Smithsonian
North Dakota fossil site may be ‘most sensational’ glimpse of final minutes of dinosaur reign
Sixty-six million years ago, an immense asteroid smacked into what is now the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, triggering global devastation ...
Hues of the past: How we determine the colors of prehistoric animals
[Paleontologist Maria McNamara] studies tissues from insects and vertebrates in order to envision what these critters looked like and how ...
‘Super smeller’ woman boosts effort to create early diagnosis tool for Parkinson’s disease
Long before Les Milne began exhibiting the telltale signs of Parkinson’s disease, his wife Joy—a so-called “super smeller” capable of detecting ...
Making the case for early human migration into rain forests
In the past, researchers believed humans were almost exclusively adapted to savanna environments. Previous hypotheses suggested Homo sapiens ... spread ...
DNA as a crime fighting tool: Why we may be in danger of putting too much faith in it
What happens to a society when there’s suddenly a new way to identify people—to track them as they move around ...
Dozens of new species found in Chinese fossil site provide window into ancient life
Fossil-packed sites like the Burgess Shale in Canada have revealed the unique nature of early animals around 508 million years ...
DNA from museum artifacts could help solve ancient mysteries—but there’s a risk
To fill some of the gaps in our understanding of aurochs evolution, [paleogenomics researcher Mikkel] Sinding looks for genetic clues ...
Gut bacteria could play key role in patient response to new cancer treatments
Does the quality and diversity of human gut bacteria determine whether people will successfully respond to cancer treatment? “When we ...
Is depression affected by bacteria in the gut?
The human microbiome—a collection of bacteria, archaea, fungi and viruses commingling in the gut and intestines—has been linked to a ...
Regenerating tissues and limbs: What we can learn from the the amazing axolotl salamander’s genome
Saving the salamander that Nature called “biology’s beloved amphibian” takes on a special significance given the animal’s remarkable traits. Axolotls are neotenic, ...
Meet Alice Lee, the woman who disproved myths about skull size, sex, intelligence
On the morning of June 10, 1898, Alice Lee marched into the all-male Anatomical Society meeting at Trinity College in ...
Why don’t humans have fur? We have theories, but no answers
Evolutionary theorists have put forth numerous hypotheses for why humans became the naked mole rats of the primate world. Did we adapt ...
‘Interesting puzzle’ created by hand tools found near long-vanished Arabian rivers
Nearly 200,000 years ago, at the confluence of two long-vanished river systems in the heart of Arabia, people climbed a ...
You sound down: Using AI to spot depression in a person’s voice
[T]he notion that artificial intelligence could help predict if a person is suffering from depression is potentially a big step ...
450,000-year-old teeth help piece together human family tree
Crime-drama fans know that forensic scientists can ID the remains of long-missing persons by examining their teeth. To solve even ...
Before T. rex, 30-foot-long Dynamoterror and Lythronax ruled the American southwest
Tyrannosaurs often bear fierce names. Aside from the “tyrant lizard” Tyrannosaurus itself, there’s the “monstrous murderer” Teratophoneus, the “frightful lizard” Daspletosaurus, and the “gore ...
Biological clock blood test can predict disease risk
[G]enes tied to our body clocks play a critical role in everything from our hormone levels and body temperature to ...
‘Bravery cells’: Courage, risky behavior, stress linked to hippocampus
According to new research, your reaction may have less to do with logically analyzing the situation and more to do ...
Deep dive for aliens: We’ve only examined a ‘hot tub’ worth of cosmic ocean
[A] new study suggests we haven’t exactly taken a deep dive when it comes to hunting for other-worldly life forms ...
This ‘hot mess’ bird links dinosaur and avian evolution
Yes, birds are technically modern dinosaurs. But sometimes it’s tough to tell where the non-avian dino ends and the bird begins ...
Documenting the rise and fall of populations through human poop
The city that vanished about 700 years ago presents a captivating question for archaeologists: What happened to the Mississippian people who built ...
Improving the sports concussion ‘tool kit’: Virtual reality goggles promise speedier diagnosis
As the 2018 [football] season gets into full swing, some college teams are keeping a new gadget on the sidelines: ...
Why probiotics may or may not help you—and could even harm you
From pickles and candy bars to pills and protein powders, probiotics are touted as a health boon in all flavors ...
Confusion over the origins of smallpox vaccine could leave us ‘vulnerable to a future outbreak’
Not only is there the potential for smallpox (or at the very least, something very similar) to resurge, but unbeknownst ...
Family ties: Searching for autism origins in the genes of unaffected siblings
Scientists have historically focused on studying a “quartet” of two biological parents and two autistic children. Yet more recent research ...
Were Neanderthals wiped out by icy climate change?
About 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals began disappearing from Europe, but exactly why they died out is a mystery. … Researchers propose ...
Gut microbes could be the key to universal blood
Blood transfusions must match the blood type of a donor to that of the recipient; otherwise, the recipient’s immune system ...