In Search of the Brain's Social Road Maps

Neural circuits that track our whereabouts in space and time may also play vital roles in determining how we relate to other people | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Does Consciousness Pervade the Universe?

Philosopher Philip Goff answers questions about “panpsychism” | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Flames Extinguish Themselves in Zero Gravity

Originally published in November 2000 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

New Instrument Will Stretch Atoms into Giant Waves

Room-sized "atom waves" could help probe the quantum realm | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Don’t Fact-Check Scientific Judgment Calls

They’re not meant to be taken as gospel truths | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Unexpected Clues Emerge About Why Diets Fail

The physiology of weight regain still baffles scientists, but surprising insights have emerged | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Meteorite Contains Material Older Than Earth

The Murchison meteorite, which screamed to Earth 50 years ago, carried with it stardust that's seven billion years old. Christopher Intagliata reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

This Material Could Squeeze More Energy from Solar Panels

Perovskite may be more efficient, and cheaper, that traditional silicon, but durability remains an issue | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A Nationwide Ban Is Needed for "Anti-Gay Therapy"

Most states still allow this damaging practice targeting young teens | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Japanese Tissues Surprise Americans

Originally published in June 1869 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Did Astronomers Just Discover Black Holes from the Big Bang?

Gravitational waves attributed to the collision of two neutron stars could have been produced by something much stranger | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Loss of Large Mammals Stamps Out Invertebrates, Too

Hunted areas of Gabon have fewer large mammals and a thicker forest understory—but they also have fewer termites. Jason G. Goldman reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: January 2020  

Entertainment technology over the past 175 years  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Teaching Rats to Drive: A New Model for Learning  

Rats learned to drive tiny cars as a model for acquiring new skills | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Delivery Vehicles Increasingly Choke Cities with Pollution

Electric vehicles, delivery drones and rules on when delivery trucks can operate are some solutions proposed in a new report | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Frozen in Dwindling Ice, an Historic Expedition Finds a "New Arctic"

Over the first leg of the trip, scientists say they are already learning how much humans have altered the polar region | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Frozen in Dwindling Ice, a Historic Expedition Finds a "New Arctic"

Over the first leg of the trip, scientists say they are already learning how much humans have altered the polar region | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Gene Therapy Arrives

After false starts, drugs that manipulate the code of life are finally changing lives | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

SpaceX Tests Black Satellite to Reduce "Megaconstellation'"Threat to Astronomy

Latest launch includes “DarkSat” prototype to minimize reflection from fleets of broadband Internet satellites | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Whale Food Could Feed the World

Originally published in January 1958 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

To Stop Wildlife Crime, Conservationists Ask Why People Poach

A novel study in Nepal shines light on why people commit wildlife crime and how others might be dissuaded from doing so in the future | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Brittle Stars Can 'See' Without Eyes

The starfish relatives can recognize patterns using photoreceptors on their arms—and their color-changing abilities could have something to do with it. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Combining Multiple Antibiotics May Make Bacteria More Likely to Develop Resistance

Once pathogens become tolerant of one drug, they are more likely to become resilient against others, a clinical study finds | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A Huge Scientific Effort Is Studying Notre Dame's Ashes

Researchers are making use of an unprecedented opportunity to study the cathedral's innards | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

WHO Says Mysterious Illness in China Likely Being Caused By New Virus

The virus behind an outbreak that has sickened at least 59 people in Wuhan is thought to be a ​type of coronavirus, the family that includes SARS and MERS | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Trump Administration Moves to Limit Climate Reviews for Federal Projects

The changes would underestimate the true contributions to global warming of fossil fuel infrastructure and other projects | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Why Are America's Black-Footed Ferrets Disappearing?

Despite some success, the species remains threatened in the U.S. West. Biologists are trying to understand why | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Next DARPA X-Plane Won't Maneuver like Any Plane Before It

The challenge is to build an airplane without moving control surfaces | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Science of Losing Battles

New research illuminates why most dieters regain lost weight. It’s even more complicated than we thought | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Twenty People Needed to Make a Pin

Originally published in January 1856 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A Drone's-Eye View of the Quick and the Dead 

New machine-learning technique can distinguish living bodies from deceased ones  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Algorithm Removes Water from Underwater Images

Why do all the   pictures you take underwater look blandly blue-green? The answer has to do with how light travels through water. Derya Akkaynak , an oceangoing engineer, has figured out a way to recover the colorful brilliance of the deep. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How Iran Can Still Use Cyber and Drone Technology to Attack the U.S.

Cyberattacks and missile launches have already happened | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How Iran Can Still Use Cyber and Drone Technology to Attack the U.S.

Cyberattacks and missile launches have already happened | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Fast Radio Bursts from a Spiral Galaxy Challenge Theorists

Astronomers are struggling to explain the repeated, milliseconds-long chirps from a mysterious source | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Gravitational-Wave Discovery Hints at Another Spectacular Neutron-Star Crash

This new detection—the second of its kind—raises new questions about the nature of these mysterious objects | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Virus Spread by Shrews Linked to Human Deaths from Mysterious Brain Infections

The pathogen has been newly identified in eight cases of encephalitis in Germany over the past 20 years | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Magnetic Storms Power Telephone Wires

Originally published in June 1869 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Australia's Bushfires Have Likely Devastated Wildlife--and the Impact Will Only Get Worse

The large, intense fires have threatened more than 800 million animals in the state of New South Wales alone, according to one estimate | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Atlantic Puffins Spotted Using Tools

Scientists observed two Atlantic puffins using sticks to scratch themselves—the first known instance of seabirds using tools. Christopher Intagliata reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Report Detailing U.S. Threats Ignores Climate Change

The annual FEMA summary is at odds with government research showing that warming is exacerbating natural disasters | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Turning Back the Clock on Aging Skin

Could the process of aging be slowed or even reversed in skin? New metabolomics studies suggest it can. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

NASA's TESS Planet Hunter Finds Its First Earth-Size World in "Habitable Zone"

TOI 700 d is a landmark discovery for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Quest to Use CRISPR Against Disease Gains Ground

As the first clinical trial results trickle in, researchers look ahead to more sophisticated medical applications for genome editing | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

All of Us

DNA-based medicine needs more diversity to avoid harmful bias. One big research project is fixing that | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Fighting Unfairness in Genetic Medicine

DNA-based medicine needs more diversity to avoid harmful bias. One big research project is fixing that | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

James Webb Space Telescope on Track for March 2021 Launch, NASA Says

Despite numerous setbacks, the $9.7-billion observatory is still on schedule to revolutionize our view of the universe | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Hard Water Is Better for Your Heart

Originally published in June 1969 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago