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Smart News / Smart News Science

Pufferfish Create Underwater Crop Circles When They Mate

There is a chance that it’s only the fine sand the females are after, not the formations’ intricate patterns or symmetry

Centipede Venom Is a More Potent Pain Killer Than Morphine

Of the nine possible sodium ion channels the centipede venom could have affected, it happened to correspond with just the right one for numbing pain

These Jellyfish-Mulching Robots Could Be the Savior of the Seas

These new robots can chew up nearly a ton of jellyfish per hour

How Do Canada Geese Get Ready to Fly?

In the movie Fly Away home that involved a goose shaped plane, but in the wild it’s just a few flicks of the neck.

257,000 Years Ago, a Hyena Ate Some Human Hair (And Probably the Rest of the Person, Too)

The brown hyena who originally planted the evidence most likely ate the person, though it could have scavenged on a dead body

These Mice Sing to Mark Their Territory

A lot of things sing to mark their territory - birds, wolves, howler monkeys. But you can now add mice to that list

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People Have Already Managed to Litter on Pakistan’s New Earthquake-Formed Island

A massive earthquake last week created a new island off the coast of Pakistan

NASA Found Propene, the Chemical Used to Make Your Tupperware, on One of Saturn’s Moons

This new discovery fills in a gap in that chemical line-up, though experts suspect that many more molecular surprises await

What We Can Learn from Whale Breath

Researchers are trying to culture what comes out of blowholes from whales and dolphins, to see if they can use them as diagnostic tools

Krokodil, a “Flesh-Eating” Heroin Substitute Popular in Russia, Just Showed Up in the U.S.

Desomorphine, a cleaner form of the drug, was first concocted by the U.S. in the 1930s as a potential morphine substitute

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Ballerinas’ Brains Are Desensitized to Dizziness

Dancers may reshape their brains with years or training, or people who have a natural ability not to fall over may be most likely to become pro ballerinas

Giant Hornets Proliferated During China’s Heatwave, And Now Have Killed 28 People

Entomologists speculate that the exceptionally warm weather in China allowed the aggressive, deadly hornets to proliferate

Our Phones Are Going to Make Us Sick, But We’re Scared to Live Without Them

Those prone to simulator sickness will have a hard time avoiding phones and computer screens

Water submerged tracts of this Thai forest, cutting off one part from another and creating forest islands.

When a Dam Turned a Forest Into Tiny Islands, Only Rats Were Happy

Although the rate of extinction the researchers observed is startling, it’s unfortunately not surprising

Coastal Animals Have Two Internal Clocks, One for the Sun And One for the Tide

When researchers tamped with sea lice’s internal clocks, the crustaceans were unruffled by the unwinding of their circadian cycles

Football helmet of the late Owen Thomas, a former University of Pennsylvania football player, brought to the hearing on H.R 6172, Protecting Student Athletes from Concussions Act by his mother, Rev. Katherine E. Brearley, Ph.D.

Just Learning About Concussions Doesn’t Make Kids Report Them

How effective are concussion awareness programs at actually getting kids to report their symptoms?

Researchers Hope a Treatment that Creates New Hair Follicles Cures Male Baldness

A specific protein called fibroblast growth factor 9, when overstimulated in mice, increased new hair follicle formation by a factor of two or three

Melting Greenland glaciers will have an effect on the global climate by affecting the strength of ocean circulation patterns. Exactly how much of an effect they’ll have is stlll up in the air.

We Know Humans Are Causing Global Warming; Here Are Some Things We’re Less Sure About

Here, gleaned from the IPCC’s briefing, are some of the things we still don’t know much about

An Incredibly Detailed Size Comparison Chart of Science Fiction Spaceships

What would it look like if you put nearly every famous science fiction spaceship next to one another? This image

Microbes Can Tell Scientists Exactly How Long a Body’s Been Decaying

In addition to helping determine time of death, microbes may be able to tease out causes of death and place of death

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