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Smart News / Smart News Science

An artistic rendering of the stone chamber where the tubes were discovered

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Say They’ve Discovered a Hidden Chamber Where Elites Used Hallucinogens 2,500 Years Ago

Unearthed in Peru, the small underground room may have been used for rituals involving psychoactive drugs. New research suggests these “exclusive” events were reserved for the elite

Argentine black and white tegus (Salvator merianae) were brought to the United States in the 1990s by exotic pet traders. They've since proliferated in the wild and been deemed an invasive species.

Mysterious Fossil Found in Museum Storage Turned Out to Be a New, Extinct Lizard Species

Today, tegus are considered invasive creatures in Florida, but a new paper suggests they’ve lived in the southeastern United States at least once before—millions of years ago

A new study reveals how Chilean flamingos are so adept at finding food.

Feeding Flamingos Create Underwater Tornado-Like Vortices to Capture Their Prey, Study Finds

Rather than passively filter-feeding, the birds use their heads, beaks and feet to generate motion in the water that funnels invertebrates into their mouths

A new study finds chimpanzees drum against tree roots with rhythm, suggesting they share an evolutionary trait with humans passed down by a last common ancestor.

Researchers Discover That Chimps Drum Rhythmically, Suggesting Human Musicality Originated in Our Last Common Ancestor

Not only do chimpanzees maintain a rhythm while drumming on tree roots, but two subspecies use distinct tempos and techniques, according to a new study

Most babesiosis infections are caused by blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks.

A Potentially Life-Threatening Disease Caused by Ticks Is Expanding to New Parts of America

Babesiosis typically occurs in the Northeast and the Upper Midwest, but new research suggests rare cases are emerging in the mid-Atlantic region including Delaware, Maryland and Virginia

Philadelphia children eating a "three-cent dinner" at school, featured in the 1913 book School Feeding: Its History and Practice at Home and Abroad

American Schools Have Been Feeding Children for More Than 100 Years. Here’s How the School Lunch Has Changed

A new exhibition in Philadelphia explores how nutritional science, technological advances and political debates shaped the foods on schoolchildren’s trays

The researchers conducted static compression tests to measure the force needed to break the eggs in different positions.

This Is the Best Way to Drop an Egg Without Breaking It, According to Scientists

Experiments challenge the commonly held idea that dropping an egg vertically will help prevent it from cracking in a classic school assignment

Dumbo octopuses, like the Opisthoteuthis agassizii seen here during a 2019 dive, are the deepest-living group of octopuses known.

Humans Have Seen Only 0.001 Percent of the World’s Deep Seas, Leaving Most of the Planet a Vast Mystery

Researchers argue that expanding deep-sea exploration is vital to understanding and managing these marine habitats

Grizzly 399 (left) reigned as the "Queen of the Tetons" until her death in October 2024.

Male Offspring of Grizzly 399—the ‘World’s Most Famous Bear’—Killed by Vehicle in Grand Teton National Park

The 5-year-old boar known as Grizzly 1058 was part of a rare litter of four cubs born in 2020

Researchers reveal that some superb starlings form long-term, friendship-like relationships.

These Colorful Birds Form Long-Term ‘Friendships’ by Helping Out With Babysitting, Study Suggests

While scientists have observed animals assisting their relatives, a new study reveals that many superb starlings also form supportive relationships with non-relatives that can last for years

The king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world's longest venomous snake, and it's one of the species that can be neutralized with a new antivenom.

200 Snakebites Later, One Man’s Blood May Hold the Key to a Universal Antivenom

Over two decades, Tim Friede has injected himself with snake venom hundreds of times, and subjected himself to more than 200 bites. Now, scientists are working on an antivenom derived from his antibodies

A Brood XIV cicada in 2008, the last time this group of the insects emerged

Watch for Cicadas: Billions From Brood XIV Will Soon Emerge After 17 Years Underground

The insects from this group were last seen in 2008 and will appear across the eastern U.S. for a brief, dramatic frenzy of mating and dying

Pueblo Bonito is one of the largest "great houses" constructed by the Chacoan people at Chaco Canyon.

New Research

DNA Links Modern Picuris Pueblo Tribe to Ancestors Who Lived in Chaco Canyon Hundreds of Years Ago

Tribal leaders partnered with scientists to confirm their connection to the archaeological site in New Mexico

Before the eruption, scientists saw a wide variety of ocean life around the Tica hydrothermal vent.

Scientists Stumbled Upon an Active Volcanic Eruption in a Mid-Ocean Ridge for the First Time Ever

From a research submersible, scientists saw hardened lava, dead tube worms and orange flashes from an eruption in the East Pacific Rise

The papier-mâché decoys have been placed in a 100-acre field south of the Jackson Hole Airport runway in a bid to attract greater sage-grouse.

Rooted in the American West: Food, History and Culture

Threatened Birds Are Trying to Mate Near a Hazardous Airport in Wyoming. Can Papier-Mâché Decoys Lure Them to Safety?

At Grand Teton National Park, officials have placed handmade look-alikes in a field south of the runway to encourage greater sage-grouse to relocate

An artistic rendering of a magnetar—or highly magnetized neutron star—losing material into space. The magnetic field lines, shown in green, direct the movement of charged material.

Astrophysicists Track Down the Mysterious Cosmic Origins of Gold and Other Heavy Metals in Our Galaxy

Researchers suggest powerful bursts from magnetars—collapsed stars with strong magnetic fields—may have contributed up to 10 percent of all elements heavier than iron in the Milky Way

Scientists analyzed more than 20 years of data on 164 wild mountain gorillas living in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.

For Mountain Gorillas, Being Social Comes With Both Benefits and Drawbacks, Study Suggests

A new analysis of wild gorillas in Rwanda indicates the effects of different social styles are dependent on context

Roughly 230 film reels have been found in storage.

Cool Finds

London Zoo Discovers Hundreds of Old Film Reels Featuring ‘Zoo Oddities’ and Animal Celebrities

Zoo officials are looking for experts to help preserve and digitize the decaying film canisters, which date to between the 1960s and 1990s

A Yangtze finless porpoise appears to "smile" at the Baiji Dolphinarium at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Art Meets Science

Ancient Chinese Poems Reveal the Decline of a Critically Endangered Porpoise Over 1,400 Years

Researchers looked at poetry dating as far back as the Tang dynasty to find that the Yangtze finless porpoise’s range has decreased by 65 percent

Crocodile-like sebecids were known to roam South America after dinosaurs went extinct. Recently found fossils suggest they inhabited the Caribbean as well—and thrived there long after they disappeared on the continent.

Fossils Reveal Enormous, Crocodile-Like Reptiles Survived for Millions of Years Longer Than Previously Thought

New discoveries in the Dominican Republic suggest sebecids roamed the Caribbean as recently as 4.5 million years ago, long after they vanished from South America

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