Smart News

A new way of chemically recycling single-use plastics might offer an incentive to keep them out of landfills.

Innovation for Good

New Chemical Process Turns Single-Use Plastics Into Fuels

Researchers say their method can break down hard-to-recycle plastics using half the energy of existing techniques

Following a 1985 police bombing that left 11 dead, mourners stand in front of MOVE's former headquarters, raising their arms in the Black Power salute as the funeral procession for leader John Africa passes.

Museum Kept Bones of Black Children Killed in 1985 Police Bombing in Storage for Decades

Outrage erupted over the revelation that the likely remains of two young victims were held in and studied at Ivy League institutions

Researchers created this 3- by 2-centimeter version of The Starry Night in just four minutes.

Art Meets Science

Scientists Use Laser Paintbrush to Craft Mini Version of van Gogh's 'Starry Night'

The colorful "brushstrokes" are "reversible, rewritable [and] erasable," says scholar Galina Odintsova

The ancient amphitheater dates to around 200 A.D., when the Severan dynasty ruled the Roman Empire.

Cool Finds

In Ancient Turkey, Gladiators Fought at This Colosseum-Like Amphitheater

The 1,800-year-old arena housed up to 20,000 spectators eager to bet on the bloody battles

The enzyme-enhanced plastic film had the same strength and flexibility as a standard plastic grocery bag.

Innovation for Good

This Biodegradable Plastic Will Actually Break Down in Your Compost

Water and heat activate plastic-munching enzymes that reduce the material to harmless chemical building blocks

Researchers found low levels of radiation from Cold War nuclear tests in local honey produced in the Eastern United States.

New Research

Fallout From Cold War Nuclear Testing Detected in U.S. Honey

The radiation found doesn't represent a health risk for humans, but it might impact bees

To calculate how the tail propelled the T. rex, the researchers scanned and modeled an adult T. rex specimen at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden known as "Trix," pictured here.

New Study Finds T. Rex Walked at a Slow Pace of Three Miles Per Hour

Dutch researchers calculated the surprising speed of the dinosaur based on 3-D reconstructions of its lengthy tail

Samuel Ntiro's Chopping Wood (circa 1967) is one of 12 newly attributed African Modernist artworks set to go on view in Scotland next month.

Cool Finds

Trove of African Modernist Masterpieces Spent Decades Hidden in Rural Scotland

A two-year research project identified 12 overlooked paintings, drawings and prints by pioneering 20th-century artists

A close-up view of Picasso's Seated Man (1917) shows the deep cracks running along its surface.

Art Meets Science

Why Did This Picasso Painting Deteriorate Faster Than Its Peers?

Study examines how animal glue, canvases, layers of paint and chemicals interacted to produce cracks in one work but not in others

Two scribes with near-identical handwriting penned the Great Isaiah Scroll.

Innovation for Good

How A.I. Is Helping Scholars Unlock the Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls

A new handwriting analysis suggests that two scribes collaborated on a key ancient manuscript

The invasive jumping worm will thrash and snap its body when touched.

Highly Invasive Jumping Worms Have Spread to 15 States

The invertebrate depletes topsoil of nutrients and makes it difficult for fungi and plants to grow

A mounted specimen of the type of tyrannosaur at the heart of new research that suggests these predators may have lived in groups. These skeletons are from a species named Teratophoneus curriei, and show an adult (left) and juvenile (right) at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

New Research

New Fossils Suggest Tyrannosaurs May Have Hunted in Packs

Researchers say the trove of four or five specimens found in southern Utah challenges the assumption that these predators were solitary

Harriet Tubman likely lived in the Maryland cabin between 1839 and 1844, when she was about 17 to 22 years old.

Cool Finds

Site of Harriet Tubman's Lost Maryland Home Found After Decades-Long Search

The Underground Railroad conductor's father, Ben Ross, received the land where the cabin once stood in the early 1840s

Although the otters are geriatric, the aquarium staff expects them to make a full recovery.

Otters at Georgia Aquarium Test Positive for Coronavirus

The Asian small-clawed otters may have caught the virus from an asymptomatic staff member

James Stanley supported the Stuart monarchy during the English Civil Wars, which pitted Royalists against Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians.

Cool Finds

17th-Century Gold Mourning Ring May Be Linked to Executed English Aristocrat

A piece of jewelry found on the Isle of Man may honor James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, who was beheaded in 1651

The newly rediscovered species, Coffea stenophylla, has black fruit or cherries surrounding its "beans" which are actually seeds. Plant researchers are excited by the species' tolerance of higher temperatures and desirable flavor characteristics.

New Research

Rediscovered Coffee Species Boosts Crop's Climate Resilience Without Sacrificing Taste

The rare, wild species was well-received by taste-testers and can grow in much higher temperatures than the most commonly cultivated varieties

After researchers reviewed the video footage, they found that the wolf slept for long periods of time but in between naps, also frequented the Ash River to hunt for fish.

Experience a Day in the Life of a Wild Wolf, as Seen in Stunning Collar-Cam Footage

A perfect summer adventure for a wolf in Minnesota seems to be spent fishing and napping

Roosevelt Patterson greets his grandmother, Hester Ford, during her 111th birthday party. Ford was either 115 or 116 when she died on Saturday, April 17, 2021.

Hester Ford, the U.S.' Oldest Living Person, Dies at 115—or 116

Born in 1904 or 1905, the supercentenarian lived through two World Wars, the civil rights movement and two major pandemics

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this image of swirling clouds in Jupiter's northern latitudes on November 3, 2019

New Research

Raindrops Are Surprisingly Similar on Other Planets

Whether they are made of water, methane or liquid iron, raindrops' size and shape are limited by the same equations

Bronze Age wedge tombs like the one pictured here are found throughout southwest Ireland. But the newly discovered burial “seems to be different,” archaeologist Mícheál Ó Coileáin tells the Irish Times. “Wedge tombs are usually visible above ground, [but] this one is completely concealed.”

Cool Finds

Irish Farmer Stumbles Onto 'Untouched' Ancient Tomb

Archaeologists think the well-preserved burial dates to the Bronze Age—or perhaps even earlier

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