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Smart News / Smart News Science

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide uses a vacuum cleaner aboard the ISS. A new study suggests the space station's sterility may be harmful to astronauts' health.

Is the ISS Too Clean for Astronauts’ Health? New Study Finds the Space Station Lacks Microbial Diversity

Humans have evolved alongside microbes in Earth’s environment that help strengthen our immune systems. But sterile living conditions can reduce that beneficial exposure

In October 2024, scientists created dozens of man-made nests and deposited 300,000 Chinook salmon eggs. Now, those eggs are hatching.

Chinook Salmon Are Swimming in This California River for the First Time in More Than 80 Years

The juvenile fish recently hatched from eggs that scientists deposited in the gravelly riverbed of the North Yuba River last fall

Cells producing the NOVA1 protein are shown in green in the brain of a mouse. A specific variant of this protein is unique to humans, and researchers suggest it is linked to spoken language development.

Scientists Identify a Gene Linked to Spoken Language, and It Makes Lab Mice Squeak Differently

A new study suggests the unique human version of the NOVA1 protein developed after our ancestors split from Neanderthals on the evolutionary tree, and it might have given us a competitive edge over our relatives

Mother polar bears spend months inside snowy dens with their cubs. Then, the family emerges together in the spring.

Rare Footage Shows Baby Polar Bears Emerging From Their Den in the Arctic

In a new study, researchers used remote cameras and data from GPS tracking collars to learn more about this vulnerable period in the early lives of these marine mammals

A planet alignment photographed on June 23, 2022, featuring the moon as the brightest object

Seven Planets Will Gather in the Night Sky This Weekend. Here’s What to Expect During the Rare Alignment

While such a lineup is uncommon, the event might not look exactly how you’re imagining it

Athena launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday.

Athena Spacecraft Launches to the Moon, as Intuitive Machines Aims for Historic Second Lunar Landing

The American company achieved the first successful moon landing by a private spacecraft last year. Now, it has sent a new mission to the south pole, carrying science instruments for NASA

Nutria have voracious appetites for vegetation, leading them to destroy wetland ecosystems.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wants You to Eat These Giant, Invasive Rodents

As part of National Invasive Species Week, the agency is calling on Americans to “eat the invaders,” including swamp-dwelling nutria

Field zoologist Andrew Rapp caught an adult female Appalachian grasshopper on the side of the road in Augusta County, Virginia.

Biologist Spots Rare, Flightless Grasshopper in Virginia for the First Time in Nearly 80 Years

The last time anyone in the state had officially documented the Appalachian grasshopper was in 1946, and the species was once thought to be extinct

The impact risk associated with asteroid 2024 YR4 rose and fell in the months following its discovery. The red dots represent the possible locations of the space rock on December 22, 2032, while the yellow dot represents its most likely location.

The ‘Riskiest Asteroid Ever’ Is No Longer a Threat as Impact Probability Drops to Near Zero

As astronomers predicted, asteroid 2024 YR4 is not expected to hit Earth in 2032. This week, NASA gave the “all clear”

A crocodile wears a satellite tracker in Queensland, Australia. Scientists monitored the reptiles for 15 years and recorded their body temperatures.

Crocodiles in Australia Are Shifting Their Behavior Because of Climate Change, and It Might Harm Their Ability to Hunt

A new study finds that as temperatures rise, the animals are getting hotter, spending less time diving and putting more effort into cooling off

Mars, known as the red planet, might have gotten its hue from a different mineral than scientists once thought.

The Red Dust on Mars Might Be a Different Mineral Than Scientists Thought, Shedding Light on the Planet’s Past

A new study suggests the iron oxide responsible for the red planet’s distinctive hue is ferrihydrite, pointing to the bygone presence of water, an important ingredient for life

The "wooly devil" has fuzzy foliage and maroon flowers made up of conspicuous ray petals.

Meet the ‘Wooly Devil,’ the First New Plant Genus Discovered in a National Park Since 1976

A volunteer spotted the tiny, fuzzy plant with maroon florets while exploring the remote northern corner of Big Bend National Park in Texas

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches on November 18, 2024. Debris that recently landed in Europe came from a Falcon 9 launch this month.

SpaceX Rocket Stage Burns Up Over Europe and Crashes in Poland, While Blue Origin Debris Washes Ashore in the Bahamas

The SpaceX rocket failed to deorbit properly, and the Blue Origin debris had already landed as planned in the ocean

Shepherd Chine beach on the Isle of Wight, near where the footprint was discovered.

Cool Finds

Fossil Tour Guide Discovers Giant, Purple Dinosaur Footprint While Walking Along a U.K. Beach

The roughly three-foot-long, clay print speaks to the Isle of Wight’s rich paleontological history, but it will probably disappear within a couple of months due to exposure

Shadow (left) and Jackie (right) are incubating three eggs for the second year in a row. Their nest is perched 145 feet off the ground in a Jeffrey pine near Big Bear Lake in Southern California.

Watch California’s Internet-Famous Bald Eagles Tend to Three New Eggs, Expected to Hatch Soon

Last year, the mated pair Jackie and Shadow also incubated three eggs—but none of them hatched. This year’s “pipping period,” when chicks may break out of their shells, begins in early March

A new study suggests lab mice will open the mouths and pull on the tongues of their unconscious companions.

Lab Mice Appear to Offer ‘First Aid’ Care to Their Unconscious Companions, Even Pulling on Their Tongues

A new study finds that mice will sniff, lick and pull the tongue of other mice that are under anesthesia, serving to open their airways

Dolly was a female sheep—and the first mammal ever cloned from an adult cell. Her preserved remains are on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

On This Day in History

Why Scientists Kept the Birth of Dolly, the World’s First Cloned Mammal, a Secret for Seven Months

The scientific breakthrough, announced on this day in 1997, proved that geneticists could clone an adult mammal, giving rise to a new era of ethical debate and experimentation

Plains-wanderers are difficult to spot because their feathers serve to help them blend in with Australia's grasslands.

Researchers Use A.I. to Find an Elusive and ‘Odd’ Australian Bird. It Hadn’t Been Recorded in the Area Since 1989

Once abundant throughout southeastern Australia, the critically endangered plains-wanderer is now on the brink of extinction

An oarfish surfaced in Playa El Quemado, Mexico, earlier this month.

Cool Finds

See a Deep-Sea Oarfish Caught Alive on Video in a Rare Encounter on a Beach in Mexico

In Japanese folklore, appearances of these elusive marine creatures dubbed ‘doomsday fish’ are believed to foreshadow earthquakes, though scientists found no strong relationship between these events in a recent study

An artist's illustration portrays the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, known as Sagittarius A*.

James Webb Telescope Reveals a Dazzling Light Show From the Milky Way’s Black Hole

Unpredictable bursts of light are pulsing from the debris surrounding Sagittarius A*, offering new insights into the mysterious behavior of the most massive object in our galaxy

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