Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

The pores visible on the underside of this shark's snout are electrical field-sensitive ampullae of Lorenzini.

New Research

Magnets Help Keep Sharks Out of Fish Traps

Adding cheap magnets to the traps reduced shark and ray bycatch by a third and increased fish hauls by just as much, according to a new study

Child participants doubted themselves and looked to their robot counterparts for guidance

Children Are Susceptible to Robot Peer Pressure, Study Suggests

When robots provided incorrect answers in social conformity test, children tended to follow their lead

The world's oldest cheese has been found in an ancient Egyptian tomb, but after 3200 years of entombment, it probably looked way worse off than this moldy modern sample.

Oldest Cheese Ever Found in Egyptian Tomb

Italian researchers also found traces of disease-causing bacteria in what they believe is probably extremely aged cheese.

The Whitechapel fatberg is a massive clump of congealed fat, wet wipes, diapers and miscellaneous waste

You Can Now Watch the Whitechapel Fatberg’s Decay on Livestream

The toxic clump of sewage oil and waste housed at the Museum of London has, so far, changed colors, ‘sweated,’ hatched flies and grown yellow pustules

Science

New Research

Physics Reveals How to Break Spaghetti Cleanly In Two

Our collective culinary nightmare is over

Stormy weather may have rained on these sea urchins' parade—and sealed their fate

See Shells of Sea Spuds on the Seashore

Hundreds of “sea potatoes”—actually the empty shells of a species of sea urchin—mysteriously washed up on Cornish beach last weekend

If you're feeling doggone lonesome after a poor night's rest, don't fret: the authors say just one good night of sleep can reboot feelings of sociability.

Sleep Deprivation May Cause Infectious Loneliness

A new study found that sleepless nights can make you—and the people around you—feel more socially withdrawn

Study suggests that early humans had opposable, ape-like big toes built for grasping

Researchers Suggest Big Toe Was Last Part of Foot to Evolve

Early hominins’ big toes were equipped for life on the ground and in the trees

New Research

Why Astronomers Want to Look for Earth’s Mini-Moons

A new, powerful telescope in Chile will be able to detect tiny asteroid chunks circling our planet, which could be a goldmine for researchers

New Research

Tools Offer More Complex, Cooperative Picture of Easter Island Society

Basalt axes from one quarry area indicate cooperation between clans, not warfare over resources as previously hypothesized

A French Theme Park Taught Crows To Pick Up Trash

Park hopes that its avian garbage collectors will encourage humans to properly discard their rubbish

Extreme weather events likely had severe consequences, depleting harvests and weakening humans and livestock alike

Animal Fat Found in Clay Pottery Reveals How Ancient People Adapted to Drought

Neolithic farmers switched from cattle to goat herding, abandoned communal dwellings for smaller households to adjust to new climate

Caelestiventus hanseni.

New Research

Rare Desert Pterosaur Fossil Discovered in Utah

The rare Triassic fossil is the most complete early pterosaur ever found, and gives new insight into the evolution of the first flying vertebrates

Cool Finds

Fog Sculptures Are Enshrouding Boston’s Historic Parks

Artist Fujiko Nakaya brings five fog installations to life to mark the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s 20th anniversary

An Andean flamingo looks after a Chilean flamingo chick in a scheme to prompt the birds to breed.

U.K. Heat Wave Triggers Rare Flamingos to Lay Eggs for the First Time in 15 Years

None of the eggs were fertile, but conservation officials have hatched a plan to encourage the flamingos to breed again

Early humans made stone tools out of whichever rocks happened to be lying nearby, ignoring quality in favor of convenience

Laziness May Have Contributed to the Decline of Homo Erectus

Researchers suggest early humans pursued “least-effort strategies” when crafting tools, collecting resources

Coral and its symbiotic algae

New Research

Algae and Coral Have Been BFFs Since the Dinosaur Age

A new study shows that the relationship between coral polyps and zooxanthellae that produces colorful coral reefs began 160 million years ago

An Ediacaran fossil from the National Earth Science Museum, Namibia.

Mysterious, Plant-Like Fossil May Have Been One of the Earliest Animals

New research suggests that soft-bodied organisms called Ediacarans may have been related to an animal of the Cambrian era

Northern Black Widow

New Research

Citizen Scientists Show Black Widows Creeping North In Canada

Study shows online observations can help researchers refine the range maps of many species overlooked by field biologists

Bonobos are known to make at least 38 distinct calls

New Research

Why Humans Are the Only Primates Capable of Talking

New study suggests ape vocalizations vary according to neural abilities, not vocal anatomy

Page 310 of 537