Smart News

This palm frond fossil dating to the the Eocene period was found in Utah’s Green River Basin.

Ancient Climate Change Meant Antarctica Was Once Covered with Palm Trees

53 million years ago, Antarctica was so warm that palm trees lived along its shores.

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Why don’t sprinters start with a pistol anymore? They’re too fast

The classic starting gun leaves too much margin of error, so London has switch to an electronic beep.

Clear rosin represents the mother’s tissue, while the fetus is suspended in white.

Why 3-D Printed Fetuses Represent the Future of Medical Imaging

A 3-D printed fetus might seem strange, but it represents an opportunity to improve medical education and imaging.

Like this dinosaur, but not made of stone.

Australian Billionaire in Talks with Cloning Pioneers to Build Real Jurassic Park

With his billions of dollars, Clive Palmer is investigating cloning dinosaurs to build a real life Jurassic Park

“Night At The Museum” For Adults Lets You Sleep Over With Dinosaurs

London's Natural History Museum is challenging adults to channel their inner child in an upcoming grown ups-only slumber party

The Beaufort Sea, off the coast of Alaska, on July 25, 2006.

Miners, Drillers Push Into Void Left By Melting Arctic Ice

The opening of parts of the Arctic Ocean each summer, and the melting of surface ice on northern landscapes, driving a gold rush into the Arctic frontier

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Research Suggests Politicians are More Likely to Be Psychopaths

Several of the characteristics that define a psychopath also correspond to the traits that make for effective leaders. For politicians, this is true

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Old-Timey Olympians Show How Things Have Changed

Clendenin's photos evoke the feeling that for all the changes seen by the modern Olympic games, the athletes themselves could be transposed across time

Artist rendering of Curiosity cruising the Martian surface

How to Follow Every Second of the Curiosity Mars Mission

The Curiosity lander sets down in just a few days, and here's who to follow on Twitter in anticipation

A Vietnamese man lovingly gazes at his dog, Op-kun (front). Two days later, Op-kun was snatched up by a restaurant thief and never seen again.

Vietnam’s Dogs are Both Humans’ Best Friends and Snacks

In Vietnam, dog lovers had best keep their pooches behind high, locked fences if they don't want their pets to wind up boiled in a pot

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Yesterday Was National Orgasm Day and You Missed It

Did you celebrate? If not, you'll just have to celebrate twice next year

This is Affetto, the creepiest robot baby in the world.

In Long History of Creepy Robot Babies, this One Takes the Cake

Humans love babies. Humans also love robots. Yet somehow, when you combine the two, it's terrifying.

Gore Vidal: Left in 1948 (Image: Library of Congress) Right, in 2008

Read a 2007 Essay in Smithsonian by Gore Vidal, Last Writer of His Kind

Why more writers should be as fearless, and as prickly as Vidal

A French postcard issued around 1900, predicting La France’s future

Could a Whale-Powered Bus Be the Future of Transportation?

Visionary postcard artists illustrated around 90 fanciful cards between 1899 to 1910 imagined what the future held in store for France in the year 2000

For Soldiers, Sperm Banking Could Be the New Flack Jacket

Soldiers arriving home with missing or mutilated genitals have drown attention to the lack of government support for in vitro fertilization

Smell Hallucinations Exist Too, and Could Be a Sign of Health Problems

Nasal hallucinations are a real thing, and they stink

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How The Feeling We Call Awe Helped Humans Conquer the Planet

Getting your daily dose of awe inspires patience, altruism, and life satisfaction

Goats beware.

When It’s Okay to Kill 80,000 Wild Goats

The Galapagos recently finished exterminating 80,000 invasive goats from the island

India’s northwestern boundary with neighboring Pakistan is so brightly lit that the thin orange line tracing its path can be seen from space.

How An Unholy Alliance of Unusual Weather and Scarce Coal Nuked India’s Power Grid

Power grids supplying both the northern and eastern parts of India went down, throwing 620 million people, or 8.9% of the world population into darkness

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Why You Shouldn’t Panic Over The Latest News About Bird Flu

New research reveals that the flu virus has mutated into a novel strain of influenza, which transfers not just from bird to seal, but from seal to seal

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