Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

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

None

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

A green sea turtle

Sea Turtles Are Nesting in Record Numbers

Once pushed to endangerment, nesting sea turtle numbers are soaring

Chromosomes Aren’t Actually X Shaped

So much for all that memorizing you did in high school

There Are Obese Dogs, So, Naturally, There Are Dog Weight Loss Camps

For these companions, shedding hair is easy, shedding the pounds, not so much

Rolly-polly trilobite

Meet the First Creature Ever to Roll Up in a Ball for Self-Defense

A species of tiny trilobite has taken the ball-rolling champion lead by millions of years

Scientists Show That Naps Really Are the Best

You should nap before, and after, trying to learn anything

Almaty, Kazakhstan, will be home to a new $102 million dollar biosecurity lab.

This U.S.-Backed Lab Is Meant to Keep Talented Kazakh Scientists From Making Biological Weapons

The unassumingly-named Central Reference Laboratory is slotted to open in 2015 and will securely store and study highest risk diseases

None

The Smell of Newborn Babies Triggers the Same Reward Centers as Drugs

When women catch the scent of a newborn baby, their dopamine pathways in a region of the brain associated with reward learning light up

A map showing the sea floor off the coast of Pakistan*

A Massive Earthquake in Pakistan Just Forced an Island to Climb Out of the Sea

In the wake of a massive earthquake in Pakistan this morning, a new island has emerged from the Arabian Sea

Eagle versus deer

A Wild Golden Eagle Can Take Down a Deer Just As Well As a Trained One

Besides being cool images, the behavior captured on the camera trap is extremely rare for Golden Eagles in nature

Page 507 of 544