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Smart News / Smart News Science

Saturn's hazy moon Titan

New Research

Purple Haze: Alien Atmospheres Recreated In the Lab

By combining various gases with plasma, researchers are learning about the haze around distant planets

About 13 percent of Americans over the age of 12 use antidepressants, but how well—or whether—they work is still a question for many patients.

Major Study Finds Antidepressants Work, But May Have Limitations

A meta-analysis of existing trials suggests that the drugs are mostly effective on a short-term basis for patients suffering from acute depression

The oldest glacier in the Alps is protected by special white blankets to prevent it from melting.

This Swiss Town Is Protecting Its Glacier With a Blanket

But a high-tech solution might be on the way

New research sheds light on the stick spider's evolutionary history in Hawaii.

These Curious Spiders Evolved the Same Way Over and Over and Over Again

A new study suggests the stick spider evolved the same way in multiple different places

New Research

Unraveling the Genetics Behind Why Some People “See” Sound and “Hear” Color

Researchers find several genes that regulate the wiring for synesthesia in the brain

Two Antarctic Penguins Took an Adorable ‘Selfie’

They were investigating a camera belonging to an expeditioner with the Australian Antarctic Division

An artist's illustration of the Tiangong-1 space lab in orbit.

Trending Today

Five Things to Know About China’s Falling Space Station

For one, it’s exceedingly unlikely to cause you harm

Never-Before-Seen Mineral Found Inside a Diamond

The diamond acted as a container, keeping a piece of calcium silicate perovskite stable as it moved towards the Earth’s surface

The eight cyclones orbiting Jupiter's north pole.

New Research

New Juno Data Gives Unprecedented Glimpse Beneath Jupiter’s Stormy Shell

The massive planet’s storm go much deeper than previously suspected and its interior rotates nearly as a solid mass

Photographers and locals are witnessing what's called "blue ice" near Lake Michigan.

Huge Chunks of Blue Ice Appear on Lake Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac

Blue ice isn’t actually blue, it just appears that way because of how light is reflected on it

Storm Emma has caused one of the UK's largest mass strandings of sea critters along the North Sea coast.

Tens of Thousands of Sea Creatures Wash Up on UK Shores Following Freezing Weather

Piles of starfish, crab, mussels and lobsters collected along the North Sea coast

Thismia neptunis

Cool Finds

After 150 Years, This Bizarre Plant Was Rediscovered in Malaysia

Thismia neptunis spends most of its life underground, only making a rare appearance to bloom

This image shows curved sand dunes but also a strange pattern of boulder piles on the landscape of Mars.

Striking Mars Image Shows Strange Boulder Piles and Undulating Sand Dunes

Though the image looks otherworldly, the likely processes behind these oddities also happen on Earth

U.S. Lifts Ban on the Import of African Elephant Trophies

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said that it will now evaluate big-game permits on a ‘case-by-case basis’

Experts speculate this why toad doesn't have a face.

Why Doesn’t This Toad Have a Face?

A graduate student and herpetologist turns to Twitter for answers

New Research

No, Your Nose Isn’t as Big as That Selfie Makes It Seem

If you take a selfie from just 12 inches away, it may make your nose look 30 percent bigger

An artist's impression of the tiny bird.

127-Million-Year-Old Baby Bird Fossil Offers Peek Into Ancient Avian Development

The baby enantiornithe had a soft sternum and likely could not fly

New Research

Termites Are Moving in With Cockroaches, Taxonomically

The wood-munching critters are technically just social roaches

Johannes Vermeer, 'Girl with a Pearl Earring,' c. 1665

Scientists Study ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ in Hopes of Finding How Vermeer Painted His Masterpiece

The enigmatic work was last examined—and restored—in 1994

The researchers found that the Danger Islands have 751,527 pairs of Adélie penguins, more than the rest of the entire Antarctic Peninsula region combined.

Scientists Discover “Super-Colony” of 1.5 Million Adélie Penguins in Images From Space

In other areas of the Antarctic, the black and white birds are in decline—but on the Danger Islands, they thrive

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