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Smart News / Smart News Science

Ned (right) likely won't be able to reproduce unless another left-coiling snail is found.

A Rare, Left-Coiling Snail Needs Help Finding a Mate. New Zealanders Are Looking for Its 1-in-40,000 Match

Known as Ned, the creature needs a fellow left-coiling garden snail to reproduce—but the species almost always has shells that coil on their right side

An illustration of a Pterodactylus hatchling struggling in a tropical storm

Baby Pterosaur Fossils Reveal Mid-Flight Injury and Watery Death, Helping Solve a Paleontological Mystery

A 150-million-year-old fossil hotspot in southern Germany yields an astounding number of well-preserved juvenile pterosaurs, and scientists wondered why it contained fewer adults

Subtly different brain areas light up in response to viewing certain colors, a new study suggests.

Do We See the Same Colors as Others? Study Suggests Brains Respond to the Same Hues in Similar Ways

Using MRI scans, researchers found that participants’ patterns of brain activity were alike when looking at certain colors. But people can still experience those colors differently

Alsek Glacier disconnected from the shoreline of Alsek Lake sometime this summer, transforming a mountain known as Prow Knob into an island.

Glacial Melting in Alaska Has Created a New Island

Alsek Glacier disconnected from a mountain called Prow Knob sometime this past summer, making way for Alsek Lake to surround the landmass

Researchers directly dated dinosaur eggs, which had filled with calcite crystals, in China.

Paleontologists Directly Date Dinosaur Eggs for the First Time, Shedding Light on the Cretaceous World 85 Million Years Ago

Using uranium-lead dating, researchers calculated the age of the eggs, rather than the sediments around them, at the Qinglongshan site in China

An adult spotted lanternfly on a leaf in Pittsburgh

Swarm of Invasive Spotted Lanternflies Shows Up on Weather Radar Around Washington, D.C., Meteorologists Say

Using a variety of radar characteristics, scientists suggest the irregular detection was caused by bugs, instead of normal weather patterns

Saturn will be at its brightest on September 21. 

Here’s How to See Saturn at Its Best and Brightest This Month

The giant planet will enter opposition, when the Earth will be between Saturn and the Sun, this weekend

The researchers studied the genomes of thousands of ant specimens stored in museum collections.

Fiji’s Ants Are Struggling. Scientists Say They’re Part of the Broader ‘Insect Apocalypse’

New research finds that 79 percent of Fiji’s endemic ant species—those that are native to and only found on the archipelago—are in decline

An artistic rendering of NASA's DART spacecraft approaching Dimorphos.

Asteroid-Deflecting Missions May Need to Hit Asteroids in the Perfect Spots to Prevent Future Collisions

NASA’s DART mission proved we are able to change an asteroid’s path by smashing a spacecraft into it, but exactly where we hit a rocky body is important

A common octopus (Octopus americanus) raises its arm in southern Florida.

Scientists Map the Ways Octopuses Use Their Complex Arms, Revealing Preferences for Certain Tasks

The cephalopods appear to favor using their front arms, according to a new study, though their back arms help with locomotion

Some of the barrels off the coast of Los Angeles are surrounded by mysterious white halos in the sediment.

Metal Barrels Dumped Off the Coast of Los Angeles Are Encircled by Mysterious White Halos—and Scientists Think They Finally Know Why

At least some of the barrels contain caustic alkaline waste, which has made the surrounding ecosystems inhospitable to most life forms, a new study suggests

A sheep jaw bone was one of the samples analyzed in the new study.

New Research

Large Groups Came Together for Grand Feasts at the End of the Bronze Age in Britain

After analyzing bone fragments found in millennia-old trash piles, researchers say that people may have brought livestock from far and wide to consume in the south

The Perseverance rover sampled Cheyava Falls, a rock with "leopard spots," on Mars last year.

NASA Discovers ‘Clearest Sign’ Yet of Ancient Life on Mars in a Rock Studied by the Perseverance Rover

Minerals in the rock might have been produced by microbes in chemical reactions, but researchers say they’ll need to examine the sample more closely to know for sure

An illustration of the ultrasound helmet

New Helmet-Shaped Device Could One Day Treat Conditions Such as Parkinson’s Without Invasive Surgery, Scientists Suggest

In a first-of-its-kind achievement, researchers non-invasively and precisely directed ultrasound beams to target a location deep within the brain

Joro spiders are essentially harmless to humans and pets, but scientists are concerned about their impact on native species.

Scientists Want Your Help to Track the Spread of Invasive Joro Spiders at Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The invasive arachnids were first spotted in the park last year, and now, researchers hope to keep tabs on when and where they occur

GRB 250702B was spotted in July.

Astronomers Discover Unusual, Long-Lasting Gamma-Ray Explosion Outside Our Galaxy That Appeared Several Times Throughout a Day

The burst seems to have been caused by a highly extraordinary event, but scientists don’t yet know exactly what that could be

Pope Leo inaugurated the Vatican's new ecological complex on September 5, taking time to meet some of the animals who live on the property in Castel Gandolfo, Italy.  

The Vatican Puts Environmental Preaching Into Practice at New Ecological Center in Italy

The 136-acre Borgo Laudato Si has a greenhouse, farm animals and educational facilities

Many rodents have nails on their thumbs and claws on the rest of their fingers. A new study suggests this trait might have been key to their world domination.

Rodents Conquered the World With the Help of Their Thumbnails, Study Suggests

The trait might have given rodents greater manual dexterity, allowing them to access new foods, such as nuts

The vaccine can be administered to koalas in a single dose.

A New Vaccine Could Help Save Australia’s Beloved Koalas From Chlamydia, and It Just Got Approved

The disease causes blindness, infertility, severe urinary tract infections and death in the iconic, furry marsupials, which are also threatened by habitat loss

Scott Adams, director of the Exotic Zoo, holds a casque-headed iguana. Eight hatchlings were produced at the zoo this summer without a father.

‘Once in a Lifetime’: Rare ‘Virgin Birth’ of Eight Iguana Babies Surprises Zookeepers in England

A female casque-headed iguana produced live hatchlings even though she has never shared an enclosure with a male

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