https://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/theories-and-discovery/RSS feed for Theories and DiscoveryenTue, 17 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historians-say-theyve-discovered-a-long-lost-page-from-the-archimedes-palimpsest-a-treasure-trove-of-rare-ancient-mathematical-treatises-180988357/Three leaves had been missing for more than a century. Researchers found one of them when they decided on a whim to check the archives of a French museumTue, 17 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/historians-say-theyve-discovered-a-long-lost-page-from-the-archimedes-palimpsest-a-treasure-trove-of-rare-ancient-mathematical-treatises-180988357/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ig-nobel-prizes-honor-fingernails-painted-cows-and-cacio-e-pepe-in-a-celebration-of-strange-science-180987381/Ten research projects earned awards for achievements that have made people "laugh, then think"Mon, 22 Sep 2025 20:56:49 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ig-nobel-prizes-honor-fingernails-painted-cows-and-cacio-e-pepe-in-a-celebration-of-strange-science-180987381/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicists-superheated-gold-to-hotter-than-the-suns-surface-and-disproved-a-40-year-old-idea-180987043/A thin piece of gold reached 33,740 degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than 14 times higher than its melting point, by being rapidly heated—and it didn't meltMon, 28 Jul 2025 21:01:52 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicists-superheated-gold-to-hotter-than-the-suns-surface-and-disproved-a-40-year-old-idea-180987043/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/intelligent-life-may-be-more-likely-to-exist-on-other-planets-than-previously-thought-scientists-say-180986078/Researchers present an alternative to the long-held “hard steps” theory to explain the evolution of complex life, suggesting it’s the natural outcome of a habitable environment rather than a lucky breakThu, 20 Feb 2025 18:38:43 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/intelligent-life-may-be-more-likely-to-exist-on-other-planets-than-previously-thought-scientists-say-180986078/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amateur-mathematician-discovers-the-largest-known-prime-number-with-more-than-41-million-digits-180985321/Called M136279841, the value belongs to a rare class of prime numbers called Mersenne primes and was found using a supercomputer system spread across 17 countriesWed, 23 Oct 2024 20:33:42 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/amateur-mathematician-discovers-the-largest-known-prime-number-with-more-than-41-million-digits-180985321/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mars-rover-finds-three-possible-signs-of-ancient-life-on-a-single-rock-180984783/Scientists were cautiously optimistic about Perseverance's discovery, though they indicated further research is needed before drawing definitive conclusionsMon, 29 Jul 2024 20:32:44 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mars-rover-finds-three-possible-signs-of-ancient-life-on-a-single-rock-180984783/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chicago-museum-unveils-the-most-important-fossil-ever-discovered-the-feathered-dinosaur-archaeopteryx-180984312/Archaeopteryx provided the missing link between dinosaurs and the avians of today, serving as critical evidence for Charles Darwin’s theory of evolutionMon, 06 May 2024 21:14:14 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chicago-museum-unveils-the-most-important-fossil-ever-discovered-the-feathered-dinosaur-archaeopteryx-180984312/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mathematician-who-made-sense-of-the-universes-randomness-wins-maths-top-prize-180984020/Michel Talagrand took home the 2024 Abel Prize for his work on stochastic systems, randomness and a proof of a physics reaction that many experts thought was unsolvableMon, 25 Mar 2024 18:07:22 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/mathematician-who-made-sense-of-the-universes-randomness-wins-maths-top-prize-180984020/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-detect-water-on-the-surface-of-asteroids-for-the-first-time-ever-180983801/Using data from a retired NASA mission, researchers identified unique signs of water molecules on two space rocks, unlocking new insight into how water may have arrived on EarthFri, 16 Feb 2024 18:09:51 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-detect-water-on-the-surface-of-asteroids-for-the-first-time-ever-180983801/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/is-judaism-a-younger-religion-than-previously-thought-180981118/A new book by an Israeli archaeologist makes the stunning claim that common Jewish practices emerged only a century or so before JesusTue, 15 Nov 2022 13:15:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/is-judaism-a-younger-religion-than-previously-thought-180981118/