Uncategorized
- Animals
Like living mood rings, these bees change color when it turns humid
Humidity makes North American sweat bees change color. This trait could be widespread among shiny insects, some biologists now suspect.
- Brain
Imagination is not just replaying what we’ve seen and heard
New brain scans are helping sort out how our brains process imagined thoughts versus real sensations.
- Space
NASA’s DART spacecraft changed 2 asteroids’ orbit around the sun
In 2022, NASA smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. New data show how that impact changed the orbit around the sun of this space rock — and its partner.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Synesthesia
This is a trait in which one kind of sensory input, such as sound, can trigger another sense, such as sight.
- Oceans
Explainer: What are corals?
Though they can look like rocks or plants, corals are animals. Most are made up of colonies of individuals called polyps.
- Life
Some of these Smithsonian secrets might just blow your mind
Millions of treasures stashed in this museum storage site — open only to select visitors — tell the history of Earth's inhabitants.
- Tech
Nature-inspired rocket-nozzle redesign stands by for liftoff
At the 2026 Regeneron ISEF competition, teens showed how they blasted past a problem that has limited use of super-efficient aerospike rocket engines.
- Humans
Some people use echolocation to get around. Here’s how it works
As expert echolocators make multiple clicking sounds, their brains process the echoes to help them perceive their surroundings.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Superbloom
These massive wildflower blooms create colorful carpets over desert landscapes during unusually rainy years.
- Archaeology
These 12,000-year-old Native American dice are the oldest in the world
A study of ancient artifacts suggests Native American dice games began thousands of years earlier than previously documented.
- Environment
Hawaii is turning fishnets and other plastic trash into roads
Scientists are testing whether plastic pollution from the ocean can be transformed into safe and durable highways.
- Earth
How hot can our planet get? Earth’s climate history holds clues
Learning from the Earth's past climate swings — what happened to life and when — can help us understand where we might be headed.
