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Smart News / Smart News Science

Immature (red) and mature (blue) neurons in the hippocampus of a 68 year-old

New Research

The Brain May Actually Keep Generating New Cells Well Into Old Age

An analysis of 58 brain samples found that neurogenesis declines over time and is particularly poor among those with Alzheimer’s

The baby, whose name is Itzmara, (Not Pictured) was delivered via C-section at 37 weeks, three weeks shy of full term because doctors feared that the fetus inside her, which was still growing, would crush her internal organs.

A Baby Girl in Colombia Was Born With Her Twin Inside Her Abdomen

It is a rare condition known as ‘fetus-in-fetu.’ In this case, the malformed twin was removed and the baby is doing well

Illustration of the GRAPES-3 Muon telescope in a lightning storm.

New Research

How Much Electricity Can Thunderstorms Produce?

Researchers used a cosmic ray detector to clock one storm in at a shocking 1.3 billion volts

Grady's mother gave birth via caesarean section on April 16, 2018

Baby Monkey Born Using Frozen Testicular Tissue, Giving Hope for Infertile Childhood Cancer Survivors

Around 30 percent of pediatric cancer patients are rendered infertile by chemotherapy or radiation treatments

An Orangutan Was Shot 74 Times. She Survived.

Dubbed ‘Hope,’ the orangutan was blinded by gunshots to her eyes. She also sustained bone fractures and had been stabbed with a sharp tool.

Around 20 percent of the time, the bears returned a playmate’s expression within one second of seeing it

Sun Bears Mimic Each Other’s Facial Expressions to Communicate

Previously, precise facial mimicry has only been observed in humans and gorillas

An illustration of what Avimaia schweitzerae and its nest may have looked like.

Cool Finds

First-Ever Fossilized Mother Bird Found With Unlaid Egg

The rare 110-million-year-old bits of shell shine light on the reproduction during the age of dinosaurs

Researchers found that white individuals represented 97 percent of artists featured in the National Gallery of Art's permanent collection

Art Meets Science

Survey Finds White Men Dominate Collections of Major Art Museums

A comprehensive study reveals that 85 percent of artists featured in permanent collections are white, while 87 percent are men

Flooding in Midwest May Reach ‘Historic and Catastrophic’ Levels

Nebraska alone has sustained an estimated $1.4 billion in losses and damages

"Super smeller" Joy Milne (left) poses alongside Perdita Barran, a co-author of the new study

New Research

How a Woman Who Can Smell Parkinson’s Disease Helped Scientists Create a New Early Diagnosis Method

Joy Milne first noticed a “sort of woody, musky odor” emanating from her husband some 12 years before he was diagnosed with the degenerative disorder

New Research

Some People’s Brains Can Sense Earth’s Magnetic Field—but No, It Doesn’t Mean We Have Magnetoreception ‘Superpowers’

A new experiment reveals signs our brains may respond to changes in Earth’s magnetic field, but it’s unclear whether it impacts behavior

F.D.A. Approves First Drug for Treating Postpartum Depression

Brexanolone, which is administered intravenously, has been shown to work within 48 hours

Uhlenbeck's work on minimal surfaces was instrumental to the foundation of the mathematical field of geometric analysis

Karen Uhlenbeck Is the First Woman to Win Math’s Top Prize

The Abel Prize honoree was recognized for “the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics”

Ewe can't hurry love.

New Research

Healthy Baby Lambs Born Using World’s Oldest Sperm

Ram semen survived 50 years frozen in liquid nitrogen, matched insemination success rate of sperm frozen for just one year

Honey gathered from urban beehives offers a surprisingly accurate measure of surrounding communities’ air quality

How Urban Beehives Can Help Researchers Detect Air Pollution

Trace elements found in honey may be able to lead researchers straight to the source of environmental contamination

Cyclone Idai Brings Death and Devastation to Southern Africa

‘Almost everything is destroyed,’ said an aid worker in the city of Beira, Mozambique

Compared to traditional open-heart surgery, TAVR is a relatively simple procedure that finds cardiologists using a catheter to insert a replacement valve

This Minimally Invasive Technique Could Reduce the Need for Open-Heart Surgery

Clinical trials suggest TAVR is just as beneficial as, or perhaps even better than, open-heart surgery for low- and high-risk patients alike

Trending Today

Scientists Played Music to Cheese as It Aged. Hip-Hop Produced the Funkiest Flavor

Researchers played nonstop loops of Led Zeppelin, A Tribe Called Quest and Mozart to cheese wheels to find out how sound waves impacted flavor

Norman Wilfred Lewis, "Eye of the Storm (Seachange XV)," 1977

Art Meets Science

Study Finds Paintings Featuring Blue and Red Hues Sell for the Most Money at Auction

There’s green to be found in shades of red and blue

Hungry Otters Are Creating a Unique Archaeological Record

By bashing mussel shells onto stones, otters leave behind traces of their activity

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