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New Research

An ostraca bearing a drawing of a shrew, the sacred animal of the Egyptian god Haroeris

Archaeologists Unearth More Than 40,000 Pieces of Pottery That Ancient Egyptians Used Like Scrap Paper

The ostraca, some dating back to the time just before Cleopatra, were discovered within the ancient ruins of Athribis

Illustration of L98-59d (lower left) orbiting its host star, a red dwarf

Scientists May Have Discovered a New Type of Planet Beyond the Solar System. The Catch? It Smells Like Rotten Eggs

L98-59d seems to be a molten planet with an atmosphere full of hydrogen sulfide

This 12,000-year-old butterfly clay bead was decorated with red ochre and marked with the fingerprints of a child.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Identify Traces of Children’s Fingerprints Still Visible on Clay Beads Created 15,000 Years Ago

Discovered in present-day Israel, the beads suggest that Natufian groups used clay for symbolic purposes many years earlier than scholars previously thought, according to a new study

Researchers recently discovered that platypuses are the only known mammals with hollow melanosomes, a pigment-filled structure that gives hair, fur, skin, feathers and eyes their color. 

Platypus Hair Shares a Puzzling Feature With Bird Feathers, Adding to the Egg-Laying Mammal’s List of Unusual Characteristics

The species’ melanosomes—tiny, pigment-filled structures inside hair cells—are hollow, a trait never before seen in mammals

Finland snagged the top spot in this year's World Happiness Report, an annual survey of wellbeing in more than 140 countries.

New Research

Finland Is Named the Happiest Country in the World for the Ninth Year in a Row

The World Happiness Report is an annual ranking of wellbeing around the globe. This year’s report spotlighted the consequences of social media use

Participants listened to pairs of mating calls made by numerous creatures, including male green treefrogs.

Humans and Animals Often Like the Same Mating Calls, Supporting a 150-Year-Old Observation by Charles Darwin

New research by Smithsonian scientists suggests that preferences for certain sounds might be evolutionarily conserved

President William Howard Taft boards the Mayflower in 1909, the year that he supposedly got stuck in a bathtub on board the Oleander steamship.

Popular Lore Claims That William Howard Taft Got Stuck in a Bathtub. New Research Sheds Light on the Legend’s Forgotten Origins

A long-overlooked 1929 account contains the earliest known reference to the anecdote, suggesting that the 27th president found himself trapped in a tub during a Mississippi River voyage

The cockapoo, a mix between the cocker spaniel and poodle, had the most behavioral problems of all analyzed crossbreeds compared to its purebred progenitor breeds.

Contrary to Popular Belief, Some Doodle Crossbred Dogs May Have More Behavioral Problems Than Their Purebred Parents

Pet owners often pick “designer dogs” because they think they’ll be easier to train and friendlier with kids than purebreeds. A new study suggests that’s not always the case

Researchers from the Relicta Foundation studied the site using deep-core drilling, geophysical surveys and lidar scans.

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Traces of a Mysterious Medieval City That Was Abandoned Under Puzzling Circumstances Hundreds of Years Ago

Found in a Polish forest, the town of Stolzenberg appears to have been built around the turn of the 14th century. Surveys revealed evidence of a town square, a main street and a moat

The feathers belonged to birds from four large parrot species, according to researchers.

Humans May Have Transported Live Parrots Over the Andes Mountains Along Sophisticated Trade Routes Before the Rise of the Inca Empire

Archaeologists were puzzled when they found parrot feathers in a pre-Inca burial in coastal Peru. A new study suggests that the birds were captured in the wild and kept alive over lengthy journeys

The researchers used sound waves to levitate tiny glass spheres as part of their study. 

Scientists Make a Major Breakthrough in Solving a Hair-Raising Mystery About Static Electricity

The findings can help explain the physics behind phenomena like volcanic lightning

European hedgehog numbers are shrinking.

European Hedgehogs’ Hearing Might Be Attuned to Ultrasonic Sounds. The Discovery Could Help Scientists Save the Declining Species

Sound-based deterrents could help keep the animals away from fast-moving cars and dangerous landscaping equipment

One of blue crabs' biggest threats seems to be members of their own species.

Cannibalistic Blue Crabs Are Eating Their Younger Peers in Part of the Chesapeake Bay

The findings by Smithsonian researchers could help experts better manage this crustacean’s population. The creatures play important roles in the local ecosystem and food industry

Fifteen amphorae were found inside the Blue Room.

New Research

The Brilliant Blue Paint Covering This Lavish Room in Ancient Pompeii May Have Cost More Than Half the Annual Salary of a Roman Foot Soldier

Researchers have estimated how much the home’s owners may have paid to paint the small sacrarium, calculating the price of the Egyptian blue pigment and the hours of labor required to prepare it

Researchers spent six years observing interactions between bull sharks at Fiji's Shark Reef Marine Reserve.

Bull Sharks Are Large, Aggressive Predators—but They Also Know How to Make ‘Friends,’ New Research Suggests

The animals probably socialize to learn new skills and to find food and mates

Font-de-Gaume's artworks were discovered by a teacher in a nearby village in September 1901.

New Research

These Mesmerizing Cave Paintings Were Discovered in 1901. Now, Archaeologists Finally Know When Some of Them Were Created

Researchers had long assumed the art inside Font-de-Gaume in France was made with pigments that couldn’t be analyzed using radiocarbon dating. Then they discovered traces of charcoal

The asteroid Ryugu imaged by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft in 2018

Life’s Genetic Code Requires Five Key Ingredients. The Asteroid Ryugu Has All of Them, a New Study Suggests

The findings further hint that space rocks may have brought the building blocks of RNA and DNA to Earth long ago

Male African striped mice's parenting styles vary greatly: Some fathers groom and protect their pups from the elements, while others ignore or even attack their young.

Some Mice Are Doting Dads, While Others Ignore or Attack Their Offspring. Researchers Just Figured Out Why

In African striped mice, the activity of one gene can dramatically change a male’s parenting style, according to a new study

Scientists tracked the breeding behaviors of king penguins on Possession Island, part of the French-controlled Crozet archipelago.

King Penguins Seem to Be Benefiting From a Warming World. While That’s Good News for Now, It Could Spell Trouble for the Future

The birds are breeding earlier, and more of their chicks are surviving. But researchers fear this success may not last

The shin bone was found in New Mexico.

This 74-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Bone May Have Belonged to a Surprisingly Large Ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex

The massive reptile may have weighed more than 4.5 tons and been 35 feet long—much bigger than its related peers at the time

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