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Smart News / Smart News Science

Listen in on Orca Chatter with a New App

The team behind the app hopes that citizen scientists will help experts locate struggling southern resident killer whales

The color-enhanced image was created by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager, according to NASA.

Cool Finds

Juno’s Latest Photo of Jupiter Is Breathtaking

The image, processed from JunoCam’s raw data, shows storms and winds in the planet’s Northern Temperate Belt

By 2050, Earth's population is projected to swell to 9.8 billion, placing strain on limited food, resources

Soon, the Average Human Will Be Taller, Heavier. That Will Lead to Increased Food Demand

Between 1975 and 2014, average adult grew 1.3 percent taller and 14 percent heavier, triggering 6.1 percent uptick in energy consumption

A "mud pot" like this one in Yellowstone National Park is moving across Southern California, for reasons that are not clear to scientists.

A Gurgling ‘Mud Pot’ Is Crawling Across Southern California

Scientists don’t know why the muddy spring is moving, but it poses a threat to the infrastructure in its path

Burket's warbler

New Research

This Rare Warbler Is Three Species in One

A warbler discovered in Pennsylvania is the offspring of a hybrid female and a male from a completely different genus

Water found deep within the planet's interior contains different ratio of heavy hydrogen isotopes and normal hydrogen, pointing toward separate point of origin

Where Did Earth’s Water Originate? Solar Nebula, Study Suggests

Researchers say the hydrogen contained in these clouds of gas and dust contributed to formation of one out of every 100 water molecules found on Earth

New Research

Gravity Map Reveals Tectonic Secrets Beneath Antartica’s Ice

Satellite data shows East and West Antarctica have very different geologic histories

The Science and Cell teams sequenced a total of 64 ancient human genomes

This Week Has Offered a Slew of Insights on the Western Hemisphere’s First Humans

Studies reveal rapid yet uneven movement south in at least three migratory waves, complicating story of the Americas’ settlement

A mid-level solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2017.

Did a Huge Solar Storm Detonate Deep Sea Mines During the Vietnam War?

Dozens of underwater devices seemed to explode without cause in 1972

The fossilized crania of three long-snouted cetaceans.

The Mystery of Ancient Dolphins’ Super-Long Snouts

A new study suggests the extinct cetaceans used their snouts to hit and stun prey, much as swordfish do

Doug E. Fresh, beatboxing pioneer, lays it down.

New Research

This Is What Happens Inside a Beatboxer’s Mouth When They Perform

MRI scans of vocal percussionists show that beatboxing takes the vocal tract beyond human language

Researchers say the shift in laugh patterns doesn't appear to be linked with any major developmental milestones

Babies Share Same Laugh Patterns as Chimpanzees

Unlike adults, who tend to laugh while exhaling, infants let giggles loose while both inhaling and exhaling

New Research

Ancient Ape Was Just the Size of a House Cat

12.5 million-year-old teeth found in Kenya belonged to a species that ate leaves, but was likely outcompeted by an explosion of monkeys

Why Experts Are Troubled by a Viral Video of a Baby Bear’s Mountain Climb

The cub and its mother appear to have been disturbed by the drone that shot the footage

When in Rome...

New Research

The Physics of a Perfect Pizza

It takes just the right amount of heat and conduction to turn dough into the perfect Roman Margherita pizza

A platypus living in the most contaminated site could be routinely exposed to up to half of an adult human’s daily dose of antidepressants

Australian Rivers Are Contaminated With Pharmaceuticals. That’s Bad News For Platypuses, Study Says

The team found evidence of human medications in every insect tested, including those from national park previously believed to be free of contaminants

Cool Finds

This Remote Control Vest Trains Rescue Dogs Using Flashlights

By aiming little spots of light, handlers can direct their fearless doggos through disaster areas

An Inaccessible Island rail

How a Flightless Bird Ended Up on an Island 1,550 Miles Away From Any Mainland

New genetic analysis suggests the bird did not walk to Inaccessible Island, as scientists in the past suggested

Abnormalities identified included misshapen skulls and jaws, bowed femur and arm bones

Did Rampant Inbreeding Contribute to Early Humans’ High Rate of Skeletal Deformities?

Researcher identified 75 skeletal or dental defects in sample of just 66 sets of ancient remains

Species in the Northwest Atlantic, like this red tree coral, are threatened by ocean acidification, which may be causing the dissolution of the sea floor.

Parts of the Ocean Floor Are Disintegrating—And It’s Our Fault

A new study has found that calcium carbonate on the sea floor is dissolving too quickly in an effort to keep up with excess carbon dioxide

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