage distinct from modern wolves—ever found

Cool Finds

A Perfectly Preserved 32,000-Year-Old Wolf Head Was Found in Siberian Permafrost

Given the head’s state of preservation, researchers are hopeful that they can extract viable DNA and use it to sequence the wolf’s genome

New Research

Pterosaurs May Have Flown as Soon as They Hatched

A new analysis of the flying reptile’s embryos indicates the bones needed for flight were highly developed in the egg

Participants likely used wooden bowls known as braziers to burn cannabis and release its mind-altering vapors

Cool Finds

The First Evidence of Smoking Pot Was Found in a 2,500-Year-Old Pot

A new study suggests ancient humans used cannabis to commune with nature, spirits or even the dead

Fledgling tree finches may be infested in the nest.

Parasites Are Ruining the Love Songs of Darwin’s Finches

The larvae of an invasive fly warp the birds’ nostrils, which in turn impacts their ability to stay in tune

Speech2Face has its limitations, including a gender bias that led it to associate higher-pitched voices with women and lower-pitched ones with men

Artificial Intelligence Generates Humans’ Faces Based on Their Voices

In trials, the algorithm successfully pinpointed speakers’ gender, race and age

Future of Space Exploration

Astronomers Make Massive Discovery on the Far Side of the Moon

The heavy core of a giant asteroid may be buried beneath the moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin

Future of Space Exploration

The International Space Station Is Open for Business—and Tourists

NASA is relaxing its restrictions on commercial activities on the ISS as part of an effort to free up funding for other projects

The Chilean crocus, "Tecophilaea cyanocrocus," was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in 2001. It's been considered "critically endangered" under ICUN guidelines ever since.

Plant Species Have Been Disappearing 500 Times Faster Than Normal, Thanks to Humans

Researchers call the results “frightening” because it’s likely “gross underestimate” and the problem is probably much worse

A field photo showing the impact deposit containing deformed pink sandstone.

An Ancient Asteroid Crater May Be Hiding Off Scotland’s Coast

Scientists think they have honed in on the spot where the collision occurred 1.2 billion years ago

An individual who opts for chicken over beef every day for a year could lower their emissions by roughly the same amount released by driving a car for 3,700 miles

Choose Chicken Over Beef to Dramatically Cut Carbon Footprint, Study Shows

By swapping beef for a poultry-based product just once a day, an individual can reduce their dietary carbon footprint by around 48 percent

All you'll need to see Jupiter is a pair of binoculars

Tonight Is the Best Time of the Year to See Jupiter and Its Many Moons

Jupiter will reach opposition the night of June 10, forming a straight line with Earth and the sun

Another newly described species, "Litoria vivissimia," has a similarly pointed nose

New Research

Meet the Newly Described Long-Nosed Pinocchio Frog

The tree frog’s nose alternately sticks out straight or droops downward—much like a certain fictional wooden puppet

When you're sad, it makes your dog sad.

Keep Calm and Don’t Stress Out the Dog

When humans feel anxious, their dogs do too, according to new study

Page 284 of 545