Cosmic Rays and the Handedness of Life

A mystery about why biological molecules come in just one of two possible configurations may have been answered | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 Pandemic Shows Telecommuting Can Help Fight Climate Change

In cities with relatively clean electricity and long car commutes, widespread telework could reduce greenhouse gas emissions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID Pandemic Shows Telecommuting Can Help Fight Climate Change

In cities with relatively clean electricity and long car commutes, widespread telework could reduce greenhouse gas emissions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Speaker System Blocks City Noise

The system works like noise-cancelling headphones, but fits over an open window. Christopher Intagliata reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

African-Americans, Nature and Environmental Justice

Journalist Bob Hirshon reports from the Taking Nature Black conference, reporter Shahla Farzan talks about tracking copperhead snakes, and nanoscientist Ondrej Krivanek on microscopes with sub-ångström resolution. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How a Biden Administration Could Reverse Trump's Climate Legacy

The Clean Air Act would be a key avenue for pursuing more stringent emissions reductions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Trump Administration's Sudden Shift on COVID-19 Data Leaves States in the Lurch

The White House told hospitals to report data through a private company system instead of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Mystery over Universe's Expansion Deepens with Fresh Data

A long-awaited map of the big bang’s afterglow fails to settle a debate over how fast the universe is expanding | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Who Wants to Be a Cyborg?

Philosopher Susan Schneider weighs the pros and cons of radical technological enhancement | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Experimental Blood Test Detects Cancer Up to Four Years Before Symptoms Appear

The assay looks for stomach, esophageal, colorectal, lung and liver malignancies | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

And the Winner of the First-ever Nobel Prize Is...

Originally published in February 1900 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Accurate Weather Forecasts 28 Days Out

Meteorologists are using supercomputers and the latest data about climate phenomena to predict temperature and precipitation four weeks in the future | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Contact Tracing, a Key Way to Slow COVID-19, Is Badly Underused by the U.S.

Despite tracing’s success in other countries, the U.S. government has failed to adequately fund or apply the tool | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Psychological Toll of Rude Emails

Research reveals the subtle ways that impolite electronic communication at work brings you down | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Hawaii's Invasive Predator Catastrophe

Feral cats, feral pigs and black rats are putting many species on the fast track toward extinction. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Genes May Influence COVID-19 Risk, New Studies Hint

DNA changes tied to immune reactions, a viral doorway and blood type could affect disease severity | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Jupiter Eclipse Proves the Speed of Light

Originally published in January 1848 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Drop in Global Travel May Have Hurt Weather Forecasts

Commercial planes and ships usually gather valuable data to feed into weather models | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Arab World's First Mars Probe Takes to the Skies

Celebration is tinged with relief as $200-million orbiter embarks on 7-month odyssey to the Red Planet | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Civil War Vaccine May Have Lessons for COVID-19

Vaccination used against smallpox during the Civil War reveals the identity of the distantly related virus used to keep troops disease free. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Best Way to Watch Comet NEOWISE, Wherever You Are

Astronomer Jackie Faherty shares her tips for an ideal viewing experience | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Specially Shaped Artificial Particles Detoxify Blood

Camouflaged nanoparticles can soak up toxins like red bloods cells do  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Overcoming Psychological Biases Is the Best Treatment against COVID-19 Yet

In responding to the pandemic, society may be hampered by cognitive and political beliefs that distort judgments and lead to irrational decisions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Detecting Deepfakes

Manipulated videos are getting more sophisticated all the time—but so are the techniques that can identify them | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A Nixon Deepfake, a 'Moon Disaster' Speech and an Information Ecosystem at Risk

A new video re-creates a history that never happened, showing the power of AI-generated media | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Deepfakes and the New AI-Generated Fake Media Creation-Detection Arms Race

Manipulated videos are getting more sophisticated all the time—but so are the techniques that can identify them | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A Nixon Deepfake, a 'Moon Disaster' Speech and an Information Ecosystem at Risk

A new video re-creates a history that never happened, showing the power of AI-generated media | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

After Surgery, Black Children Are More Likely to Die Than White Children

A study of nearly 200 U.S. medical centers found that even apparently healthy kids suffer racial disparities in complications associated with surgery | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: July 2020  

Darwin’s legacy on nerves and behavior; the epic tale of monuments | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Researchers Call for Rare Tree's Conservation Decades After Its Declared Extinction

Mistakenly presumed extinct for 22 years, the rare Wendlandia angustifolia tree now has an opportunity for priority preservation | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Bad News about the Pandemic: We're Not Getting Back to Normal Any Time Soon

Thinking that we might is an example of what psychologists call “anchoring bias” | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Coronavirus News Roundup, July 11-July 17

Pandemic highlights for the week | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Oil and Gas Companies Announce a New CO2 Emissions Target

The aim is to reduce the carbon intensity of operations, but critics say the plan does not go far enough | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Invisible Ether Evolved with Time

Originally published in November 1904 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How to Boost Your Immunity

Some simple, practical steps can raise your resistance to viruses | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

We Need More Black Physicians

COVID-19 is threatening an already scarce but essential health care resource | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Laser-Textured Metal Surfaces Kill Bacteria Faster  

Zapping copper with lasers enhances its antimicrobial properties | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Can people ID infectious disease by cough and sneeze sounds?

People aren't very good at judging whether someone coughing or sneezing has an infectious condition or is simply reacting to something benign that makes them cough or sneeze. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Chicago Learned Climate Lessons from Its Deadly 1995 Heat Wave

The city was initially slow to change after the disaster killed 739 people, but is now a model for heat preparedness | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

This Photo of the Sun Is the Closest Ever Taken

Close-up reveals a surface dancing with ‘campfires’ | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Cape Canaveral Prepares for First Polar Launches in 60 Years  

Florida will soon reopen to launches for pole-orbiting spacecraft  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How Many Aliens Are in the Milky Way? Astronomers Turn to Statistics for Answers

The tenets of Thomas Bayes, an 18th-century statistician and minister, underpin the latest estimates of the prevalence of extraterrestrial life | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Rushing Science in the Face of a Pandemic Is Understandable, But Risky

We need to be extremely careful about the inevitable pitfalls | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Second Coronavirus Strain May Be More Infectious--but Some Scientists Are Skeptical

Researchers question whether a mutated viral strain that infected more cells in a lab dish is necessarily more transmissible among humans | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How Galileo Battled the Science Deniers of His Time

The man who discovered Jupiter’s satellites and the mountains of the moon had no patience for idiots | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

With Sea Level Rise, High-tide Flooding Spikes Along U.S. Coasts

Fifteen communities set records for the number of days with such floods last year | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Living with Scientific Uncertainty

We’re inevitably forced to make decisions without knowing all of the facts | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Clearing Opium Fields Hurts Honey Bees

Originally published in August 1911 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago