Smart News Science

The ruins of Pompeii with Mount Vesuvius in the background. The city was destroyed during an infamous volcanic eruption in 79 C.E., and new research suggests an earthquake may have contributed to the damage and death toll.

Amid Its Volcanic Eruption, Pompeii Was Also Rocked by an Earthquake, Study Suggests

Researchers uncovered skeletal remains of two people in the ancient city that seem to have been killed by a building collapse caused by seismic activity

An illustration of NASA's VIPER rover drilling on the moon

NASA Cancels VIPER Moon Mission After Spending $450 Million to Build a Rover

The project was intended to look for water ice in the shaded craters on the lunar south pole

A reconstruction of a giant armadillo in the collection of paleontology at the Museo de La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Was This Giant, Armadillo-Like Animal Butchered by Humans in Argentina 21,000 Years Ago?

The creature's bones show evidence of cutting with stone tools, adding to a series of findings that suggest humans were present in the Americas earlier than thought

An artist's rendition of the eight planets in our solar system. The planets are depicted closer together than they really are.

Astronomers Propose New Criteria to Classify Planets, but Pluto Still Doesn't Make the Cut

The new definition would define planets based on mass, rather than more ambiguous shape and size characteristics

Prior to the auction, "Apex" was on exhibition at Sotheby’s galleries in New York.

Enormous Stegosaurus Skeleton Called 'Apex' Smashes Auction Records and Sells for $44.6 Million

The 150-million-year-old dinosaur became the most expensive fossil ever sold at auction, raising old questions about whether such specimens should be put up for sale

Rattlesnakes have gotten a bad rap over the years, but a live stream of their attentive parenting behaviors could help change that.

Look Into a 'Mega Den' of 2,000 Slithering Rattlesnakes With This Live Stream in Colorado

Run by researchers at Cal Poly, the stream is part of a citizen science initiative that aims to change the public's perception of the much-maligned reptiles

Firefighters work to contain the Lake Fire burning in Los Padres National Forest in California. More than 3,900 fires have spread across California this year.

California Faces a Brutal Wildfire Season, With More Land Burned to Date Than in Recent Years

The state's fires have burned more than 11 times as much land so far in 2024 than they had at this point last year, according to the most recent numbers from Cal Fire

DOC ranger Jim Fyfe and Māori ranger Tūmai Cassidy walk alongside a cetacean, thought to be a rare spade-toothed whale, being transported by Trevor King Earthmoving.

The World's Rarest Whale May Have Just Washed Ashore in New Zealand

No one has ever recorded a live sighting of the spade-toothed whale, but experts say the dolphin-like creature found earlier this month is "no doubt" a member of the elusive species

Baby beluga whales and adults alike spend the summer in the Churchill River.

Watch Chatty Beluga Families Migrate With These Stunning Live Cams in Canada

Polar Bears International and Explore.org are once again capturing video footage and audio recordings of the social marine mammals as tens of thousands congregate in the Churchill River this summer

A new butter alternative uses synthetic fat to create taste of dairy butter without the need for cows.

New 'Butter' Made From Carbon Dioxide Tastes Like the Real Dairy Product, Startup Says

The company, called Savor, uses a synthetic fat to approximate the taste of butter and is seeking regulatory approval

A pit in the Sea of Tranquility, captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Scientists Find an Underground Cave on the Moon That Could Shelter Future Explorers

Such caves could serve as lunar bases during upcoming missions, protecting astronauts against cosmic radiation and extreme temperatures

American oystercatchers use their orange bills to pry open shellfish.

Nesting Shorebirds Are Mobbing Drones on New York City Beaches

The drones, equipped with inflatable life rafts, were intended to help improve public safety for humans this summer—but they're also upsetting orange-beaked birds called American oystercatchers

A prototype of the system for collecting the astronauts' urine. In the future, astronauts may go on longer spacewalks that will require them to carry more drinking water.

Spacesuit Prototype Turns Pee Into Drinking Water

The system is inspired by the stillsuits for collecting moisture in the science fiction epic <em>Dune</em>

The Penguin and the Egg are about 100,000 light-years apart.

James Webb's Newest Image Shows a Giant Penguin and an Egg

NASA released the dazzling portrait to help celebrate the two-year anniversary of the release of Webb's first images

One of the complete skeletons analyzed in the new study

Did Plague Cause the Mysterious Collapse of Europe's Early Farmers 5,000 Years Ago?

A new study finds widespread DNA evidence that an ancestor pathogen of the Black Death helped bring about the end of an agricultural society responsible for megalithic tombs and monuments, like Stonehenge

Flaring, the burning of natural gas at an oil well, takes place on the&nbsp;Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. A large portion of Marathon Oil&#39;s emissions comes from flaring.

EPA Reaches $241 Million Settlement With Marathon Oil

The company was illegally polluting the air at nearly 90 facilities in North Dakota, a complaint alleges

Scientists believe the mammoth was so well-preserved because of the dry, cold climate in Siberia.

3D DNA Preserved for 52,000 Years in Freeze-Dried Woolly Mammoth Remains

For the first time, researchers have mapped ancient genetic material in unprecedented detail

A damselfly covered with drops of dew sits on a leaf in this close-up photo.

See Ten Creepy-Crawly Portraits From the Insect Week Photography Contest

The Royal Entomological Society’s Photography Competition highlights the wonder and diversity of the six-legged creatures that crawl, swim and fly across the planet

On July 5, Peruvian authorities recovered the mummified remains of American climber Bill Stampfl from the slopes of&nbsp;Huascar&aacute;n.

Melting Ice Reveals Body of American Mountaineer Missing for 22 Years in the Peruvian Andes

Bill Stampfl, Matthew Richardson and Steve Erskine went missing in an avalanche on Huascarán on June 24, 2002. Climbers found Stampfl's body just weeks ago

The central region of the Omega Centauri globular cluster, where the Hubble Space Telescope found strong evidence for a medium-sized black hole.

Astronomers Spot Rare, Mid-Sized Black Hole in Our Galaxy

The black hole, if confirmed, is in the star cluster Omega Centauri, about 17,700 light-years away, and it could hold lessons about how such structures are formed

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