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Smart News / Smart News Science

When an asteroid struck Earth about 66 million years ago, it wiped out some 80 percent of the planet's animals, including all of the non-avian dinosuars.

Asteroid That Ended the Dinosaurs Came From Beyond Jupiter, Study Finds

Metal isotopes delivered to Earth by the asteroid reveal it’s consistent with space rocks formed in the outer solar system

An ocelot rests on a rock in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona, in 2007. Only seven ocelots, including the one just spotted, have been seen in the state in the last two decades.

Rare Ocelot Caught on Camera in Arizona, the First Sighting in Its Area for 50 Years

Ocelots were federally listed as endangered in 1972, and their current U.S. population is thought to be fewer than 100 individuals

The European ant species Lasius emarginatus arrived to Manhattan around 2011 and has since become one of the most dominant ant species in the city.

Invasive ‘ManhattAnts’ Are Taking Over New York City and Spreading Quickly

Since appearing on Manhattan in 2011, the species has become one of the island’s most dominant ants, and scientists formally identified it this year

The Altar Stone lies at the center of the prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England.

New Research

Stonehenge’s Massive Central Stone May Have Been Shipped From Hundreds of Miles Away

Researchers think they’ve solved the mystery of the monument’s Altar Stone, which could have traveled all the way from Scotland

A colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox virus particles. There have been 15,600 mpox cases and 537 deaths reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2024 so far.

WHO Declares Mpox Global Health Emergency. Here’s What to Know

A new virus strain has been spreading primarily the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as nearby countries that had previously not reported mpox cases

Mars might host an ocean of water within porous rocks miles beneath its surface, according to a new study.

Mars Hosts a Giant Reservoir of Water Underground, We Just Can’t Easily Reach It, Study Finds

The water is enough to cover the Martian surface in a mile-deep ocean, but it’s beyond the reach of drills for now, according to researchers

The A23a iceberg, photographed last December. It first split from Antartica in 1986 and stayed in the Weddell Sea until 2020, when it started drifting away.

The World’s Largest Iceberg Is Stuck in a Spinning Ocean Vortex

The mega iceberg A23a is destined to melt after breaking free from Antarctica in 1986, but this pause in its journey is delaying its fate, experts say

This specimen is the first complete tusk of its kind found in Mississippi.

Cool Finds

Rare Seven-Foot Mammoth Tusk Unearthed in Mississippi Creek

The enormous fossil belonged to a Columbian mammoth, a larger relative of the woolly mammoth

The Mount Everest Base Camp, at 17,598 feet high, hosts climbers acclimating to the elevation before they make their ascent.

More Than 200 Dead Bodies Have Been Left Behind on Mount Everest, and Many Mark the Path to the Summit

Mountaineers who perished on the world’s highest peak have become landmarks for the living, though recovery crews have made risky expeditions to remove some of the corpses

The findings build on research from last year, which found that people with higher levels of the sweetener in their blood were at a greater risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Common Artificial Sweetener Linked to Increased Heart Attack Risk in Small Study

Healthy people who consumed 30 grams of the sweetener erythritol had an increased risk of blood clot formation, while people who consumed the same amount of glucose did not

Göbekli Tepe is an archaeological site in southern Turkey.

New Research

Could These Carvings in Turkey Be the World’s Oldest Lunisolar Calendar?

One researcher thinks the V-shaped markings engraved into a pillar thousands of years ago may represent the days of the year

Researchers have been looking into whether psychedelics could be used to treat PTSD. Currently, only therapy and two antidepressant medications are approved to treat the condition.

MDMA Treatment for PTSD Fails to Secure Federal Approval

One day after the FDA declined to approve the psychedelic for medical use, a journal retracted three studies of MDMA-assisted therapy due to unethical conduct by researchers

Maletsunyane Falls in the Lesotho Highlands shows how a river can erode deep valleys into uplifted lands.

Slow-Motion Ripples in Earth’s Mantle Built Mysterious and Stunning Highland Landscapes, Study Finds

Following the break-up of an ancient supercontinent, waves propagated through the hot, rocky layer beneath the planet’s brittle crust and reshaped its surface over millions of years

A mantle rock sample viewed under a microscope.

Scientists Drill Deeper Into Earth’s Mantle Than Ever Before, Probing for the Origin of Life on Earth

The record-setting rock samples will provide insight into the chemical processes that may have kick-started life on our planet

The center of this photo, taken on August 9, shows where the Double Arch formation used to be, before it collapsed on August 8.

Iconic ‘Double Arch’ Rock Formation Collapses in Utah

Changing water levels and erosion from waves may have contributed to the collapse in the popular Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

An artist's illustration of the WISE spacecraft in orbit around Earth. The mission was renamed NEOWISE in 2013 to reflect a new focus on finding near-Earth objects.

NASA Retires Orbiting Telescope That Charted Asteroids for Over a Decade

NEOWISE, which looked for potentially hazardous objects in the solar system, received its last command on Thursday and will burn up when it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere

An aerial photograph of Lahaina's banyan tree taken on August 3, 2024. A wildfire devastated the town in August 2023.

One Year After a Devastating Fire, Lahaina’s 151-Year-Old Banyan Tree Is Healing

Arborists didn’t know if the historic tree would survive, but they’ve been working to give it the best possible odds

DCPA is used on crops such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions.

‘Dangerous’ Pesticide That Could Harm Fetuses Is Pulled From the Market in Historic Move by EPA

Often used to kill weeds around crops, DCPA poses a health risk to the unborn babies of pregnant farmworkers, according to the agency

One of the four newly translated cuneiform tablets

Newly Deciphered, 4,000-Year-Old Cuneiform Tablets Used Lunar Eclipses to Predict Major Events

Ancient Babylonians linked astronomical phenomena to pestilence, the death of kings and the destruction of empires

Humans couldn't survive outdoors on Mars for a number of reasons, including its extremely low temperatures. Scientists are studying ways to terraform the planet to make it more hospitable.

Humans Could Warm Up Mars for Space Travelers by Spraying Tiny Metal Rods Into Its Atmosphere

Researchers propose a new technique for making the Red Planet more habitable by engineering heat-trapping nanoparticles from Martian dust

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