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Smart News / Smart News Science

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The Science of How to Survive a Bear Attack

If a bear is coming for you, what should you do? Play dead? Fight back? Climb a tree? Science has the answer

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Sex Itself is Deadly for These Poor Little Male Spiders

For these male spiders, having sex starts an irreversible process that ends with their death

Alternative Medicine Is a $34 Billion Industry, But Only One-Third of the Treatments Have Been Tested

The traditional medicine industry is just as profit-driven as any other

Unless You Like Toxic Chemicals, Skip This Chinese Delicacy

Thirty Chinese preserved egg companies are being shut down for using toxic chemicals to expedite the egg-festering process

Frowning at the Sun Makes You Angrier Overall

One recent study tried to figure out whether frowning at the sun actually makes you angrier overall

Biotech Companies No Longer Have the Right to Patent Human Genes

Companies can still patent DNA they build themselves, methods for isolating genes or specialized knowledge they gain through genetic research

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At Least 400,000 Hungry Seabirds Drown in Fishing Nets Each Year

The gillnets used by local or artisanal fishers are a big threat to seabirds

A tar sands mine in Alberta

2.5 Million Gallons of Toxic Waste Just Spilled in Alberta

Both Alberta and the company responsible, Apache Corp, held off for more than a week on publicly disclosing the information about the spill

A Survey of Women With Broken Bones Shows the Prevalence of Domestic Abuse

One in three women has been the victim of domestic abuse.

Bacteria Makes Squid Sparkly and Sleepy

Bacteria sets up shop in squid to make it sparkle, and also might tell it when to go to sleep

Coffee plant leaves infected with coffee rust.

Half of Central America’s Coffee Harvest This Year Is in Danger

Thanks to climate change, coffee rust’s ideal habitat seems to be spreading as higher elevations and more northern areas become warmer

Five-year-old don Filippino’s abnormally swollen skull.

Florence’s Powerful Medici Family Suffered from Rickets Because of Too Much Time Spent Indoors

Study of the Medici’s children shows that they suffered from rickets, or the bone softening affliction caused by a lack of vitamin D from sunlight or food

Even Astronauts Have Accidents

Peeing in space is way harder than you might think

Jurassic Park’s Stars Would Be Very Different Animals If the Film Were Made Today

In the past 20 years our knowledge about dinosaurs has grown, meaning that some dinosaur-related points depicted in the film are either outdated or wrong

How a Dog Virus Could Wipe Out Tigers

A Galactic GPS System That’s Now in the Works Could Help Our Descendants Navigate Through the Universe

The International Space Station aims to be testing out an interplanetary GPS system by 2017

Hummingbird Feathers Reverberate Like Violin Strings Creating Unique Songs

Dead Male Guppies Can Make Babies

Female Trinidadian guppies store sperm from males that they mated with and use it to make babies long after the males they mated with died

A pair of romantic southern bottletail squids.

Female Squid Use Sperm for Both Reproducing And Snacking

Females may even be eating sperm from unattractive males and fertilizing their eggs with sperm from their favorite mates.

The Hula painted frog

An Extinct Frog Reappears in Israel

In addition to coming back from extinction, the amphibian also represents the only living species of a unique class of frogs

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