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Smart News / Smart News Science

Jemison aboard the space shuttle 'Endeavour' in the Spacelab Japan science module.

This Groundbreaking Astronaut and Star Trek Fan Is Now Working on Interstellar Travel

Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, wants us to look beyond Earth

New Research

Genetic Study Shows Skin Color Is Only Skin Deep

Genes for both light and dark pigmentation have been in the human gene pool for at least 900,000 years

An illustration of two neutron stars merging, ejecting gamma ray streams and clouds of matter that produce heavy elements and light

Scientists Spot the Spark From Ancient Collision of Neutron Stars

The chirp and flash from the event offers clues to the origin of Earth’s precious metals

New research allowed astronomers to see a star forming region on the other side of the galaxy.

New Research

Scientists Peek Across the Galaxy to the “Dark Side” of the Milky Way

Until now, researchers haven’t been able to map half of the galaxy we call home

Intrepid Swiss scientists sampling wastewater at a treatment plant in Zürich

Stinking Rich: Swiss Sewage Contains $1.8 Million in Gold

But don’t start digging through the country’s sewer sludge just yet

Little is known about the relation between these openings and climate change, but by studying them scientists hope to better tease out our impacts on this delicate system.

A Mysteriously Massive Hole in Antarctic Ice Has Returned

These holes are thought to be crucial elements of the currents driving the world’s oceans, and after 40 years, one has formed again

Cool Finds

Watch First Video of Sand Cat Kittens Romping in the Wild

The elusive kittens were documented sitting under a bush in the Moroccan Sahara last April

Jutras came close to the record a few years ago, but his squash split, disqualifying it from competition. This year, he wasn't taking any risks.

Trending Today

Massive Green Squash Smashes Record for World’s Largest

Joe Jutras’ 2118-pound squash makes him the first person to earn the record for largest pumpkin, longest gourd and heaviest squash

Artist's depiction of a pulsar.

Cool Finds

World’s Largest Radio Telescope Spies Its First Pulsars

Still in its trial run, the China’s FAST radio telescope has already identified two new pulsars and perhaps a dozen more

Eight hundred pounds of dynamite exploding.

The Man Who Invented Nitroglycerin Was Horrified By Dynamite

Alfred Nobel–yes, that Nobel–commercialized it, but inventor Asciano Sobrero thought nitroglycerin was too destructive to be useful

A 2014 eruption of Old Faithful, one of its many consistent outbursts

Geologists Map the Plumbing Beneath Yellowstone’s Old Faithful Geyser

Without turning over a stone, geologists imaged the subsurface supply for this iconic geyser

New Research

Researchers Sniff Out the Genes Behind the Smell of the World’s Stinkiest Fruit

The DNA of the durian, it turns out, is very complex and optimized for producing a wretched stench

Anthrax Outbreak May Have Caused Mass Die-off of Hippos in Namibia

More than 100 hippos have been found dead over the past week

The only specimen ever collected of the erstwhile species Phyllastrephus leucolepis, or the Liberian Greenbul

The Elusive Songbird Species That Likely Never Existed

After fruitless hunts for a Liberian songbird, DNA analysis suggests that the species is not new

Older, soot-covered horned larks on the left and cleaner specimens on the right

New Research

Sooty Bird Feathers Reveal a Century of Coal Emissions History

A story of pollution hides in the grime of museums’ birds specimens

The British Navy was a big deal in the 1700s.

Jane Squire and the Longitude Wars

The sixteenth-century debate over how to determine longitude had a lot of participants—and one woman

An African Elephant in Tanzania

The UK May Implement a Near-Total Ban on Its Ivory Trade

Though the ivory trade was banned internationally in 1990, the UK permits the sale of items crafted before 1947

Cool Finds

Stunning Video Captures Humpback Whales Catching Fish With Nets of Bubbles

It’s a complicated but ingenious way to catch a meal

The remnant's of Kepler's supernova imaged with modern instruments.

How a 1604 Supernova Presented a Challenge to Astronomers

The supernova provided proof to Galileo, Kepler and others that the heavens were not fixed–although they were wrong about what caused the bright star

Themira lohmanus

Cool Finds

New Species of Fly Found Breeding on Central Park Duck Droppings

The creatures are likely drawn to the area by the high concentrations of duck poop

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