Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Smart News / Smart News Science

A new study suggests that coyotes, like the ones seen here, have the same face muscle as dogs that's used to make pleading "puppy eyes."

Coyotes Might Make ‘Puppy Eyes,’ Suggesting the Facial Expression Evolved for More Than Just Cuteness

The wild canines have the same muscles used by domestic dogs to create the wide-eyed, pleading look that captures humans’ hearts

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on September 28, 2024.

Two Comets Could Be Visible to the Naked Eye This Fall. Here’s How to Get the Best View

While expectations are high for some special sightings, experts warn that comets are notoriously fickle and unpredictable

An image of the famous Sycamore Gap tree before it was illegally cut down in 2023

One Year After England’s Famous Sycamore Gap Tree Was Illegally Felled, a New Exhibition Honors Its Legacy

The show coincides with an initiative that will give away 49 of the tree’s saplings to individuals and communities across the country

Mount Everest seen at sunset, as the peak’s height continues to grow at a rate of about two millimeters per year.

Geologists Reveal a Surprising Reason Why Mount Everest Grows Taller Each Year

Earth’s highest peak has gained as much as an extra 165 feet in elevation as the planet’s crust adjusts due to erosion from a river, according to a new study

A biologist holds a Bethany Beach firefly, found on a survey in 2019. The dwindling species is now being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

This Green-Flashing Firefly Could Become the First Ever Listed as Endangered in the U.S.

The Fish and Wildlife Service will consider granting federal protections to the Bethany Beach firefly, which is rapidly losing its coastal habitat to development and climate change

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Dragon spacecraft launches on Saturday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Astronauts Stranded in Space Are Now One Step Closer to Returning Home

A SpaceX mission arrived at the International Space Station with two astronauts instead of four to leave room for NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on the return trip in early 2025

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”

Page 81 of 545