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Smart News / Smart News Science

Trending Today

SeaWorld Is Shutting Down Its Orca Breeding Program

But the orcas currently living in its parks will remain there for the rest of their lives

The dorsal side of Oneis tanana, which could be the only butterfly species endemic to the Alaskan Arctic.

New Research

A New Species of Butterfly Was Hiding in Plain Sight

The Tanana Arctic could be a rare butterfly hybrid—and it’s the first such find in nearly 30 years

Aluminized suits are used to reflect heat at the Armed Forces Firefighting School. Chanute Field, Illinois, in 1977.

Trending Today

NASA’s Starting a Fire in Space

How will flames react in microgravity?

William Heirens, aka The Lipstick Killer wrote this plea in lipstick on one of his victim's bedroom walls in 1946. It reads: For heavens sake catch me before I kill more/ I cannot control myself

New Research

CSI Sephora: New Technique Helps Identifiy Lipstick Brands From Crime Scenes

Researchers refine the way forensic technicians collect and analyze lipstick evidence

Maria Goeppert Mayer, co-winner of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics for her work on nuclear shell structures. She is just one of hundreds of women added to Wikipedia by the Wikiproject Women Scientists

Cool Finds

How a College Student Led the WikiProject Women Scientists

Emily Temple-Wood’s Women Scientist project is writing female researchers back into the conversation

A right whale spotted off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada in 2011.

Trending Today

Hundreds of Right Whales Are Returning to Cape Cod

Decades have passed since the endangered species regularly frequented Cape Cod Bay

An artist's rendering of the ESA's Trace Gas Orbiter

Trending Today

Mission to Find Life on Mars Blasts Off

The European Space Agency kicks off its ExoMars project to look for methane and other signs of life in the Martian atmosphere

Cool Finds

Recently Discovered Spider Is Named After Physicist Brian Greene

About the size of the human palm, the “Brian” spider can swim and hunt fish

The northern lights glow over Castle Sands in Saint Andrews, Scotland at 10 P.M. Sunday, March 6, 2016. Captured by Aurorasaurus participant Alex Thompson

New Research

With Breathtaking Pictures, Citizen Scientists Help Map Auroras

Social media users help scientists figure out how to accurately forecast geomagnetic events

Elephants in Kenya's Tana River, Morgan's home territory

Trending Today

Epic Journey Brings First Elephant to Somalia in 20 Years

Meet Morgan, whose 3-week trek shows anti-poaching efforts could be working

A worker sorts plastic in a recycling plant in Bangladesh. A new bacteria could make her job obsolete

New Research

Could Plastic-Gobbling Bacteria Save the Environment?

Japanese scientists discovered a microbe that digests one of the most common plastics

An illustration of galaxy superclusters and cosmic voids, similar to the structure of the BOSS Great Wall

Cool Finds

Meet the BOSS, the Largest Structure in the Universe (So Far)

Astronomers recently discovered a wall of galaxies 1 billion light years across, larger than anything else yet identified in the cosmos

NASA's InSight lander inside a clean room at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Trending Today

NASA Delays the InSight Probe’s Voyage to Mars

Originally scheduled for this month, NASA now plans to launch the probe in 2018

Scientists studied Hydra vulgaris to determine how the animal opens its mouth

New Research

How Hydra Rip Open New Mouths at Every Meal

Scientists finally figured out how the tiny aquatic creature opens its mouth to eat

The palace is surrounded by old-growth forest that seems to contain the oldest trees in Europe.

Found: The Biggest Collection of Ancient Oaks in Europe

The massive, old trees were hiding in plain sight in the woods of a spectacular mansion

Trending Today

The Marine Corps Plans to Airlift Over 1,000 Desert Tortoises

Despite the positive intentions behind relocation, conservationists worry that it will hurt the tortoises more than it helps

Crops certainly can be grown in the popular Hollywood stand-in for Mars, the valley Wadi Rum in southern Jordan.

New Research

Move Over Matt Damon: Scientists Grow Ten Crops In Faux Martian Soil

A new experiment shows that with a little help, soil on Mars could readily support agriculture

A view of the total solar eclipse captured from Donggala, Indonesia.

Trending Today

Check Out These Photos From Last Night’s Solar Eclipse

Parts of the pacific and Indonesia went dark last night as the moon moved directly between Earth and the sun

A diver sorts through the remains of a ship that sank in 1025 A.D. off the coast of Turkey. Though this site is out of the line of most cyclonic activity, similar sunken ships may contain a trove of information for climate scientists.

New Research

Ancient Shipwrecks Offer Clues Into the History of Hurricanes

Patterns in ancient shipwrecks are helping scientists fill in the gaps of the patchy hurricane records

Cool Finds

Don’t Miss Jupiter Shine Bright Tonight

As Earth moves between Jupiter and the sun, the gas giant will outshine the stars

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