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Smart News / Smart News Science

Even More Evidence That Football Causes Brain Injury

A new study found football players were nearly four times more likely to have died from Alzheimer’s disease or Lou Gehrig’s disease

Junk DNA Isn’t Junk, and That Isn’t Really News

News that about 80 percent of our DNA is functional might surprise some, but won’t surprise geneticists

10,000 Yosemite Visitors May Have Been Exposed to Deadly Hantavirus

Up to 10,000 people who stayed in Yosemite National Park between June and August may have been exposed to a deadly, mouse-borne hantavirus

Cold War–Era Science Shows Beer Will Survive a Nuclear Apocalypse

In 1955, scientists dropped nukes on beer and soda to see how they held up

An octopus in the eastern Pacific

Global Warming Could Increase Biodiversity

Gentle global warming could be a boon for marine biodiversity

Birds Hold Funerals For Fallen Comrades

Researchers observed that western scrub jays hold funeral reveries for fallen comrades

Today, passenger pigeons’ habitat consists of a few museum display cases around the U.S.

Extinction Rates Are Biased And Much Worse Than You Thought

The IUCN’s Red List of endangered species looks bad, but the reality is probably much, much worse

A 2002 wildfire in Colorado

Fires Are Escaping Our Ability to Predict Their Behavior

Today’s fires are bigger, weirder, and way harder to model

An artist’s conception of a feeding black hole, or quasar.

Astronomers Find More Than 1,500,000 New Black Holes

Recent findings triple the number of known black holes in the universe

The X-ray on the left shows one of the girls’ hands at 2-and-a-half-years old. On the right, her same hand is shown at 12-years old.

50-Year Mystery Surrounding Death of Two Sisters Solved

Doctors discover the genetic cause of an extremely rare, almost always fatal condition called Winchester syndrome

Here’s How Hurricane Naming Works

Who gets to chose hurricane names, and how do they do it?

New Maps Will Keep Ecotourists From Ruining Dolphins’ All-Important Naps

Ecotourists in Hawaii might be inadvertently harming the very dolphin species they hope to interact with by interrupting essential daytime naps

Whodunnit?

It Wasn’t Me – Could Identical Twins Get Away With Murder?

Identical twins can actually get away with crimes by blaming one another

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Geologists Make Lava, Unleash it on New York

Jeff Karson and Bob Wysocki make real lava. Then, they watch it bubble and ooze across upstate New York

Being Selfish Is a Winning Life Strategy, For a While

Dominating and controlling others is the best way to get ahead, until you come up with a like-minded opponent

Kanzi creates his hominid-rivaling tools.

Crafty Bonobo Shows Humans Aren’t the Only Stone Tool-Makers

Om nom nom

Antibiotics May Be Making You Fat

By wiping out gut bacteria, researchers found that antibiotics could make mice fat

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Curiosity’s High-Definition Perspective of its Descent Onto Mars

Bask in the high-definition timelapse images captured by Curiosity as it landed on Mars

Go to Sleep, All-Nighter Cram Fests Don’t Work

A new study shows that sacrificing sleep in favor of studying or doing homework is counterproductive

How Does It Feel To Have Half a Brain? Not Bad, Actually

“Patient R” is missing three key parts of his brain, and yet he’s conscious and self-aware

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