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Smart News / Smart News Science

American oystercatchers use their orange bills to pry open shellfish.

Nesting Shorebirds Are Mobbing Drones on New York City Beaches

The drones, equipped with inflatable life rafts, were intended to help improve public safety for humans this summer—but they’re also upsetting orange-beaked birds called American oystercatchers

A prototype of the system for collecting the astronauts' urine. In the future, astronauts may go on longer spacewalks that will require them to carry more drinking water.

Spacesuit Prototype Turns Pee Into Drinking Water

The system is inspired by the stillsuits for collecting moisture in the science fiction epic Dune

The Penguin and the Egg are about 100,000 light-years apart.

James Webb’s Newest Image Shows a Giant Penguin and an Egg

NASA released the dazzling portrait to help celebrate the two-year anniversary of the release of Webb’s first images

One of the complete skeletons analyzed in the new study

Did Plague Cause the Mysterious Collapse of Europe’s Early Farmers 5,000 Years Ago?

A new study finds widespread DNA evidence that an ancestor pathogen of the Black Death helped bring about the end of an agricultural society responsible for megalithic tombs and monuments, like Stonehenge

Flaring, the burning of natural gas at an oil well, takes place on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. A large portion of Marathon Oil's emissions comes from flaring.

EPA Reaches $241 Million Settlement With Marathon Oil

The company was illegally polluting the air at nearly 90 facilities in North Dakota, a complaint alleges

Scientists believe the mammoth was so well-preserved because of the dry, cold climate in Siberia.

3D DNA Preserved for 52,000 Years in Freeze-Dried Woolly Mammoth Remains

For the first time, researchers have mapped ancient genetic material in unprecedented detail

A damselfly covered with drops of dew sits on a leaf in this close-up photo.

See Ten Creepy-Crawly Portraits From the Insect Week Photography Contest

The Royal Entomological Society’s Photography Competition highlights the wonder and diversity of the six-legged creatures that crawl, swim and fly across the planet

On July 5, Peruvian authorities recovered the mummified remains of American climber Bill Stampfl from the slopes of Huascarán.

Melting Ice Reveals Body of American Mountaineer Missing for 22 Years in the Peruvian Andes

Bill Stampfl, Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine went missing in an avalanche on Huascarán on June 24, 2002. Climbers found Stampfl’s body just weeks ago

The central region of the Omega Centauri globular cluster, where the Hubble Space Telescope found strong evidence for a medium-sized black hole.

Astronomers Spot Rare, Mid-Sized Black Hole in Our Galaxy

The black hole, if confirmed, is in the star cluster Omega Centauri, about 17,700 light-years away, and it could hold lessons about how such structures are formed

A petri dish with bacteria from a stool sample. The researchers found a number of bacteria, fungi and viruses in fecal samples from children that were altered in children with autism.

Gut Microbes Could Help Diagnose Autism, Study Suggests

While more research is needed, scientists detected specific differences between the gut microbiomes of children with and without autism

Crickets, beetles and moths are just some of the insects recently approved for human consumption by the Singapore government.

Singapore Approves 16 Insect Species for Human Consumption

The move comes amid broader efforts to improve food security and diversify food sources

An artist’s depiction of HD 189733b encountering an eruption of X-rays from the star it’s orbiting

This Nearby Exoplanet Is Hot, Dangerous—and Smells Like Rotten Eggs

Located about 64 light-years away from Earth, the world is the first place astronomers have detected hydrogen sulfide outside our solar system

The Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan is one of the few animals that spends its entire life at high elevations.

Meet the Rare, ‘Beautiful’ Birds That Thrive in Snow and Are at Risk Because of Climate Change

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan as threatened under the Endangered Species Act this month

The procedure allowed people to walk faster, climb stairs better and avoid obstacles more easily.

New Bionic Leg and Surgical Procedure Allow People to Walk With More Control After Amputations

The experimental surgery connects two muscles in the legs of people with below-the-knee amputations, allowing them to control a prosthetic limb with their brain

Ranchers and landowners consider dingoes pests, while conservationists say they are vitally important to Australia's ecosystem.

Ancient DNA Unravels the Mysteries of the Dingo, Australia’s Wild Dog

Researchers dove into thousands of years of evolutionary history, revealing new insights about the iconic, though sometimes vilified, canines

Ritual sticks, between 11,000 and 12,000 years old, were discovered in Cloggs Cave.

Sticks Discovered in Australian Cave Shed New Light on an Aboriginal Ritual Passed Down for 12,000 Years

Both Western analyses and traditional Aboriginal knowledge helped the research team learn about a cultural practice dating to the last ice age

Created more than 2,000 years ago, the Antikythera mechanism tracked the movements of celestial bodies.

New Research

Gravitational Wave Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of the World’s Oldest Analog Computer

A new study challenges a core assumption about the Antikythera mechanism, a 2,000-year-old device that inspired the latest “Indiana Jones” film

The grape family had a complex, tumultuous history of extinction and dispersal in Central and South America.

Did the Extinction of the Dinosaurs Pave the Way for Grapes?

Newly discovered fossils in South America hint at the evolution and proliferation of grapes around the world

The vehicles emitting excessively include certain 2012-2018 model year vehicles, including some Chevrolets, GMCs and Cadillacs.

General Motors to Pay $146 Million For Excess Emissions

Almost six million vehicles were emitting over 10 percent more carbon dioxide on average than compliance reports said they were

Dated rock art panel at Leang Karampuang

Indonesian Cave Painting Is Oldest-Known Visual Storytelling

The depiction of three human-like figures interacting with a pig dates to 51,200 years ago

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