Smart News Science

Genes of Ancestral Peanuts May Help Feed the World

Researchers have sequenced the genome of peanuts and its ancient cousins, which could lead to disease and drought-resistant varieties

March 28, 2016

A passenger aboard a commercial flight to Anchorage, AK snapped this picture of the volcano in action.

Alaska’s Most Active Volcano Is at It Again

Pavlof Volcano spews ash 20,000 feet into the air, and scientists warn pilots to steer clear

March 28, 2016

$Just a fraction of the nearly 25,000 pounds of diamondback rattlesnakes displayed at the 2016 Rattlesnake Roundup in Sweetwater, Texas.$

Controversial Texas Rattlesnake Roundup Nets Largest Catch to Date

One of the world’s largest rattlesnake roundup bagged nearly 25,000 pounds of rattlers this year

March 25, 2016

Weird Animals

"Missing Link" Cave Fish Walks Like a Salamander

A fish that wiggles up waterfalls may help researchers understand how life shifted from water to land

March 25, 2016

The Tribeca Film Festival injected even more controversy into the anti-vaccine "debate" when it decided to show a film by the movement's most polarizing figure.

UPDATE: The Tribeca Film Festival Changes Course, Will Not Screen Film About the Discredited Anti-Vaxx Movement

The controversy shows the film isn't immune to unfounded fears about vaccination

March 25, 2016

The London Underground Has Its Own Mosquito Subspecies

Take a bite out of this strange evolutionary example

March 25, 2016

The Cure for Lower Back Pain? Mindfulness and Therapy

Mindfulness-based stress relief and cognitive behaviorial therapy work better than conventional treatments in patient trials

March 24, 2016

Volcanic activity in the moon billions of years ago may have caused its poles to shift.

Ancient Volcanoes May Have Shifted the Moon’s Poles

Ice deposits point to the moon’s old poles

March 24, 2016

The bright spots of Occator Crater are shown in enhanced color in this view from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

New NASA Images Shed Light on Ceres’ Bright Spots

Yet the dwarf planet serves up fresh mysteries

March 23, 2016

Prairie Dogs: The Fiercest Killers in the West

New study reveals white-tailed prairie dogs attack and kill ground squirrels with no provocation

March 23, 2016

Each year, thousands of California sea lions flock to the docks at Oregon's Port of Astoria.

An Oregon Port Is Using Inflatable Air Dancers to Scare Off Pesky Sea Lions

The car dealership staple is now a marine mammal scarecrow

March 22, 2016

Some of the coral bleaching near Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef

Age of Humans

Massive Bleaching Event Hits the Great Barrier Reef

Warm ocean temperatures have impacted large swaths of the Great Barrier Reef in the last month, part of a worldwide coral die-off

March 22, 2016

NASA Spies a Supernova’s First Shockwave

Astronomers spot the first flash of a distant supernova in visible light

March 22, 2016

Climate Change Makes For Tastier Wine

Global warming + wine grapes = true love…for now

March 22, 2016

Perhaps Magnolia rzedowskiana should be renamed Magnolia interneta.

Two New Flower Species Were Discovered Online

These naturalists didn’t know one another—but that didn’t keep them from discovering two new magnolias together

March 21, 2016

The green object is the comet 252P/LINEAR as it passed by the Larger Megellanic Cloud.

A Pair of Comets Are Making a Record-Breaking Pass by Earth

This is the closest a comet has come in 246 years

March 21, 2016

You can thank William Perkin for that garish dress your best friend will make you wear at her wedding.

How Malaria Gave Us Mauve

Tropical diseases and coal tar have a lot to do with brightly-colored clothing

March 21, 2016

Weird Animals

Storks Move to a Trashy Neighborhood

White storks in Portugal and Spain are forgoing thier annual migration to Africa to pig out in landfills

March 18, 2016