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Smart News / Smart News Science

New Research

Scratching an Itch Soothes, But Then Your Brain Makes it Worse

Pain overrides itchiness temporarily but neurotransmitters released to cope with that pain reactivate the itch neurons

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Cool Finds

Left-Handed People Have Less Specialized Brains

Diversity means flexibility, even if being left-handed can be super annoying

Admire Rakti exercises on November 3rd, getting set for the fatal race.

Trending Today

A Horse Racing Favorite Died Minutes After Completing the Melbourne Cup

Admire Rakti wasn’t even the only horse to die at the races

A Siberian musk deer two-month old stands next to his father at the Edinburgh zoo — they are closely related to the species just spotted

Cool Finds

Fanged Deer Not Extinct, Still Roaming the Mountains of Afghanistan

The Kashmir musk deer was last spotted in 1948 but now researchers report five recent sightings

A scene from Uma Nagendra's prize-winning dance about how tornadoes affect ecosystems.

Trending Today

Get Down With This Year’s “Dance Your PhD” Winners

Acrobatic human tornadoes and pair-dancing inertial confinement fusion implosions are among this year’s favorites

A baby penguin and its parent greet the disguised rover.

New Research

Rovers Disguised as Baby Penguins Can Quietly Infiltrate Penguin Colonies

Normally wary penguins seem unfazed when there’s a smartly dressed robot in their midst

A worker installs filters on an experimental carbon capture and storage project in Spremberg, Germany, July 19, 2010.

Trending Today

It’s Still Possible to Stop the Worst of Climate Change

Say so long to fossil fuels

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo during its initial unveiling in 2009.

Trending Today

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo Just Crashed in California

The private spaceflight company was testing a new fuel for their experimental spaceship

New Research

Did the Gladiators Drink an Energy Drink Made of Ash?

Gladiators were getting extra calcium in their diet

Cool Finds

We Can Measure How Traffic Vibrates the Earth

Special instruments called geophones help researchers distinguish the signatures of big trucks rumbling down the highway and planes taking off

These are a pretty good idea regardless.

Trending Today

Scientists Are Pretty Sure Survivors Can’t Transmit Ebola Sexually

Research suggests Ebola survivors aren’t infectious, but scientists aren’t ruling it out

New Research

Your Reaction to “Gross” Pictures Can Betray Your Political Beliefs

Liberal and conservative brains show different activity patterns when they look at pictures of things typically thought of as disgusting

Cool Finds

Australia’s Koalas Have Chlamydia, But a New Vaccine Could Save Them

The sexually transmitted disease threatens the health of one of Australia’s iconic marsupials

An artist's impression of the triple-star system of GG Tau-A, which might have the right conditions for planet formation

New Research

This Newly Forming Planet Will Have Three Suns

A triple-star system has two disks of gas and dust that could form planets

President Obama discussing Ebola at a meeting with the UN.

Trending Today

Scientists Who Traveled to Ebola-Infected Countries Are Being Asked to Skip a Big Tropical Medicine Meeting

Researchers from the frontline of the fight against Ebola must cancel their plans to attend an upcoming conference in New Orleans

A slice of tissue from a mini human stomach stained with fluorescent dyes

New Research

Researchers Grew Miniature Human Stomachs from Stem Cells

The tiny lab dish-dwelling organs will help researchers monitor the progression of disease and test new drugs

New Research

Pat Yourself on the Back, America: The U.S. Is Not Freaking Out About Ebola (For the Most Part)

Poll numbers show most Americans aren’t succumbing to the fear over Ebola

Cool Finds

Rainbows Don’t Include Purple Light, So Why Do They Sometimes Seem To?

Supernumerary rings, supernumerary rings, supernummrings

New Research

A Couple’s First Two Kids Make Them Briefly Happier; the Third Not So Much

Older couples get the most joy from their new addition to the family, teens the least

New Research

This Headline Is Trying to Manipulate You, And It’s Working

Bad headlines stick with you, even if you read the story

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