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Smart News / Smart News Science

Researchers are investigating oyster "blood" as a potential new treatment for antimicrobial-resistant pathogens.

Oyster ‘Blood’ May Be the Secret Weapon in Our Fight Against Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs, Study Finds

In lab experiments, a protein found in the Sydney rock oyster made some antibiotics more effective and killed several types of illness-causing bacteria

The head of Bathynomus vaderi, a newly described species of giant isopod found in Southeast Asian waters

Researchers Identified a New ‘Supergiant’ Crustacean With 14 Legs—and They Named It After Darth Vader

In recent years, the deep-sea giant isopod has also become a seafood delicacy in Vietnam, where it was discovered

LouLou, an elephant at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, was one of five that the Nonhuman Rights Project claimed in a lawsuit should be able to live in a sanctuary.

Elephants Aren’t People and Can’t Sue to Leave a Zoo, Colorado’s Top Court Rules

The court rejected a case to send five African elephants to a sanctuary, saying they have no legal right to demand release under habeas corpus

When a Japanese aquarium closed for a six-month renovation project, a sunfish named Mambo stopped eating and began rubbing up against the side of its tank. Aquarists wondered if the creature was lonely. (Mambo is not pictured.)

A Sunfish Got ‘Lonely’ When Its Aquarium Closed for Renovations. Then, Staff Found a Creative Way to Cheer It Up

The solitary fish named Mambo stopped eating and seemed to be missing its human visitors—so aquarists attached photos of human faces and uniforms to the side of its enclosure

The magnetic north pole, distinct from the geographic North Pole, is the point where Earth’s magnetic field lines converge.

Earth’s Magnetic North Pole Is Shifting Toward Siberia and Raising Questions About Unusual Movement

Scientists released an update to a model that maps the ever-moving pole and has significant implications for navigation systems

Researchers from the the Polytechnic University of Milan are mapping the castle's subterranean structures.

Cool Finds

Secret Passageways Recorded in Leonardo da Vinci’s Sketches Discovered Beneath a Medieval Castle in Milan

Using ground-penetrating radar and laser scanners, researchers identified subterranean structures just a few feet below the ground. The pathways may connect Sforza Castle to a nearby basilica

Parts of the deep Pacific Ocean are covered in metallic lumps known as polymetallic nodules. A study published last year suggested they produce oxygen without sunlight.

Scientists Who Found Mysterious ‘Dark Oxygen’ on the Ocean Floor Plan a New Expedition, Hoping to Settle Disputes

Last year, the team made headlines when it published a paper describing how metal lumps at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean seemed to produce oxygen without sunlight

An artist’s visualization of WASP-127b

Astronomers Discover Supersonic Winds on a ‘Puffy’ Exoplanet, Forming a Record-Breaking Jet Stream

Moving at roughly 20,505 miles per hour along the distant world’s equator, it’s the fastest known jet stream that wraps around a planet

The next several weeks will give skywatchers a chance to see many planets at once.

How to See Six Planets Lined Up in the Night Sky This Month—and Glimpse a Rare Seven-Planet ‘Parade’ in February

While the planets are technically always “aligned” along the same plane in our sky, seeing so many at once is a special opportunity

Researchers discovered 614 stone plaques and fragments at Vasagård West, an archaeological site on the Danish island of Bornholm.

New Research

Neolithic Farmers May Have Buried These Mysterious Stones to Bring Back the Sun After a Volcanic Eruption

Using ice core samples, researchers linked a natural disaster with a trove of nearly 5,000-year-old artifacts discovered at an archaeological site in Denmark

Elephants, bats, rabbits and other mammals have exceptional hearing—and their outer ears may be a key reason why.

Why Do Mammals Have Outer Ears? Scientists Are Getting Closer to Solving the Mystery

Two new studies offer insights into the evolution and development of external ears, which appear in humans and other mammals but aren’t found in reptiles, birds or amphibians

Hand-drawn illustration of two of the seven sampled molars from Australopithecus

Ape-Like Human Ancestors Were Largely Vegetarian 3.3 Million Years Ago in South Africa, Fossil Teeth Reveal

Scientists suggest meat consumption was pivotal to humans’ development of larger brains, but the transition probably didn’t start with Australopithecus, according to a new study

A section of the new photomosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy, which features 600 fields of view in total from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Check Out the Hubble Space Telescope’s Stunning New View of the Andromeda Galaxy

The full image includes some 2.5 billion pixels compiled from observations spanning more than 1,000 orbits around Earth

Fossilized feces, also known as coprolites, are helping scientists in New Zealand peer back in time.

Fossilized Poop Reveals How Extinct, Flightless Birds Helped Spread New Zealand’s Colorful Fungi

The upland moa was likely drawn to the fungi because of their resemblance to berries, scientists say, allowing the creature to fill a role typically played by mammals

President Donald Trump holds up an executive order. He signed dozens of executive orders on his first day in office, undoing many of his predecessor’s policies.

President Trump Orders the U.S. to Exit the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Agreement on His First Day in Office

The actions will take effect in a year, reinstating withdrawals he had set in motion during his first term

A new study on "contagious urination" only looked at captive chimpanzees, but researchers suspect the phenomenon may also exist in the wild.

For Chimpanzees, Peeing May Be Contagious—Just Like Yawning Is for Humans, Study Finds

Scientists suggest captive chimpanzees engage in ‘socially contagious urination’—that is, when one primate starts peeing, others quickly follow suit

The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii recorded the highest annual jump in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels since its records began in 1958.

Hawaiian Observatory Clocks Highest Annual Jump in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Since Its Records Began 67 Years Ago

The change measured by the Mauna Loa Observatory was likely driven by wildfires and continued burning of fossil fuels, scientists say

An illustration of Prototaxites in the early Devonian landscape, roughly 400 million years ago.

Giant, Mysterious Spires Ruled the Earth Long Before Trees Did. What Exactly Are These Odd-Looking Fossils?

For more than 150 years, scientists have debated whether Prototaxites—which stood roughly 24 feet tall and 3 feet wide—were an early lichen or fungus, like a “giant mushroom”

Archaeologists and Masai landowners conducted excavations at Engaji Nanyori in Tanzania.

Homo Erectus Thrived in a Desert, Study Finds, Suggesting the Early Humans Could Adapt to Extreme Environments

New research suggests modern humans aren’t the only hominin species capable of “ecological flexibility”

Starship lifts off on January 16, before undergoing a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" roughly eight and a half minutes into the flight.

SpaceX’s Starship Explodes in Its Seventh Test Flight, With Falling Debris Putting on a Fiery Show

The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, was successfully caught in the launch tower’s mechanical arms for only the second time

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