Smart News

Poop or a caterpillar? The giant swallowtail caterpillar is one of a few species that elude birds by pretending to be their poop.

New Research

Here Are The Animals That Are the Best at Pretending to Be Poop

Moth caterpillars change their posture to look like bird dung, and they’re not alone

Lithium ion battery used in a laptop computer

New Research

Researchers Have Finally Figured Out How to Stop Lithium Batteries from Spontaneously Combusting

Unexpected fires have kept experts cautious about the potential of lightweight batteries

Bart Shepard, the director of the California Academy of Sciences' Steinhart Aquarium collecting fish using a specialized decompression chamber

Cool Finds

More than 100 New Marine Species Were Just Discovered in the Philippines

The creatures hail from a rarely before explored region of the ocean's water column

A chimpanzee family in Uganda in 2010.

Cool Finds

What Does it Really Mean to Be 99 Percent Chimp?

This video breaks down our statistical similarity to chimpanzees

These tags were used to identify slaves before emancipation

Trending Today

Juneteenth Didn’t Stop the Enslavement of Black People in Houston

The delayed enforcement of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation still didn’t bring freedom to many black Texans

Artist's illustration of HIV

New Research

This is Why Developing an HIV Vaccine is Really Hard

For three decades researchers have been working to protect against the tricky virus

Napoleon in battle, presumably craving rotisserie chicken

Cool Finds

Napoleon Had a Thing for Rotisserie Chicken

The military powerhouse ate chicken dinners 24/7 — even as his army starved

Trending Today

Every Year, Norway Hosts an Oil Cleanup Drill

The annual release of offshore oil is no accident — it’s a chance to train, test, and prepare for the possibility of a catastrophic oil spill

Some parks, like Assateague National Seashore, have already come up with plans to deal with the effects of climate change and how their visitation rates could shift in response.

New Research

How Will Climate Change Affect National Park Attendance?

A new analysis of the effect of global warming on tourism has things heating up in some areas, staying lukewarm in others

The first $10 Federal Reserve Note featured Andrew Jackson.

Trending Today

Andrew Jackson Wasn't Always on the $20 Bill

The controversial president's face has only been on $20 bills since 1928

A wildlife camera captured this image of an adult Louisiana black bear foraging in a forest clearing.

Cool Finds

Louisiana's Bears Are Making a Comeback

The state thinks the bears are doing well enough to merit removal from protected status. Others disagree

The algorithm ranked the "The Scream" by Edvard Munch as a highly creative work of its time.

New Research

History’s Most Creative Paintings, As Picked by a Computer

Some masters got snubbed

Trending Today

Six "Crew Members" Just Emerged from a Simulated Eight Months on Mars

They celebrated with a skydiving trip chaperoned by the U.S. Army Parachute Team

Trending Today

Etsy Won’t Let Witches Sell Spells

The craft site’s ban on metaphysical services stirs up a cauldron of controversy

Cool Finds

Michigan Owns 1,500 Shipwrecks

Divers, historians and state officials team up to preserve the state’s underwater heritage

Cool Finds

Could the Sounds of Cod Having Sex Save a Species (and an Economy)?

Spying on “spawning haystacks” is helping fishermen make more money and biologists preserve a floundering fish population

South Africans celebrate at a gay pride event outside Johannesburg in 2013. While other countries have passed legislation criminalizing homosexuality, South Africa has advocated tolerance.

Some African Countries Are Trying to Use Science to Make Homophobic Laws, Now African Scientists are Pushing Back

Some African countries have tried to use science to justify laws that criminalize homosexuality

Flamingos at the the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo in Israel, possibly contemplating their escape

Cool Finds

Forget Llamas and Lions, Flamingos Are the Best Escape Artists

The pink birds are tougher than they look

Trending Today

U.S. Grants Captive Chimpanzees Endangered Species Status, Prohibiting Most Research on Them

Captive chimps now have the same protections as wild ones

New Research

Polar Bears are Eating Dolphins, Probably Thanks to Climate Change

A warmer winter lured a pod of white-beaked dolphins north but then ice trapped them, sealing their fate as a polar bear's meal

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