- + Why Probability Probably Doesn’t Exist (But It's Useful to Act Like It Does)—All of statistics and much of science depends on probability—an astonishing achievement, considering no one’s really sure what it is
- + Are Octopuses Too Smart to Be Farmed?—A planned octopus farm is facing opposition. Here’s why
- + WWII Sugar Rationing Gave Kids a Lifelong Health Boost—Infants who experienced rationing had a meaningfully lower risk of diabetes and hypertension decades later
- + Wikipedia Searches Reveal Differing Styles of Curiosity—Are you a “hunter” or a “busybody”?
- + Why People Get More Colds in Winter—A mixture of colder temperatures, lower humidity and more time spent indoors could explain the uptick in cold viruses during the winter holidays
- + A Little Math Can Streamline Holiday Cookie Making—Making cookies is time and labor-intensive. Here’s how a little math can make it easier and less wasteful this holiday season
- + How Rare ‘Alice in Wonderland Syndrome’ Warps Reality—Researchers are learning what causes Alice in Wonderland syndrome, a rare neurological condition that can appear to warp bodies, time and reality it...
- + Untangling Why Red Wine Causes Headaches—Opt for lighter, cheaper wine to dodge headaches this holiday season
- + NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Attempts a Record-Breaking Christmas Eve Flyby—The Parker Solar Probe will swoop just 6.1 million kilometers above the sun’s surface on Christmas Eve. Scientists are thrilled at what we might...
- + How Climate Change Could Trigger Earthquakes—Climate change may influence seismic activity as melting glaciers reduce pressure on quake-prone faults
- + Americans Are Moody, and Pollsters Should Pay Attention—The full potential of public opinion polling lies in its ability to illuminate deeper societal trends beyond electoral forecasts
- + The World’s Smallest Pasta Is Not Very Tasty—Researchers seeking better bandages are creating extremely thin fibers of starch
- + Reviewing the Climate, Health and Tech Stories We Covered in 2024—We’re closing out the year with a roundup of the science stories that stood out to our editors in 2024.
- + How Feminism Can Guide Climate Change Action—Feminism gives us the analysis, tools and movement to create a better climate future for everyone. It’s time to embrace it
- + Run, Lucy, Run! Human Ancestors Could Jog but Not Very Far or Fast—3D models of Australopithecus afarensis hint at the muscular adaptations that made modern humans better runners
- + Ancient Moon Melt Event May Explain 150-Million-Year Gap in Age Estimates—The moon may have melted 4.35 billion years ago—explaining a lunar age mystery
- + Bird Flu Has Spread Out of Control after Mistakes by U.S. Government and Industry—As the bird flu virus moved into cows and people, sluggish federal action, deference to industry and neglect for worker safety put the country at risk
- + Tech Stereotypes Discourage Girls from Computing and Engineering as Early as Age 6—Early cultural exposure can influence kids’ ideas about gender and STEM in significant ways
- + What Gives Christmas Trees Their Crisp, Cozy Scent?—Learn which molecules are responsible for giving Christmas trees their distinct, crisp-yet-spicy scent
- + The Winter Solstice Is Here. How Dark Days Affect the Human Body—The winter solstice is the culmination of a period every year when each cell in our body literally craves more light
- + Our Bodies Are So Ready to Celebrate the Rebirth of the Sun—The winter solstice is the culmination of a period every year when each cell in our body literally craves more light
- + The Human Brainwaves Centennial Exposes a Darker Science History—The centennial of the discovery of brain waves in humans exposes a chilling tale involving Nazis, war between Russia and Ukraine, suicide and the vici...
- + How Do We Name the Stars?—With billions of stars in the Milky Way, some nomenclature standardization is necessary
- + Conservation Efforts Save Pandas, Wolves and Panthers from Extinction—There are so many species facing extinction—but today we’re telling stories about the animals making a comeback and the conservationists w...
- + This Year’s Nobel Prizes Are a Warning about AI—Unless we pursue AI carefully, the Nobel committee will one day give a Peace Prize to the people cleaning up its terrible consequences, just as it did...
- + The UnitedHealthcare Tragedy Is Why Insurance Needs to Change Now—I am a trauma surgeon and gunshot survivor who has experienced byzantine health insurance coverage firsthand. I understand why people are furious
- + Biden Pledges Huge Climate Emissions Cuts He Can’t Enforce. Here’s Why It Still Matters—President Biden strengthened the U.S.’s commitment to slash climate pollution under the Paris Agreement knowing that President-elect Donald Trum...
- + Trump’s Pick for NIH Director Could Harm Science and People's Health—With a possible bird flu outbreak looming, Donald Trump’s choice of Jay Bhattacharya, a scientist critical of COVID policies, for the NIH is the...
- + How Dartmouth’s Sexual Harassment Scandal Transformed the Lives of These Women in Science—In 2017, a group of students at Dartmouth College filed a lawsuit that revealed an entrenched culture of power and abuse, and in doing so, they sparke...
- + Most Expensive Dinosaur Fossil Ever Could Reveal Stegosaurus Secrets—The huge Stegosaurus fossil Apex, bought at auction for $44.6 million, has debuted on loan at the American Museum of Natural History
- + Earth Life Found inside Ryugu Asteroid Samples—Material from asteroid Ryugu riddled with earthly microbes provides a cautionary tale for scientists seeking signs of alien life
- + Mysterious Constant that Makes Mathematicians Despair—The proof that the Apéry constant is irrational remains one of the most bizarre events in the history of mathematics
- + Genetic Testing Is a Gift. But It Shouldn’t be a Present—Think Twice before Giving Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Kits to Friends and Loved Ones
- + 9 Space Images from NASA and Beyond That Stunned in 2024—See the year’s most striking images from the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes, NASA’s Mars rover and the best sky watching on offer
- + U.S. Has First Case of Severe Bird Flu, CDC Confirms in H5N1 Update—Louisiana reported a person hospitalized with a severe case of H5N1, and the USDA has begun bulk milk testing
- + Will the World's First Nuclear Fusion Power Plant Be Built in Virginia? Here's Why We're Skeptical—The fusion power plant would go live in the next decade and produce 400 megawatts of electricity, says Commonwealth Fusion Systems
- + 78 Books Scientific American Recommends in 2024—A collection of nonfiction and fiction books Scientific American editorial staff and contributors read and recommend in 2024
- + Should You Throw Out Your Black Plastic Spatula?—The scientists behind a popular study on the health effects of flame retardants in black plastic cooking utensils and toys made a calculation error bu...
- + Study Miscalculation Has Everyone Talking about Black Plastic Spatulas Again. Experts Are Still Concerned—The scientists behind a popular study on the health effects of flame retardants in black plastic cooking utensils and toys made a calculation error bu...
- + 8 Fascinating Things We Learned about Language in 2024—This year scientists found universal language for pain, tracked why some words go extinct, developed mind-reading brain-to-speech technology, and more
- + Wildfires Are Threatening Astronomy, and the Worst Is Yet to Come—As wildfires grow in severity and frequency, they’re not only threatening lives but also our visual connection to the cosmos
- + Please Don’t Take Moral Advice from ChatGPT—Before turning to a large language model for ethical counsel, consider what makes for good advice
- + How to Manage Holiday Grief in Yourself and Others—The holidays can be a difficult time for people who are grieving. Here’s how to get through it or support a loved one
- + The Public Distrusts Scientists’ Morals, Not Their Science—Reaction to a recent Pew survey on the public’s trust in science shows that the scientific community is not ready to address the real problem
- + Can a New Generation of Conservationists Make the Field More Accessible?—Modern conservationists are finding new ways to protect wildlife.
- + Baby Humpback Whales Burp and Bark to Beg Mom for Milk—The burps, barks and snorts humpback whales make when asking their mother for milk are the first recorded instances of begginglike behavior in a balee...
- + The Human Brain Operates at a Stunningly Slow Pace—The brain is sometimes called the most complex machine in the known universe. But the thoughts that it outputs putter along at a trifling 10 bits per ...
- + United Airlines Will Help Monitor U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions—United Airlines is partnering with NOAA as part of a wider federal strategy to better keep tabs on the country’s greenhouse gas emissions
- + Could Inducing Lucid Dreams Treat Insomnia and Nightmares?—“Engineering” sleeping consciousness could reduce nightmares, treat insomnia—and even be induce specific dreams just for fun
- + Book Review: The Surprising Comeback of Our Least Appreciated Sense—The nose knows more than we thought
- + Delicious Bacon Highlights Food That Enraptures Our Senses but Endangers Our Health—Some foods, no matter how simply prepared, contain many substances linked to disease
- + Great Apes Joke Around, Suggesting Humor Is Older Than Humans—Studies of great apes hint at why and when clowning behavior evolved
- + Ape Jokes, Vagus Nerve Hopes and a Mystery Planet—The searches for Planet Nine, bat viruses, life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and lucid dreams
- + If Planet Nine Exists, We’ll Find It Soon—If there’s a hidden world in the solar system, a new telescope should find it
- + How Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinctions Stack Up—Earth’s deadliest mass extinctions have important commonalities—and significant differences
- + How the Vagus Nerve Could Influence Physical and Mental Health—The healing potential of the brain’s most interconnected nerve intrigues researchers
- + The Next Viral Pandemic Is Coming. Here’s How We Can Stop It—A new combo of climate and habitat crises, along with immune system stress, is driving more bat-borne viruses to afflict us
- + Math Puzzle: Move the Tower—Transport the disks in this math puzzle
- + Contributors to Scientific American’s January 2025 Issue—Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories
- + January 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago—The J particle; a nitroglycerin engine
- + Book Review: In a Drowning New York City, Can All of Natural History Be Saved?—In the often-gloomy genre of climate fiction, a new novel hits a high-water mark for its empathy
- + Book Review: This Relationship Shaped Rachel Carson’s Environmental Ethos—The connection between queer love and the power to imagine a more sustainable future
- + Science Crossword: Out of Sight—Play this crossword inspired by the January 2025 issue of Scientific American
- + Engineering Lucid Dreams Could Improve Sleep and Defuse Nightmares—Scientists are learning to manipulate lucid dreams in ways that could ease nightmares, enhance sleep and improve overall health
- + Readers Respond to the September 2024 Issue—Letters to the editors for the September 2024 issue of Scientific American
- + It’s Never Been a Better Time to Look Up—Astronomy is a bright spot amid turbulence on Earth
- + Why Do Some People Need Just Four to Six Hours of Sleep?—Short sleepers cruise by on four to six hours a night and don’t seem to suffer ill effects. Turns out they’re genetically built to require...
- + How to Make Your Christmas Tree Last—O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum, where’s your instruction manual? Here’s how to make the most of your Christmas tree
- + Silicon Valley Is Reviving the Discredited and Discriminatory Idea of ‘Race Science’—Scientific racism today must be seen and rejected for what it truly is—a hollow attempt to dress discrimination in the garb of science and reaso...
- + Wildest Things Science Learned about the Human Body in 2024—From periods of rapid aging in our 40s and 60s to ancient brains that don’t decompose, here are some of the year’s most intriguing stories...
- + Poem: ‘Cardiac Knotting’—Science in meter and verse
- + No, It’s Not a Good Idea to Shoot at New Jersey ‘Mystery Drones’—Surging reports of strange drones in the skies over New Jersey and other parts of the northeast U.S. have spurred calls to shoot down the unidentified...
- + Ferns’ ‘Backward’ Evolution Reveals Life’s Meandering Path—Evolution is often depicted as a steady forward march from simple to complex forms. But new research shows that certain ferns can evolve ‘backwa...
- + Anthony Fauci Tells SciAm about the Biggest Health Threat We Face—Scientific American sat down with physician-scientist Anthony Fauci, who recently published a memoir, to discuss COVID mistakes and successes, bird f...
- + The 6 Most Hilarious Things We Learned about Animals in 2024—From a comb jelly with two butts to wing-slapping ants, this animal research made us laugh this year
- + The Perfect Beer Glass Shape, according to Math—A mathematician has calculated the ideal shape for a beer glass to keep the liquid inside as cool as possible
- + AI and Other Emerging Technologies Are Expanding Conservation Studies—Conservationists have access to massive amounts of data on wildlife—and machine learning is helping them make meaning out of them.
- + Creating ‘Mirror Life’ Could Be Disastrous, Scientists Warn—Breakthroughs in synthetic biology could create mirror versions of natural molecules, with devastating consequences for life on Earth
- + Luigi Mangione’s Alleged Ghost Gun and Other Antisurveillance Tech, Explained—Investigators allege that the suspect in the recent UnitedHealthcare CEO killing used a “ghost gun,” an untraceable firearm made with 3D-p...
- + Ultraprocessed Foods High in Seed Oils Could Be Fueling Colon Cancer Risk—A new study suggests certain lipids, particularly omega-6 fatty acids, which are commonly found in seed oils used to make ultraprocessed junk food, ma...
- + Atmospheric River Forecasts Are Improving Thanks to Storm-Hunting Planes—Better forecasting would help communities prepare for the extreme weather from atmospheric rivers that causes an average of $1 billion in damages a ye...
- + ‘Neuroaesthetics’ Reveals How the Arts Help with Dementia and Trauma—Aesthetic experiences can improve health and well-being at any stage of life
- + From Polarization to Brain Rot to Brat, 2024's Words of the Year Reflect Online Power and Peril—The 2024 word of the year winners offer a window into the spirit of the times
- + NASA’s Voyager Probes Find Puzzles beyond the Solar System—For two decades now, the iconic twin Voyager spacecraft have been quietly overturning everything we thought we knew about the boundary between our sol...
- + Science-Backed Sleep Tips from 2024 to Help You Snooze Better—From the “sleepy girl mocktail” to power naps, researchers explained which sleep trends this year really help with quality shut-eye
- + How Do Astronomers Navigate the Sky?—The celestial equivalent to latitude and longitude lets astronomers find their way across the heavens
- + Modern Zoos Are Trailblazing Animal Conservation Efforts—Though it may seem paradoxical, zoos can play a big role in modern conservation efforts.
- + Mysterious Drone Sightings Illustrate Just How Many Fill America’s Skies—Mysterious drone sightings over New Jersey and New York State are underscoring the high number of these vehicles in the U.S.
- + When Did Neandertals and Humans Interbreed? Genomics Closes In on a Date—The oldest human genomes ever sequenced reveal that our Neandertal ancestry came from one “pulse” of interbreeding and pins down the timin...
- + Nobel Prizes Overlook Black Scientists Because of This Quiet Bias—The way scientists recognize one another’s work overlooks the seminal contributions of Black scientists. The Nobel Committees need to recognize ...
- + What Are AI Agents, and Why Are They About to Be Everywhere?—Systems that operate on behalf of people or corporations are the latest product from the AI boom, but these “agents” may present new and u...
- + The 7 Coolest Mathematical Discoveries of 2024—Unsolvable problems, many-dimensional wheels and new prime numbers are among new mathematical discoveries this year
- + Animals Evolved Color Vision before Bright Colors Emerged—Animals were able to see colors long before species developed the riot of colors that enlivens our world today
- + A Rapidly Warming Arctic Looks Dramatically Different Now Than 20 Years Ago—Rising temperatures, increasing precipitation, thawing permafrost and melting ice are pushing the Arctic outside its historical norms
- + Mysterious ‘Disease X’ Outbreak Might Be Malaria. What We Know—Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are racing to identify a deadly illness that is affecting malnourished children
- + Injuries from Electric Bikes and Electric Scooters Have Tripled. Here’s What to Know—Following a startling spike in electric scooter and e-bike injuries, epidemiologists warn of inadequate infrastructure and safety rules
- + Luigi Mangione Said He Had Spondylolisthesis: What Is It?—The suspect in the recent shooting of a UnitedHealthcare CEO reportedly had spondylolisthesis, a condition that causes the vertebrae to go out of alig...
- + 5 Nifty Things We Learned about Pet Cats and Dogs in 2024—Why do some Labrador retrievers overeat? Do cats and dogs dream like humans do? Is your cat actually obsessed with you? In 2024 we got answers to thes...
- + How Renewable-Powered Microgrids Help Towns Weather Hurricanes, Wildfires, and More—Communities are thinking big and relying on smaller energy systems called microgrids to gain reliable energy autonomy
- + How Tools like NotebookLM Create AI-Generated Podcasts—Translating complex information into captivating podcasts is no simple task. Is AI up to the challenge?
- + How the Franklin Fire in Malibu Is Being Stoked by the Santa Ana Winds—Dry weather and an extreme Santa Ana wind event have contributed to the explosive growth of the Franklin Fire in Malibu, Calif.
- + NASA’s Next Artemis Mission Is Pushed to No Earlier Than 2026—While contending with lingering hardware issues for its crewed lunar plans, the U.S. space agency projects confidence and urgency in a time of transit...
- + Addiction Telemedicine Has Saved Lives. Let’s Keep It Going—Pandemic relaxation of buprenorphine-prescribing restrictions must continue to keep saving lives amid a U.S. overdose epidemic
- + The 6 Cutest Things We Learned about Animals in 2024—From morphing beluga noggins to birds that practice singing in their sleep, science produced plenty of adorable findings this year
- + What Are the Mystery Drones Reported over New York State and New Jersey?—Reports of unidentified flying objects in the northeastern U.S. are on the rise, but so far officials have few answers for alarmed residents
- + What Are the Mystery Drones Reported Over New York and New Jersey?—Reports of unidentified flying objects in the northeast U.S. are on the rise, but so far officials have few answers for alarmed residents
- + Google Makes a Major Quantum Computing Breakthrough—Google’s new chip, Willow, has achieved the exponential suppression of errors. The advance is substantial, but Willow remains far from deliverin...
- + New Telescopes Will Illuminate a Cosmic Dark Age—The universe’s light-starved early epochs, as well as the first stars and galaxies, lie beyond the reach of conventional observatories but could...
- + AI Will Turn Our Lives into The Truman Show—Large language models can create muddled, misinformed multiverses
- + 6 Wild Things We Learned about Earth in 2024—It’s been a fascinating year in earth science—from mysterious “dark oxygen” to an “unidentified seismic object,” h...
- + Lead in Gasoline Linked to Mental Illness, and ‘Disease X’ Spreads in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—A mysterious outbreak occurs in the Democratic of the Congo, and researchers find evidence that exposure to leaded gasoline was linked to increases in...
- + Wuhan Lab Sequences Reveal No Close COVID Relatives, Virologist Says—Shi Zhengli, the virologist at the center of COVID lab-leak theory, reveals coronavirus sequences from the Wuhan institute
- + Climate ‘Tipping Point’ Language Doesn’t Spur Action—A new paper warns the concept of “tipping points” doesn’t do much to encourage climate action from laypeople and policymakers
- + Cinnamon and Other Spices Can Contain Lead. Here’s What to Know—Amid concerns about lead found in certain cinnamon products, here’s what to know about how spices can pick up heavy metals and how worried to be
- + What’s Inside Our Galaxy’s Darkest Place?—Barnard 68 is often mistaken for a hole in space, but it’s actually a dense, opaque cloud of dust—for now
- + Iron Deficiency and Anemia May Be More Common in Young Women Than Doctors Know—Underdiagnosed iron deficiency and anemia could be leaving people without affordable fixes for their concerns.
- + What’s at Stake in Supreme Court Case on Transgender Health Care—In United States v. Skrmetti , the Supreme Court is considering whether a law banning gender - affirming care for transgender youth is discrimina...
- + Bird Flu Virus Is One Mutation Away from Adapting to Human Cells—A new study finds tweaking part of the H5N1 virus infecting dairy cows in a single spot could allow it to better attach to human cell receptors, raisi...
- + Trump’s NASA Pick, Jared Isaacman, Is a Climate Mystery—President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, is a major supporter of human-crewed space exploration, but his view...
- + These Two Botanists Put Their Lives on the Line on the Colorado River All for Their Science —This is a science adventure story. Take a wild journey down the Colorado River in the company of two pioneering botanists: Elzada Clover and Lois Jott...
- + For Orcas, Dead Salmon Hats Are Back in Fashion—Orcas off the coast of Washington State are balancing dead fish on their heads like it’s the 1980s, but researchers still aren’t sure why ...
- + New Pneumonia Vaccine Guidelines Could Save More People from Deadly Disease—Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death in older adults and young children—vaccinations are an effective way to reduce illness
- + Trump Taps Jared Isaacman, Billionaire and Private Astronaut, to Lead NASA—NASA’s presumptive next leader, billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, already has big plans for the space agency
- + Hawaiian Crows Return to the Wild, Where They Are ‘Guides to Souls’—The Hawaiian crow, or ‘alalā, has been extinct in the wild since 2002. A new effort to reintroduce birds of this species—considere...
- + Hawaiian Crows Return to the Wild, Where They Are ‘Guides to Lost Souls’—The Hawaiian crow, or ‘alalā, has been extinct in the wild since 2002. A new effort to reintroduce birds of this species—considere...
- + Does Sleep Training Work? —Many parents choose sleep training to get their babies to sleep through the night. But the evidence supporting it is flawed
- + What is Long-Acting Reversible Birth Control?—When Roe v. Wade fell, interest in long-acting and permanent birth control rose. Here’s what to know as Trump returns to office
- + Why Gen Z Men Voted for Trump—Gen Z can’t stand inequality. Why so many of its men voted Republican is a lesson in understanding male identity
- + Can Antarctic Wildlife Survive Another Deadly Bird Flu Season?—Last year avian influenza brought death to the picturesque island of South Georgia off Antarctica. This season scientists hope things will be differen...
- + Anthony Fauci Warns of Bird Flu Dangers—And How Public Division Could Make It Worse—“America’s Doctor” says that our common enemy is the danger posed by viruses, not each other.
- + Why ‘Brain Rot’ Is 2024’s Word of the Year—The phrase “brain rot” spiked 230 percent from 2023 to 2024, according to the makers of the Oxford English Dictionary
- + Plate Tectonics May Be the Surprising Solution to Earth's Deepest Mystery—Plate tectonics, or the recycling of Earth’s crust, may have begun much earlier than previously thought—and may be a big reason that our p...
- + Plate Tectonics May Be the Surprising Solution to the Mystery of Earth’s Origins—Plate tectonics, or the recycling of Earth's crust, may have begun much earlier than previously thought—and may be a big reason that our planet ...
- + Health Care Isn’t Working for Homebound Older Adults Living Alone—There is a large population of older adults with physical problems that prevent them from leaving home. Many have significant medical and practical ne...
- + The Arctic Could Be Functionally Ice-Free in Just a Few Years—The Arctic is likely to become “ice-free” by midcentury—and could pass that grim milestone much sooner—unless much more is don...
- + Nectar-Eating Wolves May Be Pollinating Flowers—There are fewer than 500 Ethiopian wolves, and they may be the first large carnivore known to act as a pollinator
- + Global Plastic Pollution Treaty Talks Fail—A summit many hoped would yield a landmark treaty to tackle a global plastic pollution crisis ended in disappointment after oil- and gas-producing cou...
- + Why These Millennia-Old Brains Are So Well Preserved—Misfolded proteins may preserve postmortem brains well after other tissues have decayed
- + What Caused This Seven-Mile Scar in Australia’s Outback?—A man scouring Google Earth found a mysterious scar in the Australian outback. And now scientists know what caused it
- + What Caused This Seven-Mile Scar in Australia's Outback?—A man scouring Google Earth found a mysterious scar in the Australian outback. And now scientists know what caused it
- + When Is Too Much Teeth Whitening Harmful to Oral Health?—Using teeth-whitening treatments to achieve a brighter smile may be appealing, but experts say overdoing it could cause lasting damage
- + Lightning on Earth Knocks ‘Killer Electrons’ Loose in Orbit—High-energy electrons released by storms on Earth can threaten satellites and spacecraft
- + Math and Physics Can’t Prove All Truths—Physicists have described a system that requires an incomputable number to fully understand, another example of the provably unprovable puzzles of mat...
- + Math and Physics Can't Prove All Truths—Physicists have described a system that requires an incomputable number to fully understand, another example of the provably unprovable puzzles of mat...
- + Hope Can Be More Powerful Than Mindfulness—In difficult times, a forward-looking mindset may be especially helpful
- + ‘Marine Snow’ Studies Show How the Ocean Eats Carbon—The ocean’s digestive system is dictated by picky microbes and precise dynamics of drifting debris
- + What Are Crepuscular Rays?—“Twilight rays” are but one of several viewing treats for the liminal time between day and night
- + Fossil Footprints Suggest Two Early Human Species Crossed Paths within Hours—Two sets of fossilized footprints from early human species were made within a few hours of each other about 1.5 million years ago, researchers suggest
- + Your Friends Shape Your Microbiome—And So Do Their Friends—Analysis of nearly 2,000 people living in remote villages in Honduras reveals who’s spreading gut microorganisms to whom
- + Your Friends Shape Your Microbiome—and So Do Their Friends—Analysis of nearly 2,000 people living in remote villages in Honduras reveals who’s spreading gut microorganisms to whom
- + Choosing Empathy Is Critical to Democracy —If we lose sight of why empathy matters, both individual dignity and democracy suffer
- + Walking Pneumonia Is Surging in Young Kids. Here's What to Know—Milder cases of pneumonia, dubbed “walking pneumonia,” are on the rise in young children this year
- + Walking Pneumonia is Surging in Young Kids. Here's What to Know—Milder cases of pneumonia, dubbed “walking pneumonia,” are on the rise in young children this year
- + What Makes the Eastern U.S. Drought Different from the West’s—Drought is more synonymous with the western U.S., but the eastern part of the country can descend into such conditions surprisingly quickly
- + Expressions of Pain May Have a Common Origin—From “ouch” to “ aïe ” to “ yakayi, ” languages across the world exclaim pain using similar-sounding words, h...
- + Science for True Well-Being—The latest research is an antidote to toxic quackery and honest confusion about health
- + Why We Probably Won’t Find Aliens Anytime Soon—Odds are that we’re not truly alone in the cosmos. But practically speaking, we might as well be
- + A Science Breakthrough Too Good to Be True? It Probably Isn’t—The more exciting, transformative, and revolutionary a science result appears, especially coming out of nowhere, the more likely it is to be dead wron...
- + Fluoride in Drinking Water Is Safe. Here’s the Evidence—RFK, Jr., and other potential and current government officials have spread shaky health claims about fluoridated water. Scientists explain the evidenc...
- + A Psychologist’s Tips for Avoiding Overconsumption this Black Friday—Holiday deals are designed to be irresistible. A consumer psychologist explains how to avoid overconsumption and shop sustainably.
- + Fast Fashion Affects Climate, Exploits Workers and Creates Enormous Textile Waste —Fast fashion may seem cheap, but it’s taking a costly toll on the planet — and on millions of young people
- + Wildfire Smoke Linked to Increased Risk of Dementia—The particles that make up wildfire smoke may raise the risk of dementia even more than similar airborne pollutants from other sources
- + How the Return of Salmon to the Klamath River Shows Us What’s Possible in Wildlife Conservation—Once a tragic example of degraded wildlife habitat, the Klamath River’s dam removal demonstrates how people can halt the decline of, and even re...
- + How Magnet Fishers Catch Underwater Garbage, Guns and Sometimes Treasure—With the help of a powerful rare-earth alloy, magnet fishers pull garbage out of polluted waterways
- + Dr. Oz Invested in Businesses Regulated by Agency Trump Wants Him To Lead—Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies
- + How Humor Can Help You Get through Hard Times—When life feels difficult, humor can be a coping mechanism that relieves stress and offers the breathing room to keep going, scientists say
- + When a Nation Embraces a False Reality—A renowned psychiatrist and activist compares Trump’s election to other pivotal historical moments in which the ultimate victim was truth itself
- + Confronting the Dangers of Silent Spread Is Necessary to Prevent Future Pandemics—We need targeted public health interventions to reduce transmission from asymptomatically infected individuals. Like COVID, silently spreading pathoge...
- + RFK, Jr., Could Run the Agency That Oversees the CDC, FDA and NIH. Here’s What That Means for Public Health—RFK, Jr., could restructure the CDC, FDA and NIH in pursuit of his flawed vision of public health. Plus, we discuss chimpanzees at play and the first-...
- + Scientists Scramble to Save Climate Data from Trump—Again—Federal climate databases remained largely intact during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term. Scientists say the threats are bigger this t...
- + How Trump Could Weaken the Affordable Care Act —The Trump administration could embolden Republicans to make sweeping changes to how the affordable care act functions and is enforced
- + Mathematicians’ Newest Assistants Are Artificially Intelligent—AI-human collaboration could possibly achieve superhuman greatness in mathematics
- + World’s Oldest Alphabet Discovered—A finger-sized clay cylinder from a tomb in northern Syria appears to be the oldest example of writing using an alphabet rather than hieroglyphs or cu...
- + Here’s Why Abortion Largely Won on Election Day—But Not on the Top of the Ticket—Voters supported abortion rights measures while electing antiabortion candidates in the 2024 election. The split reflects a complicated abortion lands...
- + Why Is the Night Sky Dark? You Can Thank the Big Bang—Called Olbers’ paradox, the seemingly simple mystery of the sky’s darkness is something that stumped astronomers for centuries
- + Using Chatbots and Ancient Writing to Simulate the Cultural Attitudes of Ancient Civilizations—Social psychologists could turn artificial-intelligence-powered tools like ChatGPT on to writings from past cultures. Will this help us study ancient ...
- + Chimps Share Knowledge like Humans Do, Spurring Innovation—Female chimps who migrate to new social groups bring skills and technology with them, helping to drive development of increasingly complex tool sets
- + Bird Flu Has Infected Two Young People. Here’s Why Experts Are Concerned—Canada’s first human case of bird flu has left a teenager in critical condition as human infections continue to emerge in the western U.S.
- + Carolyn Beatrice Parker’s Work on the Manhattan Project Inspired Her Birthplace Generations Later—This Black physicist’s work on the Manhattan Project inspired a County in Florida two generations after her death
- + First Rocks Returned from Moon’s Far Side Reveal Ancient Volcanic Activity—Samples from the far side of the moon gathered by China’s Chang’e-6 mission record eons of tumultuous lunar history
- + When Did Human Ancestors Start Using Tools?—The 3.2-million-year-old human ancestor known as Lucy sparked a revolution in scientists’ understanding of the origins of clever hands and stone...
- + Genetic Genealogy Can Stop Violent Criminals and Free the Wrongly Convicted—Despite investigative genetic genealogy revolutionizing cold case investigations, it has been underused to free the wrongly convicted
- + Every 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Had Faster Winds because of Climate Change—Every Atlantic hurricane that formed this year had higher wind speeds because of climate change. Two likely would have remained tropical storms withou...
- + SpaceX’s Starship Soars in 6th Test Flight but Skips Booster Catch—The sixth test flight of SpaceX’s giant rocket ended with a fiery splashdown rather than a clean “chopstick” catch
- + Trump’s Anti-Climate Agenda Could Help China Dominate Global Markets—Trumps retreat from climate agreements and tech funding will help China dominate global clean energy markets
- + Health Research Could Face Severe Cuts and Changes under Trump—Sweeping reorganization and more research scrutiny could be on the way for the U.S. National Institutes of Health
- + Grumpy Voters Want Better Stories—Not Statistics—A social scientist looks at the portrait of U.S. voters, and voting, in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election that put Trump into the White ...
- + Forcing a Smile Using Electrical Stimulation Can Boost Your Mood—Researchers directed electric current to activate targeted facial muscles and then asked study participants how they felt
- + What Is Causing Disparities in C-Section Rates between Black and White Pregnant People?—A study of births in New Jersey reveals a troubling disparity between unscheduled C-sections for Black people.
- + ‘Bomb Cyclone’ and Atmospheric River Will Bring Extreme Weather to U.S. West Coast—A major windstorm and an atmospheric river are set to unleash a “firehose” of precipitation from California to British Columbia
- + Trees Alone Can’t Stop Climate Change—Forests absorb planet-warming pollution, but world leaders shouldn’t include them in plans to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, a new stu...
- + RFK, Jr., Is a Bad Prescription for U.S. Public Health —Prominent vaccine skeptic RFK, Jr., is a proven menace to public health. But with a bird flu outbreak looming, he is poised to take a perch atop the f...
- + Science Crossword: Equine Emergence—Play this crossword inspired by the December 2024 issue of Scientific American
- + Horse Domestication Story Gets a Surprising Rewrite—Archaeological and genetic discoveries topple long-standing ideas about the domestication of equines
- + Why I Want to Be Buried on the Moon—The far side of the moon offers grounds for compromise between advocates and opponents of lunar development
- + Fossil Fuels Are Not Essential—The fossil-fuel industry argues that we can’t live without its deadly products. It is wrong
- + Poem: ‘The First Bite’—Science in meter and verse
- + See How Close We Are to Gender Equality around the World—U.N. statistics show progress toward the goal of gender equality but a long way left to go
- + Could Ocean Engineering Pull Carbon from the Atmosphere as a Last Resort against Climate Change?—Changing the ocean’s chemical and biological makeup could force it to pull vast amounts of planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere. But is tha...
- + Book Bans Harm Kids—Censoring what children read deprives them of reality and the chance to feed their curiosity and develop empathy
- + Why Hypochondria Can Be Deadly, and How Newer Treatments Help—Intense health anxiety is a true mental illness and threatens lives. The good news is that it’s treatable
- + Should Offshore Oil Rigs Be Turned into Artificial Reefs?—Oil rigs around the world are habitats for marine species. When they stop producing oil, should they be removed or allowed to stay?
- + Mathematicians Discover a New Kind of Shape That’s All over Nature—Mathematicians have found a new kind of shape with connections to nature and art
- + Math Puzzle: Find the Secret System—How are these numbers organized?
- + December 2024: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago—Alcohol in space; basking in the limelight
- + Book Review: An Expansive New Translation of a Haruki Murakami Classic—In End of the World and Hard-Boiled Wonderland , the title is flipped, but cyberpunk pleasures remain
- + How the Science of Curiosity Boosts Learning—Understanding curiosity can help people—and robots—learn faster
- + Concussions Are Remarkably Common and Can Cause Long-Term Problems—New diagnostic techniques can pick up these brain injuries and ensure people get help
- + Book Review: How Oak Trees Warn Us about the Limits of Adapting to Climate Change—Oak trees have genetic flexibility that allows them to solve ecological problems. But even they will need our help to survive climate change
- + Curiosity, Horses and Hypochondria—Discovering weird new shapes, turning oil rigs into reefs and making the ocean absorb more greenhouse gases
- + Contributors to Scientific American’s December 2024 Issue—Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories
- + Readers Respond to the July/August 2024 Issue—Letters to the editors for the July/August 2024 issue of Scientific American
- + Famous Star Hasn’t Formed Planets, and We Don’t Know Why—The nearby star Vega, featured in the 1997 movie Contact, appears to have a smooth disk devoid of giant planets for reasons we can’t explain
- + Exotic Powder Pulls Carbon Dioxide from the Air at a Record Rate—A unique crystalline compound soaks up CO 2 with great efficiency
- + Trump’s Energy Pick, a Fracking Executive, Could Stymie Renewable Development—Chris Wright, CEO of a fracking services company and Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Energy, has said “there is no climate crisi...
- + Enjoy Holiday Food without the Anxiety —Food anxiety can peak during the holidays. Here’s how to manage it and enjoy yourself
- + Climate Change Is Altering Animals’ Colors—Lizards in France have grown lighter in color, and so have many insects and birds across the globe. The effects of a changing climate are plainly visi...
- + Climate Change Is Altering Animals' Colors —Lizards in France have grown lighter in color and so are many insects and birds across the globe. The effects of a changing climate are plainly visibl...
- + Drought across the U.S., H5N1 in Canada and Uranus Data Reevaluated—A serious bird flu infection in Canada, a troubling projection of future plastic waste and dispatches from a global climate convention.
- + Some Counties Voted for Trump and Approved Climate and Conservation Measures—Four counties in Florida that voted for Trump also voted to conserve open space, reduce flood damage and protect habitat
As of 12/26/24 9:38pm. Last new 12/26/24 10:18am. Score: 427
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