Smart News

Can We Blame Men for Menopause?

It's hard to see how a genetic predisposition to sterility would be helpful

Biotech Companies No Longer Have the Right to Patent Human Genes

Companies can still patent DNA they build themselves, methods for isolating genes or specialized knowledge they gain through genetic research

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At Least 400,000 Hungry Seabirds Drown in Fishing Nets Each Year

The gillnets used by local or artisanal fishers are a big threat to seabirds

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Spaceships Made of Plastic Could Carry Us to Mars

Plastic is way better than aluminum at blocking cosmic rays

A tar sands mine in Alberta

2.5 Million Gallons of Toxic Waste Just Spilled in Alberta

Both Alberta and the company responsible, Apache Corp, held off for more than a week on publicly disclosing the information about the spill

The RoboRoach

Cyborg Cockroaches May Become New Teaching Tools in Neuroscience Classes

Roach neurons aren't that different than human neurons, making the RoboRoach a learning tool for all sorts of basic principles of neuroscience

New At-Home Test Could Tell Women If Their Pregnancy Has Terminated

Women who both do and do not want to be pregnant could benefit from the new test

The Civil War

When the Union Ran Out of Ironclads, They Built Timberclads

A curious photograph caught one library specialist at the Library of Congress by surprise: a wooden ironclad

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On Venus It Snows Metal

To add to the list of crazy things about space, is this fact: on Venus, it snows metal

The fire near Colorado Spring as of yesterday afternoon.

Colorado Wildfire Forces Evacuations, Threatens World’s Highest Suspension Bridge

A series of three wildfires are currently tearing through Colorado

A Survey of Women With Broken Bones Shows the Prevalence of Domestic Abuse

One in three women has been the victim of domestic abuse.

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This New Photo App Can Help Doctors Brainstorm What, Exactly, That Weird Thing Growing on Your Leg Is

It's like Instagram but with rotting toes and tumors instead of filters

The Beck’s Edison Bottle

Beer Bottle Meets 19th-Century Phonograph, Makes Beautiful Music

Engineers and music experts in New Zealand tinkered with the concepts behind Thomas Edison's original phonograph to make a beer bottle sing

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Teeny Tiny Rock Fragments Testify That a Meteor Caused the Biggest Impact Event in Recorded History

On June 30, 1908, an enormous explosion in a remote stretch of Siberia flattened and bruned nearly 1,000 square miles of forest, totaling around 80 million trees

Bacteria Makes Squid Sparkly and Sleepy

Bacteria sets up shop in squid to make it sparkle, and also might tell it when to go to sleep

Coffee plant leaves infected with coffee rust.

Half of Central America’s Coffee Harvest This Year Is in Danger

Thanks to climate change, coffee rust's ideal habitat seems to be spreading as higher elevations and more northern areas become warmer

Five-year-old don Filippino’s abnormally swollen skull.

Florence’s Powerful Medici Family Suffered from Rickets Because of Too Much Time Spent Indoors

Study of the Medici's children shows that they suffered from rickets, or the bone softening affliction caused by a lack of vitamin D from sunlight or food

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San Francisco From the Air, 1938 and Today

This amazing composite photo gives a scrollable, zoomable high-resolution view of 1938 San Francisco

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Where in the World Will the Fracking Boom Visit Next?

Fracking has reshaped American drilling, and shale gas stores are popping up all over the world

Lego Faces Are Getting Angrier

As LEGOs have gotten more and more varied, they've given the little yellow dude more expressions, many of them angry

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