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Smart News / Smart News Science

Reality Check: Does Oxytocin Keep Committed Men Away from Other Women?

The latest oxytocin study says the hormone makes committed men stay faithful, but some skeptics cry foul

Invasive brown and black rats feed on the eggs of the Galapagos land iguana.

Ecuador Set To Poison Millions of Rats on Galapagos Islands

Twenty-two tons of tiny blue poison pellets will be used to try to wipe out invasive rats

Lyme disease is caused by bacteria carried by deer ticks.

Chronic Lyme Disease Is Probably Not a Real Thing

New bouts of Lyme disease stem from new infections, not relapses

Fire-fighting boats battle the blaze at BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform.

As BP Set to Plead Guilty for 2010 Spill, Some Good News From Gulf Wildlife

BP may be about to pay the largest criminal fine in U.S. history

Have Bedbugs Been Vanquished At Last?

Bedbugs have terrorized cities long enough, and now a human drug might stop them in their tracks

Male head louse

Lice Evolution Tracks the Invention of Clothes

The evolution of body lice shows that humans began wearing clothes between 50,000 to 200,000 years ago

A functional magnetic resonance image of a brain.

Man in a Vegetative State ‘Talks’ to His Doctors

Using “yes” or “no” questions, researchers ask a vegetative man if he is in pain

Are Humans Getting Intellectually And Emotionally Stupid?

Evolution no longer places intelligence-selecting demands on us, researchers argue, meaning we are slowly but surely regressing intellectually

Since cloning won’t work, maybe we can dress up cats and just pretend.

Endangered Or Extinct Animals Won’t Be Saved By Cloning

Cloning might seem like a panacea solution. Take one animal and make millions! But it’s not that simple

Climate Change May Obliterate Pandas

Panda bears are climate change’s latest potential victims, which threatens to destroy their bamboo forests

A Flourishing Microbial Community Dwells Within Your Belly Button

A team of researchers dug into 60 different people’s belly buttons and found bacterial diversity and microbial mystery

Identical Twins Aren’t So Identical – Which Makes Twin Studies Harder

As twins grow and develop, each will acquire his or her own set of mutations - which could throw a wrench into twin studies

Mother Birds Teach Their Eggs a Secret ‘Feed Me!’ Password

Australian female fairy-wrens don’t even wait until their young are hatched before starting to teach them life skills

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Crocodile And Alligator Jaws Are More Sensitive Than Human Fingertips

Human fingertips are exquisitely sensitive to texture and touch, but they’ve got nothing on crocodilian jaws

How Gigantic, Ancient Cats And Dogs Got Along

Dogs and cats have never been the best of friends, but 9 million years ago they at least lived in harmony together

Celebrating Carl Sagan’s Birthday With the Best Tributes Around

The bright streak shows the ISS passing over Germany.

Having Trouble Finding the ISS in the Night Sky? Have NASA Text You

NASA will email or text you to let you know when the ISS will be in your area

Don Pettit has a lot of cameras.

How Astronauts Take Such Beautiful Photographs in Space

How do astronauts capture such amazing photos? What gear do they use? What problems do they run in to?

Blind Humans Can Learn To Sense Like a Rat With Whiskers

Finger-censor “whiskers” could someday help blind people sense surrounding objects like a rodent

Blind Mole Rats’ Cells Self-Destruct Before They Can Turn Cancerous

Researchers tease out the secret behind blind mole rats’ resistance to cancer

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