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Smart News / Smart News Science

The sun sets on Mars. From June 7 to 21, Mars will be obscured from Earth by the sun, causing a communications blackout.

Trending Today

NASA Will Lose Contact With Mars for 14 Days This Month

A conjunction with the sun will cause a two-week pause in commands to NASA Mars missions

The little blue pill is nothing like flibanserin, the sexual dysfunction drug for women recently approved by an FDA advisory committee.

Trending Today

Stop Calling Flibanserin “Female Viagra”

As the FDA weighs the merits of a new drug to boost female libido, it’s clear this is not a little blue pill for women

Fossils of an ancient mini beaver suggest it may be related to the modern American beaver (Castor canadensis)

Cool Finds

Mini Beavers Once Roamed Oregon

Fossils of a squirrel-sized from in eastern Oregon may be related to modern beavers

The attack on a female tourist should serve as a reminder that lions are not only wild animals, they're perceptive predators.

Yes, Lions Will Hunt Humans if Given the Chance

The tragic attack at a South AFrican park serves as a reminder that lions are predators and humans are prey

New Research

Chimpanzees Can Learn to Cook

Given a microwave-like tool, chimpanzees become chefs

Male wolf spiders vibrate dead leaves to create purring noises and court females.

Cool Finds

Listen to the Dulcet Purr of a Wolf Spider

Males seduce females by making leaves vibrate

New Research

The Tallest Muir Woods Redwood Is Way Younger Than Scientists Expected

New dating studies show the tree is only 777 years old

Does washing your laundry in warm water really make that much of a difference? Probably not.

The Case for Washing Clothes in Cold Water

Laundry: You’re doing it wrong

Every latrine has it's own unique smell.

These Perfumers Are Analyzing the Stench of Toilets

Fair warning: Toilet chemistry is not for the faint of stomach

New Research

Scientists Have Finally Figured Out Why Swiss Cheese Has Holes

No, it’s not gas from bacteria

New Research

60 NASA Scientists are Trying to Build a Better Parachute

The Supreme Council of Parachute Experts wants to construct a parachute that can help a heavier craft land on Mars

Dog flu spreads nose to nose. The virus can be eliminated by cleaning areas touched by potentially infected dogs.

Trending Today

A New Strain of Canine Flu Is on the Rise

Possible cases of dog flu pop up in 13 states

A female Saiga antelope grazing in Russia’s Black Earth Nature Reserve

Trending Today

Half of the World’s Saiga Antelopes Are Dead From a Mysterious Disease

The already endangered antelope started dying in the thousands this month

New Research

Scientists Just Mummified a Human Leg to Test Ancient Egyptian Techniques

It took 208 days for Swiss scientists to mummify a fresh leg using natron

Cool Finds

Is the Curiosity Rover Behind Weird Methane Readings on Mars?

The debate over methane is causing a stink among scientists

The Egtved girl was a high-born female from the Bronze Age. In her grave in Denmark, she wears a wool dress. Wool textiles and a bronze belt plate that resembles the sun surround her remains.

Cool Finds

What Was Life Like for a Girl in the Bronze Age?

Analysis of a 3,400-year-old burial traces the life story of a Bronze Age female

A satellite photo of the 2011-12 eruption that created Sholan island in the Red Sea.

New Research

Watch a Volcanic Island Form in the Red Sea

Magma troughs and earthquake swarms gave rise to two new islands near Yemen

Unearthed at the Cova Negra site in Spain, skull fragments from a Neanderthal child have telltale punctures in the right parietal region.

New Research

Ancient Carnivores Had a Taste for Neanderthal Meat

Researchers link bite marks on a Neanderthal skull to the fangs of an ancient big cat

Researchers collected this mixture of plankton – small zooplanktonic animals, larvae and single cell protists – in the Pacific Ocean with a 0.1 mm mesh net.

New Research

How Will Climate Change Impact Plankton?

A global plankton survey aims to help us understand how the tiny organisms that live at the ocean surface will fare in a warming world

Mountains don't all look like this.

New Research

Most Mountains Don’t Come With Pointy Peaks

Some mountains actually get wider as you go up

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