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Smart News / Smart News Science

A sloth in its natural habitat in Costa Rica, where sloth populations have decreased in the past decade, according to Rebecca Cliffe, lead author of the research.

New Research

Amid Rising Temperatures, Sloths’ Slowness May Put Their Survival at Risk

The world’s slowest mammal is at risk of extinction by the end of the century due to their low metabolic rate and climate change

Orcas are the oceans’ apex predator, even outranking the great white shark, but their hunting behaviors are still not fully understood by scientists.

Rare Drone Footage Captures Orcas Feeding on Dusky Dolphins

The predatory pod hunts off the coast of Chile and is led by a matriarch called Dakota

The Prometheus tree once stood in this grove on a mountain in Nevada.

How One Researcher Accidentally Killed One of the Oldest Trees in the World

In 1964, a graduate student cut down a bristlecone pine in Nevada. The tree, now known as Prometheus, turned out to be nearly 5,000 years old

Three activists threw soup on two more van Gogh paintings hours after Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland were sentenced to prison time.

Hours After the Protesters Who Threw Soup at a van Gogh Were Sentenced, Three More Activists Repeated the Stunt

Two members of Just Stop Oil staged the original demonstration in late 2022. Group members say the harsh penalties will not deter their efforts

Ning Zeng and other researchers discovered this 3,775-year-old preserved log while conducting a wood vaulting pilot project in Quebec, Canada.

This 3,775-Year-Old Log May Hold the Secret to a Low-Cost Climate Solution

Researchers say burying wood could be a viable method to prevent carbon from reaching the atmosphere

Some species of sea robins, such as Prionotus carolinus, use their leg-like appendages to dig out and taste prey beneath the sand. 

These Fish Have Legs—and They Can Use Them to Taste Prey

Sea robins have “the body of a fish, the wings of a bird and multiple legs like a crab”

Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is known for its extinct and active volcanoes.

New Research

Extinct Volcanoes May Be an Untapped Source of Rare Metals

Unexplored iron-rich magma could help power current and future technologies

The chunks of cheese were found alongside ancient mummies in China in 2003.

New Research

The World’s Oldest Cheese Was Buried in a Chinese Tomb 3,600 Years Ago. Now, Scientists Have Sequenced Its DNA

New research has revealed that the mysterious white substance found alongside three ancient mummies was once a soft cheese called kefir

View from the researchers' airplane flying over Japan

Scientists Have Found Bacteria and Fungi 10,000 Feet Up in the Air

The discovery has implications for human health, since the microbes included some that were still viable, some that could be infectious to humans and others that carried drug-resistant genes

Heart tissues within one of the launch-ready chambers

Heart Tissue Shows Signs of Aging After Just One Month in Space, Study Finds

Scientists sent bioengineered heart tissue samples to the ISS to study how to keep astronauts safe during future long-term space travel

James Fitzjames was a captain aboard the HMS Erebus. Now, researchers have identified his remains with DNA analysis.

DNA Reveals Identity of Officer on the Lost Franklin Expedition—and His Remains Show Signs of Cannibalism

Researchers recently identified James Fitzjames, a captain on the ill-fated HMS Erebus that went looking for the Northwest Passage in 1845

Pesto's fame took off after the aquarium threw him a gender reveal party earlier this month.

Trending Today

Meet Pesto, the Biggest Baby Penguin This Australian Aquarium Has Ever Seen

Most adult king penguins weigh between 31 and 37 pounds. At nine months old, a 51.8-pound Pesto is already looming over his parents

A sea turtle swims in a coral reef in Hawaii. Ocean acidification, found to be on the brink of crossing a boundary into higher-risk territory, can affect coral skeleton formation.

Earth Is on the Brink of Breaching a Seventh of Nine ‘Planetary Boundaries’ That Support Life

A new “health check” for our planet sounds an alarm bell on rising ocean acidification, which is driven by carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere

An illustration of night parrots by Elizabeth Gould, completed in 1890.

Rare and Elusive Australian Bird, Once Thought Extinct for 100 Years, Discovered by Indigenous Rangers and Scientists

Using sound recordings, the team identified the largest known population of the night parrot, a secretive species known as the “Holy Grail of birdwatching”

The Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish (Harriotta avia) has a long snout and a whip-like tail.

Scientists Discover a New Species of Elusive Ghost Shark

Called the Australasian narrow-nosed spookfish, the cryptic species lives deep in the ocean off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia

A Bryde’s whale photographed in the Mariana Archipelago

Mysterious ‘Mechanical-Sounding’ Noise Near the Mariana Trench May Now Have an Explanation

An acoustic survey in 2018 and new analysis with A.I. suggest the sounds are vocalizations from the elusive Bryde’s whale

A team of scientists in the Red Sea captured footage of a big blue octopus hunting with other fish species.

New Research

Watch Octopuses Team Up With Fish to Hunt—and Punch Those That Don’t Contribute

The collaboration across species reveals a surprising social behavior of octopuses, researchers say

An artist imagines what Globidens alabamaensis would have looked like when present-day Texas was still submerged.

Rare Jaw Fossils Discovered in Texas Shed Light on a 20-Foot-Long Mosasaur

Unearthed last year, the remains could reveal new information on the extinct sea reptile, which crushed mollusks and shelled creatures with its large, round teeth

A cross section of a chambered nautilus shell shows the newly defined shape, the "soft cell," repeating outward in a spiral.

Mathematicians Discover a New Class of Shape: the ‘Soft Cell’

If the structures look familiar, it’s probably because nature has been using them for a long time in places like nautilus shells, zebra stripes and onions

A fledgling peregrine falcon practices hunting with a butterfly.

See Ten Striking Images From the Bird Photographer of the Year Awards

The annual contest unveiled its winners, highlighting avian photos that focus on conservation issues, the beauty of birds and their sometimes hilarious behavior

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