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Smart News / Smart News Science

Researchers extracted paint and canvas fiber samples from a known forgery supposedly dating to 1886 but actually created during the 1980s.

Art Meets Science

Cold War Nuclear Bomb Tests Are Helping Researchers Identify Art Forgeries

Traces of carbon-14 isotopes released by nuclear testing enable scientists to date paintings created post-World War II

Megachile rotunda

Found: A Bees’ Nest Built Entirely of Plastic Waste

It could be a sign of bees’ adaptability to a changing environment—but the habit might also be causing them harm

The Chinese giant salamander is the world's largest amphibian, weighing upwards of 140 pounds and growing to a length of more than 5.9 feet

Giant Salamander Goo Is Great at Gluing Gashes

Although slightly less durable than other surgical adhesives, a compound derived from the amphibian’s skin secretions performs better overall

Cool Finds

A 10-Mile-Wide Ladybug Swarm Buzzed Over San Diego

At first, meteorologists thought the shadow on the radar was a storm. But this cloud didn’t bring rain

People enjoy a hot afternoon at the Astoria Pool in the borough of Queens on August 17, 2015, in New York City.

New Research

Heat Waves Could Kill Thousands of People in U.S. Cities if Climate Goals Aren’t Met

A new study calculates that as temperatures increase, up to 5,800 people will die in New York and 2,400 in L.A. during the hottest years

People who drink exclusively from plastic water bottles ingest an additional 90,000 microplastics each year, researchers found.

Americans May Be Ingesting Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

A new study found that we consume between 74,000 and 121,000 plastic particles annually—and that’s likely an underestimate

Instead of the tennis ball, imagine this Boykin spaniel holding an ornate box turtle in its mouth, ready to deliver it to conservation researchers.

Very Good Dogs Helped Track Threatened Turtles in Iowa

The dogs are trained to find ornate box turtles and bring them to researchers—part of an effort to save the struggling species

New Research

Nanoscale Structures Give Dragonfish Their Terrible, Invisible Teeth

Crystals in the enamel and an unusual interior structure render the giant teeth invisible, making the fish one of the deep seas’s most fearsome hunters

Artist's rendering of the planets orbiting PDS 70.

Future of Space Exploration

Astronomers Snap a Rare Picture of Two Baby Planets

The Very Large Telescope imaged Planets PDS 70b and PDS 70c about 370 light years away creating a gap in the gas and dust disk around their star

The almost 3-year-old female offspring (left) and her 12-year-old mother (right)

The National Zoo’s Female Asian Water Dragon Successfully Reproduced Without a Male

This is the first time facultative parthenogenesis has been recorded in both the species and the reptilian Agamidae family

The experience unfolds across five rooms: the Recycle Bank, the Coral Tunnel, the Net Guard, the Jellyfish Station and the Bubble Mall.

Art Meets Science

A New Pop-Up Exhibit in NYC Immerses Visitors in a Deep-Sea Experience

Designer Randy Fernando says the show strives to be “interactive and playful,” while also “incorporating touches of activism”

Lots of snacks, please.

Elephants Use Smell to Sniff Out Snack Quantities

When presented with two lidded buckets containing sunflower seeds, elephants seemed able to choose the one with more food

Last year, archaeologists unearthed two unusual Bronze Age graves at Siberia's Ust-Tartas site

Cool Finds

Bronze Age ‘Birdman’ Had a Headdress Made of Dozens of Bird Beaks, Skulls

Researchers suspect that the unusual accessory served a protective ritual purpose

New Research

China’s ‘CRISPR Babies’ May Be More Likely to Die Young

The mutation that was intended to make them resistant to H.I.V. has now been linked to a shorter life expectancy

Most of the World’s Macadamias May Have Originated From a Single Australian Tree

But this lack of genetic diversity could put cultivated macadamias at risk

The latest findings suggest that separate groups of early humans invented stone tools on multiple occasions

Cool Finds

Humans May Have Been Crafting Stone Tools for 2.6 Million Years

A new study pushes the origins of early human tool-making back by some 10,000 years earlier than previously believed

From L to R: Kanlitas rock painting, enhanced version, isolated rendering of markings

Art Meets Science

Rock Art and Footprints Reveal How Ancient Humans Responded to Volcanic Eruption

New study dates the preserved footprints to 4,700 years ago, a full 245,000 years later than previously suggested

Were Saber-Toothed Cat Fangs Strong Enough to Puncture Bone?

Some experts think not, but a new study suggests that holes in two saber-toothed cat skulls were caused by in-fighting

Trending Today

NOAA Is Investigating 70 Gray Whale Deaths Along the West Coast

The whales seem to have died from starvation and washed up on shore from California to Alaska

New Research

New Study Shows Coffee—Even 25 Cups a Day of It—Isn’t Bad for Your Heart

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have found that coffee consumption does not stiffen arteries

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