Smart News

How the Record for Hottest Temperature Ever Was Refuted

A scanning electron microscope image of the ancient tooth, and the location of the beeswax filling.

6,500-Year Old Beeswax May Be Oldest Known Dental Filling

From the archives of an Italian museum, researchers may have found the oldest dental filling

America’s Issues with Voter Turnout Stretch Back More Than 200 Years

Since before the Revolutionary War, America has struggled with low voter turnout

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Diamond Mines Are a Paleo-Climate Scientist’s Best Friend

A column of magma worked its way up from the mantle and drilled its way to the surface, bedazzling itself with diamonds that it picked up along the way

Doctors Warned Life Expectancy Could Go Down, And It Did

Some groups of Americans have actually seen their expected lifespans decline

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Women Are Still Discriminated Against in Science

A recent study in PNAS suggests that, at least when it comes to science, gender bias is still going strong

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The Hobbit You Grew Up With Isn’t Quite the Same As the Original, Published 75 Years Ago Today

The Hobbit was first published 75 years ago today - and it wasn't exactly the way you remember it

Sea Ice Extent

After Summer Cyclone, Arctic Sea Ice Reaches New Low

On September 16, sea ice reached record lows in the Arctic, covering an area of just 3.41 million square kilometers or 1.32 million square miles

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Artist Builds House, Invites Partiers to Trash It

Can a party ever be art?

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The NFL’s Replacement Refs Are Changing the Odds for Gamblers

Gambling on NFL games is a huge industry, full of people making wagers on who will win this weekend, and the new referees are introducing a new set of probabilities

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These Thin Sections of Rock Look Like Beautiful Stained Glass

The beautiful MicROCKScopica project was created by Bernardo Cesare, a professor of petrology and a photographer, who combined his talents in an absolutely stunning way

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Does This Cat Know When You’re Going to Die?

Oscar the cat seems to know who will die and when - or perhaps he's just looking for someone to pet him

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This Robot Is Made Entirely of Paper And It Can Walk

This guy built a whole robot out of paper, and it actually works

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Fire Tornado, Fire Devil, Whatever—Just Look at This Swirling Column of Fire

New York's state climatologist and a professor of atmospheric sciences at Cornell University, the columns of dust are more similar to a dust devil

Honey Was the Wonder Food That Fueled Human Evolution (And Now It’s Disappearing)

Energy-rich honey could have been the food that let humans get so brainy

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Unusual, Odd, and Curious Science Honored Tonight in This Year’s Ig Nobel Awards

The 22nd annual Ig Nobel awards kick off tonight, highlighting odd but interesting scientific research

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Why Is a Russian Crater Teeming with Diamonds?

A meteorite impact 35 million years ago filled a Russian crater with diamonds

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The Best Bits of XKCD’s Really, Really Big Comic

Cartoonist Randall Munroe designed a giant world that can be explored in the comic by clicking and dragging

Clerics take part in a protest against innocence of Muslims, an anti-Islamic film

Cartoons of Mohammed, Anti-Jihad Subway Ads and Other Provocations, Past and Future

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Sea Lions Deliberately Collapse Their Lungs So They Can Dive Deeper

Shutting down their lungs helps sea lions avoid getting the bends

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