Birds on Rhinos' Backs Help Them Avoid Poachers

Oxpeckers riding on rhinos feast on ticks, and their calls warn the nearsighted herbivores about approaching humans. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Food Dumped During Pandemic Comes with an Emissions Price Tag

With supply chains disrupted, farms and dairies have had to throw away their goods, wasting the energy spent to produce them | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Hundreds of People Volunteer to Be Infected with Coronavirus

Support grows for a controversial ‘human challenge’ vaccine study—but no trial is yet planned | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Researchers Claim Rainfall Triggered Kilauea Eruption, but Others Remain Skeptical

Heavy rains may have put pressure on the Hawaiian volcano’s underground plumbing, setting off its major 2018 eruption | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Countdown to Commercial Crew

NASA nears the end of a winding path to commercial astronaut launches | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Tiniest Murderer Devastates Africa's Residents

Originally published in August 1913 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Snorkeling Mask Apparatus Might Help COVID-19 Patients Avoid Intubation

The jury-rigged breathing aid, invented to deal with ventilator shortages, is now being tested as a kinder, gentler alternative to a tube in the trachea | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Five Types of Research, Underexplored until Recently, Could Produce Alzheimer's Treatments

Research into the brain’s protein-disposal systems, electrical activity and three other areas looks promising | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How the Environment Has Changed since the First Earth Day 50 Years Ago

These charts show that while progress has been made in some areas, humanity still has a major impact on the planet | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Jane Goodall: We Can Learn From This Pandemic

In a teleconference promoting her participation in Earth Day events on the National Geographic Channel, Jane Goodall talked about what gives her hope during this pandemic, and what she hopes we all learn from it. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

More U.S. Labs Could Be Providing Coronavirus Tests

An online survey reveals bottlenecks, challenges and barriers faced by more than 1,700 biology labs | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

This Black-Hole Collision Just Made Gravitational Waves Even More Interesting

An unprecedented signal from unevenly sized objects gives astronomers rare insight into how black holes spin | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Inland Areas Need to Prepare for Expanding Reach of Hurricanes

Improved emergency planning and stronger building codes could help avoid costly surprises | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

U.S. Forbids Uranium Sales to Soviet Union

Originally published in April 1956 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Rooftop Wind Power Might Take Off by Using Key Principle of Flight

A new device could open more areas to wind production by using stationary airfoils instead of twirling turbines | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Force That Makes Planes Fly Could Fuel Rooftop Wind Power

A new device could open more areas to wind production by using stationary airfoils instead of twirling turbines | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Astronomers May Have Captured the First Ever Image of Nearby Exoplanet Proxima C

It could be an unprecedented view of a world in the closest planetary system to our own, but uncertainties aplenty remain | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Right Way to Talk across Divides

“Conversational receptiveness” can be learned | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Close-Up Views of Tumors Reveal a New Cancer Biology

RNA sequencing has shown a previously unknown dimension to the way malignant cells work—which could lead to novel treatments | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Covid-19 and Climate Change Threats Compound in Minority Communities

Port Arthur, Texas, is a case in point: disproportionately hit by hurricanes, fossil-fuel pollution and now, the coronavirus | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Antibody Tests for the Coronavirus May Not Change Everything

Touted as society’s way out of widespread lockdowns, scientists say the true potential of these rapidly developed tests is still unknown | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Our 3000th Episode

Some "highlights" from the last 13.5 years of this podcast. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Elephants Appear as Far as the Eye Can See

Originally published in January 1860 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Engineers Offer DIY Solutions to Coronavirus Equipment Shortages

As hospitals beg for protective gear and ventilators, some individuals are taking a creative approach to the problem | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Quantum Steampunk: 19th-Century Science Meets Technology of Today

Just as fictional steampunk unites Victorian style with sci-fi tech, a new branch of physics is updating thermodynamics for modern quantum systems  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Effective Psychological Therapy May Slow Cellular Aging

Cognitive-behavioral therapy improved both symptoms and markers of senescence in people with anxiety | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Rand Paul's Extraterrestrial Vision Makes Zero Sense

Unconcerned about climate change on Earth, senator wants to create atmospheres on other planets | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Poem: "Forest"

Science in meter and verse | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

2020 on Track to Rank in the Top 5 Hottest Years on Record

The first three months of the year were the second warmest in 141 years of record-keeping | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Have Fruits and Vegetables Become Less Nutritious?

Because of soil depletion, crops grown decades ago were much richer in vitamins and minerals than the varieties most of us get today | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How Herbivore Herds Might Help Permafrost

Introducing herds of large herbivores in the Arctic would disturb surface snow, allowing cold air to reach the ground and keep the permafrost frosty. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Climate Change Has Helped Fuel a Megadrought in the Southwest

Data from tree rings suggest this drought is the worst in the region in 500 years | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Not Just Fun and Games

Best known for inventing the game of Life, John H. Conway is adept at finding the theorems hidden in simple puzzles | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Infectious Disease Expert Discusses What We Know about the New Virus in China

Federal disease agency director Anthony Fauci discusses the novel pathogen that has, so far, sickened hundreds in Asia and one person in the U.S. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Possible Dinosaur DNA Has Been Found

New discoveries have raised the possibility of exploring dino genetics, but controversy surrounds the results | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Universe Creates All Elements in the Periodic Table in 10 Minutes

Originally published in July 1948 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 Could Help Solve Climate Riddles

Pollution declines from pandemic shutdowns may aid in answering long-standing questions about how aerosols influence climate | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 Could Help Solve Climate Riddles

Pollution declines from pandemic shutdowns may aid in answering long-standing questions about how aerosols influence climate | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Signs of Modern Human Cognition Were Found in an Indonesian Cave

Painted images of intriguing human-animal hybrids are signs of modern thought | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The problem with being a top performer

Research demonstrates the ways coworkers punish star employees | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Bodies of People Who Died from COVID-19 May Still Be Contagious

A forensic worker in Thailand most likely caught the virus from a deceased patient, a preprint study suggests | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Persistent Cloudless Skies Helped Fuel Exceptional Greenland Ice Melt

Warm temperatures, clear weather and little snow all played a role in last summer’s major melt event on the ice sheet | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Mentalist Blisters Skin with Brainwaves

Originally published in June 1899 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Strange Extragalactic Strands Mystify Astronomers

A distant galaxy has sprouted filaments hundreds of thousands of light-years long—and no one knows why | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Here's What We Know about the Most Touted Drugs Tested for COVID-19

Numerous contenders—from a controversial malaria medication to treatments that regulate the immune system—are now in clinical trials | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Here's What We Know about the Most Touted Drugs Tested for COVID-19

Numerous contenders—from a controversial malaria medication to treatments that regulate the immune system—are now in clinical trials | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

What Happens When Other Disasters Hit during a Pandemic?

Emergency management experts are concerned about everything from evacuations to public messaging | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Weird Neutrino Behavior Could Explain Longstanding Antimatter Mystery

But more data are needed before physicists know for sure | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago