Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

You Can Be Really Good at Certain Skills Without Having Any Idea How They Work

How well do you know the tools you use every day?

A more Earthly Mordor.

Which U.S. City Most Resembles Mordor? A British Climate Scientist Found Out

Mordor is basically Los Angeles

Why Do Moose Fight So Much?

The point isn’t actually to gore the other moose with your antlers, but rather to push harder and show that you’re stronger

Without Nutrients From Conventional Farms, Yields of Organic Crops Could Go Down

Many of the nutrients flowing through organic farms still ultimately derive from conventional farms

This part of the planet would have looked a whole lot different.

America Was Almost Two Separate Continents

The east and the west were nearly different continents

Seattle Seahawks Fans Caused an Earthquake This Week

Seattle fans take pride their stadium and ability to be loud. But to anyone’s knowledge, the 12th Man causing an earthquake is a first

A mugger crocodile balances twigs on its nose to tempt birds

Crocodiles Balance Twigs on Their Heads to Lure Nest-Building Birds

While crocodiles and alligators are stereotyped as “lethargic, stupid and boring,” researchers say the reptiles are more cunning than they seem

All turnips, all the time.

The Moon: The Only Place in the Universe Anyone’s Excited About Turnips

Someone at NASA has a real thing for turnips

This Curious Eagle Stole a Video Camera And Filmed Its Bird’s-Eye View of the World

A feathery theif scooped up a wildlife video camera and took it on a 70-odd-mile ride

Many Animals, Including the Platypus, Lost Their Stomachs

Not only did those animals toss their stomachs out with the evolutionary garbage, they burned the genetic instructions, too

Guadalupe White Shark

Great White Sharks Are Being Killed Before They Can Become Truly Gigantic

Sharks aren’t shrinking, they’re just being hunted and inadvertently killed by fishing nets so often that they’re no longer living long enough to grow up

What’s the Air Force’s Secretive Space Drone Been Doing in Orbit for the Past Year?

The Air Force’s experimental space drone has been in orbit for a year, and no one really knows why

Baby Mice Can Inherit Fear of Certain Smells From Their Parents

But researchers are far from pinning down the mechanism by which this may be possible, or what specific roles epigenetics plays in human disease

No no no, Guurr, put the mammoth tusk over there, it helps balance the energy.

Neanderthals May Have Practiced the Ancient Art of Interior Design

Excavations showed that Neanderthals may have designed their homes with purpose

Eligible bachelors

Your Online Dating Profile Picture Should Be With Other People

Skip the shirtless bathroom selfie and go with a group shot for your next online dating profile

Koala

Why Koalas’ Mating Bellows Sound More Like a Choking Tiger, Less Like a Small, Cuddly Herbivore

Koalas use a special pair of “fleshy lips” located outside of their larynx to produce these deep grunts

Cats Recognize Their Owner’s Voice But Choose to Ignore It

Researchers think cats’ dismissive attitudes are a product of their evolutionary history over the past 9,000 years

Strategy for pumping while seated.

What’s the Best Way to Swing a Playground Swing?

There is physics everywhere, including on the playground

Chelodina mccordi, hunted to near extinction for the pet trade.

Poachers Are Using Scientific Papers to Guide Them to Their Next Victims

For scientists who discover new species, the prospect of their science being used to gather and sell the species they described is a strange one

Nope nope nope

If Cockroaches Are Conscious, Would That Stop You From Smushing Them?

Research has shown cockroaches are adept communicators, and can even show individual personality

Page 500 of 544