Smart News Science

An artist’s interpretation of the star quartet — as a young star and three gas condensations on the left and as star siblings on the right.

New Research

Stars Have Womb Siblings

Four baby stars, still gestating in their parental gas cloud, move together - for now at least

New Research

Teachers Give Lower Math Scores to Girls

Teachers’ unconscious beliefs in the aptitude of boys over girls come out when grading math tests

Black holes create and destroy galaxies, like this spiral galaxy in the constellation Dorado.

New Research

Technology from ‘Interstellar’ Could Be Useful to Scientists, Too

The movie’s visual effects are now being used for scientific research

A honeybee visits a flower in Bath, England

New Research

City Bees Are Actually More Diverse Than Country Bees

Other pollinators don’t like urban areas as much as rural, but bees live in similar numbers across different landscapes

New Research

Tourist Trash Has Changed the Color of Yellowstone’s Morning Glory Pool

Researchers have found proof of what caused a hot spring’s drastic color modification—it's people, of course

New Research

Imagine Dinosaurs Tripping on Psychedelics

It could have happened.

New Research

At Last, Make Perfect Popcorn With Science

Physicists now know why popcorn pops

Cool Finds

What Makes Some Orca Whales Love a Good Belly Rub?

Some pods have been observed rubbing themselves on rocky beaches; scientists are still working to understand why

The red fox is among two European imports that researchers say play a big part in the loss of some of Australia's native species.

New Research

One-Tenth of Native Mammals in Australia Are Extinct: Blame Cats And Foxes

No other country on Earth has lost a greater proportion of land mammals over the last two centuries; now, a new study zeros in on the cause

New Research

Human Languages Skew Positive

We’re all a bunch of pollyannas

Cool Finds

Why 2015 Is Shaping Up to Be Another Good Year for Snowy Owls

Ornithologists are tracking the second major snowy owl southern migration in as many years, indicating that the birds’ numbers are still going strong

Cool Finds

These Bells Play Seismic Shifts

Watch as UC Berkeley’s bells play the earth’s “natural frequencies”

The variable stars flickering to the golden ratio are RR Lyrae — a class of pulsars first found in the constellation Lyra (bisected by the Milky Way here)

New Research

Pulsing Stars Flicker in a Pattern Close to the Golden Ratio

The famed ratio, which shows up in art, architecture and nature, can also be found in space

New Research

Gene Changes Make Humans’ Sense of Taste Unique

Our ability to eat bitter plants help distinguish us from our ancestors and chimpanzees today

New Research

The Universe’s Oldest Stars Likely Lit Up Way Later Than Once Thought

Data gathered by the European Space Agency’s Planck telescope indicates that the universe was dark for about 550 million years after the big bang

New Research

Chimpanzees May Have Their Own Form of Bilingualism

Humans aren’t the only primates capable of learning new “words” for the same object

Cool Finds

Neil Armstrong Had a Secret Stash of Moon Stuff

“Lost” Apollo 11 artifacts are now found

A yellow crazy ant

Cool Finds

Invasive, Acid-Spraying Ants in Hawaii Are Deforming Native Seabird Chicks

The ground-dwelling chicks are pestered by invasive ants spraying acid

One of the HIV-prevention medications, a pill called Truvada

New Research

A Setback for HIV Prevention Trial: Getting People To Take the Medicine

Women didn’t take their preventative medications, even those proven to work, for fear of side effects

New Research

Pigeons' Brains Work Kind of Like Ours

A small study showed impressive categorizing abilities in three pigeons

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