Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

New Research

How Air Pollution Makes Floods Worse

A better understanding of how aerosols interact with weather could lead to better flood forecasts, fewer floods

An original Tetris arcade game

New Research

Playing Tetris Could Stop Traumatic Memories from Becoming Flashbacks

The visually stimulating game seems to lessen the blow of disturbing events when they are recalled

Jacques Cousteau himself, in diving gear

Trending Today

Frustrated with Shark Week, This Year Biologists Celebrated Jacques Cousteau with #JacquesWeek

The French explorer and conservationist had a very different take on ocean life

Researchers found pieces of dinosaur egg shells at a possible nesting site in Kamitaki, Japan.

New Research

Researchers Just Found a Surprising Stash of Dinosaur Eggshells in Japan

The eggs belonged to a slew of different species and represent the first nesting site discovered in Japan

Cool Finds

Here’s What the Sun Looks Like Through an X-Ray Telescope

All of the wonder of Earth’s closest star, none of the retinal damage

Swiss researchers want to build a spacecraft to eat their tiny satellites after they stop working.

Cool Finds

This Pac-Man Spacecraft Will Devour a Satellite

Swiss researchers are designing a tiny satellite to eat their defunct cube satellite and clean up space junk

Researchers have long debated whether shark repellants actually work.

Do Shark Repellents Really Work?

Mostly not, not even the one made by Julia Child

Adidas designed a shoe with bits of ocean garbage and illegal fishing nets. Would you wear it?

Adidas Just Made a Running Shoe Out of Ocean Trash

The apparel company recently released a prototype that incorporates recycled ocean plastic

Through genetic engineering, researchers are trying to give high-producing black Angus cows cooler white coats to face the changing climate.

Researchers Are Trying to Genetically Engineer Cows to Stay Cool

As the planet warms, researchers are trying to engineer a cow that can beat the heat

In a new video released by the WWF, viewers can glide through the Great Barrier Reef on the back of a sea turtle.

Cool Finds

Researchers Strapped a Go-Pro to a Sea Turtle, and Here’s What They Got

See the Great Barrier Reef from a turtle’s view

As part of a bioweapon experiment, Serratia marcescens (pictured on an agar plate above) was released in San Francisco back in 1950.

In 1950, the U.S. Released a Bioweapon in San Francisco

This was one of hundreds of bioweapon simulations carried out in the 1950s and 1960s

A scanning electron micrograph of Yersinia pestis bacteria

New Research

These Two Mutations Turned Not-so-Deadly Bacteria Into the Plague

The ancestor of the bacterium responsible for the Black Plague isn’t nearly as deadly

Benjamin Rush, prominent colonial physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote a treatise on alcohol in 1784 that still influences how medicine views substance abuse today.

Cool Finds

Meet the Doctor Who Convinced America to Sober Up

Meet Benjamin Rush, father of the temperance movement, signer of the Declaration of Independence

Is air in the country healthier than air in the city? One scientist has a theory as to why that's the case, and it's got nothing to do with pollution.

Cool Finds

Is Country Air Really Better Than City Air?

One scientist thinks it’s because of toxic plant chemicals

New Research

Smelling a Fish May Improve Critical Thinking Skills

New research shows that gross smells can foster a healthy sense of distrust

A collection of fish teeth and shark scales from the Early Cenozoic period.

New Research

After the Dinosaurs Died, Earth Experienced the Age of Fish

The fossil record shows how ray-finned fishes took over the planet’s oceans

NASA is starting to brainstorm where humans should land on Mars.

Cool Finds

Where Should Humans Land on Mars? NASA Wants to Hear Your Suggestions

In October, the agency will hear proposals on where to put a Mars base

New Research

How Many Craters Are There On Earth?

Not as many as you might think

Screenshot from the "Multi-scale Multi-physics Heart Simulator UT-Heart" video

Cool Finds

Travel Inside a Human Heart With This Video

An informative video shows off a research team’s simulation of the beating heart

The Cassini spacecraft took this image of three of Saturn's moons, Rhea, Mimas and Titan.

Cool Finds

See Three of Saturn’s Moons Pose in a Family Photo

While in orbit, Cassini captures a stunning shot of three crescents

Page 429 of 537