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Smart News / Smart News Science

The Southern Pole of Inaccessibility. The thing sticking up in the middle is the bust of Lenin.

These Places Are Actually The Middle of Nowhere

These “poles of inaccessibility” are among the world’s most remote places

An illustration of Washington's imagined deathbed scene, painted about 50 years after his death.

George Washington’s Hard Death Shows the Limits of Medicine in His Time

He’s one of the United States’s most revered figures, but his last hours were plagued by excruciating illness

New Research

99-Million-Year-Old Tick That Feasted on Dino Blood Found Trapped in Amber

Sorry, there’s no DNA left. But the find does provide the first strong evidence that the parasites preyed on dinosaurs

New Research

This Giant Penguin Was the Size of a Human

The ancient mega-penguins waddled around New Zealand some 60 million years ago

What Lurks Below Jupiter’s Great Red Spot?

New results from the Juno spacecraft are helping to unlock the secrets of this centuries-old storm

The reproductive organs of Schlumbergera, known as the Holiday Cactus. This was heady stuff in Erasmus Darwin's time.

Charles Darwin’s Grandfather Was Famous for His Poems About Plant Sex

Erasmus Darwin’s poetics influenced his grandson’s vision of nature

Maria Telkes, known as the "Sun Queen" for her focus on solar energy.

Future of Energy

This 1940s Solar House Powered Innovation and Women in STEM

As far back as the 1940s, people were worried about running out of fuel. The sun seemed like a feasible alternative

Why Pantone’s Color of the Year Is the Shade of Science

PANTONE 18-3838 Ultra Violet is a deep saturated purple, but it doesn’t hold a candle to true ultraviolet

Millions of Migrating Red Crabs Are Coming to Google Street View

The crustaceans are making their brief annual appearance on Australia’s Christmas Island

New Research

Earth’s Mysterious Hum Recorded in the Deep Sea for the First Time

The discovery could help unlock the planet’s deepest secrets

You Don’t Have to Have Synesthesia to “Hear” This Silent Gif

How we perceive the world is the result of the complex intertwining of illusion, synesthesia, and suggestion

Sign the Stars Anywhere on Earth With the First International Astronomy Dictionary For Deaf Communities

The encyclopedic list includes more than 40 space terms ranging from the Moon to exoplanet

New Research

Gaze Into a 530-Million-Year-Old Eye, the Oldest Yet Discovered

Found on an Estonian trilobite, the eye once processed 100 “pixels” of information

Wakaleo schouteni

New Research

New Species of Extinct Marsupial Lion Deepens Their Fierce Family Tree

The dog-sized animal adds more diversity to the history of Australia’s largest predator

New Research

Narwhals Have a Strange Stress Response

When the creatures are frightened, they both flee and freeze

New Research

Air Pollution May Diminish the Benefits of Exercise

You might want to rethink that walk along the smoggy roadway

This is not what the world's first industrial robot looked like.

How Robots Left the Lab and Started Helping Humans

Computers were the size of refrigerators—or larger—but robots were on their way

Artist’s concept of Halszkaraptor escuilliei, the newly discovered dinosaur that blends characteristics of raptors, penguins, swans, and ducks.

New Research

Newly Discovered Swimming Dinosaur Is Delightfully Bizarre

The cartoonish creature blends characteristics of velociraptors, penguins, swans, and ducks

Cool Finds

Little Foot, the Most Complete Australopithecus Fossil, Goes on Display

After 20 years of excavation and cleaning, the 3.67-million year old hominin is ready for her closeup

Trending Today

Scientists Need Your Help Rescuing 100-Year-Old Weather Records

A new citizen-science project needs volunteers to digitize decades of temperature, rain and barometric data from across western Europe

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