Smart News Science

New Research

Meet the Friendly Virus That Might Actually Be Good For You

Many people carry it, but it doesn’t make you sick and could actually fight against viruses like HIV and Ebola

January 30, 2015

Trending Today

What’s Causing California’s Bright Pink Sea Slug Bloom?

They might be fun to look at, but they're not necessarily good news

January 30, 2015

New Research

Scientists Finally Know How Baleen Whales Hear

A beached whale, a supercomputer, a scientific mystery solved

January 30, 2015

New Research

There's a Big Rift in Opinion Between Americans And Scientists

New study shows that citizens and scientists only agree some of the time

January 30, 2015

New Research

Planets Formed Close to Their Stars Are Named for Vulcan, the Roman God of Fire

Closer to their stars than Mercury is to the Sun, these hot worlds deserve an explanation

January 30, 2015

Trending Today

The Ohio Measles Outbreak Wasn’t Caused by "Anti-Vaxxers" But by an Amish Traveler

Blaming the anti-vaccination movement for an uptick in measles is oversimplification

January 29, 2015

Cool Finds

A 10,000-Year-Old Forest Has Been Discovered, And It's Under Water

Ancient oak trees found on the bottom of the North Sea represent a prehistoric woodland that likely spanned thousands of acres

January 29, 2015

New Research

Why “Expensive” Medicines Might Actually Work Better

Perceived cost might influence drugs’ benefits

January 29, 2015

Cool Finds

For the First Time in Almost a Century, a Rare Red Fox Was Seen at Yosemite

Cameras and “hair snares” could preserve a threatened Sierra species

January 29, 2015

New Research

A Newly Discovered Caterpillar Makes a Deadly Fortress of Its Cocoon

Scientists have found a caterpillar in a Borneo forest that uses toxic tree resin to build an extra-safe home for its metamorphosis

January 29, 2015

New Research

Are You Binge-Watching Because You're Depressed?

A new study found that people who were depressed binge-watched TV more—and used TV binges to deal with negative emotions

January 29, 2015

New Research

Spiders Spin Electrically Charged Silk To Make It Sticky

The garden center spider doesn’t put sticky glue on its web; it uses a complex spinning process to build prey-snaring silk threads

January 28, 2015

New Research

These Five Earth-sized Planets Are Super Old

Kepler-444 is 11.2 billion years old and its five planets could tell us about planet formation in the early universe

January 28, 2015

New Research

Sugar Is Causing Girls to Get Their Periods Sooner

Why shunning soda might help reduce premature puberty rates

January 28, 2015

New Research

Did Fishermen Find Evidence of an Unknown Group of Primitive Humans?

A fossilized jawbone pulled from the seafloor near Taiwan may be from an ancient type of hominin new to science

January 28, 2015

New Research

23 Kids’ Peanut Allergies Were Cured, At Least Temporarily

A probiotic may be the key to fighting allergies to peanut proteins

January 28, 2015

Cool Finds

Hive Mind: A Swarm of Microprobes Could Tell Us More About Jupiter

The miniature probes will gather atmospheric data before bursting into flames

January 27, 2015

New Research

Pollutants Are Making Polar Bears' Penis Bones More Likely to Break

An industrial chemical contaminating the Arctic is further threatening a species already facing dire challenges

January 27, 2015

Cool Finds

The Mystery of the Continuously Functioning Battery From 1840

A battery at the University of Oxford has been incessantly ringing two bells for 175 years—but no one knows exactly why it’s lasted so long

January 26, 2015

Use This Map to Track the Snowfall and Social Media Buzz Around the Northeast Blizzard

Weather alerts and media streams can keep you up to date on the full extent of the nor'easter

January 26, 2015