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Smart News / Smart News Science

Fields Medal recipients, from L to R: Caucher Birkar, Alessio Figalli, Akshay Venkatesh, Peter Scholze

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This Year’s Fields Medal Winners Include a Kurdish Refugee and a 30-Year-Old Professor

Peter Scholze, Caucher Birkar, Alessio Figalli and Akshay Venkatesh named recipients of award often described as the Nobel Prize for mathematics

This critter soaks in the heat of a 112 degrees Fahrenheit day in Death Valley.

Death Valley Scorches Its Own Record for the Hottest Month in History

Temperatures averaged a blistering 108.1 degrees Fahrenheit for the month of July

McCartney has long claimed that he wrote the melody to "In My Life," but Lennon stated that his songwriting partner had only contributed to the middle section of the tune. This study suggests they were both wrong

Statistics Offer Answer to Decades-Long Dispute Over Authorship of Beatles Hit

Researchers say there is less than a one in 50 chance that Paul McCartney composed the melody of “In My Life”

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The Science Behind California’s “Fire Tornado”

The spinning mass of smoke filmed near Redding, California, is much taller, wider and lasted longer than average fire whirls

Balding on the lemurs' lower backs indicated frequent itching and scratching associated with rashes caused by a common pesky parasite.

Lemurs Smear Bugs on Their Privates to Ward Off Infection

Lathering up with orange goo from millipede guts might relieve infections, expel parasites in lemurs

New Research

New Map Chronicles Three Decades of Surface Mining in Central Appalachia

The data shows about 1.5 million acres of forest have been affected by surface and mountaintop mining since the 1970s

A new chemical analysis showed that the clothes the mummies were buried in were dyed with cinnabar, a toxic pigment.

These Chilean Mummies Were Buried in Mercury-Laced Red Clothing

The Cerro Esmeralda site, where two human sacrifices were buried, shows traces of cinnabar, a toxic pigment

The Morne du Tamaris Colony in happier days in 1982.

New Research

World’s Largest King Penguin Colony Suffers an 85 Percent Crash

The Morne du Tamaris Colony on Île aux Cochons has dropped from 2 million to 200,000 birds over 30 years

Can Scientists Save an Endangered Marsupial by Breeding Out Its Taste for Poisonous Toads?

Some northern quolls do not eat deadly cane toads. New research suggests their aversion is an inherited trait

This shape, dubbed the scutoid, had no name until researchers found it while modeling how skin cells pack together.

New Research

Introducing the Scutoid, Geometry’s Newest Shape

The scutoid allows skin cells to remain packed tightly together even over curved surfaces

Researchers claim that they "defrosted" two ancient nematodes, which began moving and eating. If the claims hold up, it will be a scientific discovery for the ages

Ancient Roundworms Allegedly Resurrected From Russian Permafrost

Skeptics cite possibility of ancient samples’ contamination by contemporary organisms

MASTODON MAXIMUS. CUV. [Cuvier]; Orra White Hitchcock (1796–1863); Amherst, Massachusetts; 1828–1840; pen and ink and watercolor wash on cotton, with woven tape binding

Art Meets Science

Art, Science and Religion Blend in Exhibition Honoring Illustrator Orra White Hitchcock

Orra’s paintings and drawings depict the natural world in colorful detail

Elephants relax at the Jejane watering hole, with no bees in sight.

New Research

How the Scent of Angry Bees Could Protect Elephants

A new study shows elephants fear bee pheromones, and this fact could keep the pachyderms out of crops

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Europe Applies Strict Regulations to CRISPR Crops

A court has ruled that plants modified with CRISPR technology are subject to the restrictions of the 2001 GMO Directive

A "fossil" that was baked in a lab in about 24 hours.

Scientists Baked a “Fossil” in 24 Hours

The simulation could help researchers gain new insight into the fossilization process—without having to wait 10,000 years

An eroded area of the Medusae Fossae Formation.

New Research

Most of Mars’ Dust Comes From One Place

Erosion of the Medusae Fossae Formation has, over billions of years, likely covered the entire planet in 10 feet of volcanic dust

Ducky day care

Why a Female Duck Was Spotted with a Huge Brood of 76 Ducklings

Think of it as ducky day care

Mars' south polar cap as it appeared to the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) on April 17, 2000. Strong evidence of an underground lake was found nearby.

Compelling Evidence Suggests There’s a Liquid Lake Beneath Mars’ Surface

But do the findings hold water?

Brookhaven National Laboratory, which could host the new beam.

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Scientists Give New Particle Accelerator the Thumbs Up

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine endorses the $1 billion Electron-Ion Collider

Sold: A Rare Copy of Ada Lovelace’s Groundbreaking Computer Algorithm

The manuscript includes Lovelace’s translation of an Italian paper, her copious notes and a formula that is often recognized as the first computer program

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