Bots Outperform Humans If They Impersonate Us

Bots masquerading as humans in a game outperformed their human opponents—but the their superiority vanished when their machine identity was revealed. Christopher Intagliata reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Air Pollution: An Unclear and Present Danger

Journalist and author Beth Gardiner talks about her new book Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution. And CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna talks about gene editing.   | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Urban Heat Islands Mean Warming Will Be Worse in Cities

The effect needs to be factored into adaptation strategies, which will differ from city to city | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

What Makes a Song? It's the Same Recipe in Every Culture

Humans everywhere bring together pitch, tempo and the like in a similar fashion | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2019

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@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Brain Circuit Involved in Compulsive Drinking Identified in Mice

Activity in this circuit predicted which animals would keep drinking despite negative consequences | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Photo Gallery: The Universe through X-ray Eyes

After two decades in space, the world’s leading x-ray telescope is still revealing new secrets of the cosmos | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Office Workers May Be Breathing Potentially Harmful Compounds in Cosmetics

Some cosmetics and deodorants contain chemicals that, when released into the air, may pose a risk to human health | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Implanting Memories in Birds Reveals How Learning Happens

Researchers activated specific brain cells in zebra finches to teach them songs they'd ordinarily have to hear to learn. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

How the Democratic Frontrunners Want to Decarbonize U.S. Transportation

The Presidential candidates have varying plans to promote electric vehicles and public transportation | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

New Virtual Reality Interface Enables "Touch" Across Long Distances

Lightweight, flexible patch conveys a tactile sensation directly to the skin | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Record-Breaking Gamma Rays Reveal Secrets of the Universe's Most Powerful Explosions

Two teams of astronomers using ground-based telescopes to study gamma-ray bursts have detected the highest-energy light ever seen from celestial sources | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Can Scientists Predict Fire Tornadoes?  

Inside the effort to understand wildfire season’s scariest phenomena | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Inside the World's First Underground Gravitational-Wave Detector

Japan’s KAGRA observatory set to begin operations by the end of 2019 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

NASA's Curiosity Rover Finds Unexplained Oxygen on Mars

Fluctuating levels of the atmospheric gas, a potential tracer of alien life, have left researchers mystified | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Dogs Like Motion That Matches Sound

Pet dogs appeared more interested in videos of a bouncing ball when the motion of the ball matched a rising and falling tone. Christopher Intagliata reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The World's Winds Are Speeding Up

The trend contradicts concerns of a “global stilling,” with implications for wind energy | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Some Relief for Test Anxiety Is Found in an Unusual Treatment

Students were given placebos and told they were placebos, yet the intervention helped | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Baby Jumping Spiders See Surprisingly Well

Young arachnids may see the world in as much detail as adults | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Targeting Gut Microbes May Help Stroke Recovery

Growing evidence from mouse studies suggests that a healthy microbiome might improve poststroke outcomes | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

As CBD Skyrockets in Popularity, Scientists Scramble to Understand How It's Metabolized

Everything from bacon consumption to kidney function can skew cannabidiol dosing | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

European Investment Bank Will Stop Lending to Fossil Fuel Projects

Money will be redirected to clean energy innovation, efficiency and renewables | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The Fight for the Reindeer

Scandinavia’s Sami people, who had herded reindeer for generations, had never been protesters. Until now | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

How do we know that distant galaxies are not composed of anti-matter?

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@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Deeper Insights Emerge into How Memories Form

Forming lasting memories appears to depend on an interaction between glial cells and brain waves that are produced during sleep | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Levitating Drugs, Star Wars Tech and a Simulated Universe: Science GIFs to Start Your Week

Enjoy and loop on | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Superslippery Toilets Squash Water Wastage

A slick coating, inspired by the carnivorous pitcher plant, could halve the liquid needed for flushing | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Are Pricey New Drugs Better Than Old Ones?

Most of the time we don't know if they are better than the old ones | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

 E.T. Ph.D.: Space Alien Research Could Get Its First Grad Program

Scientists aim to make the search for extraterrestrial intelligence academically respectable | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Space Alien Research Could Get Its First Grad Program

Scientists aim to make the search for extraterrestrial intelligence academically respectable | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: November 2019

The end of the horse-drawn era; the fascinating “Cardiff giant” hoax, and more | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Egyptian Vats 5,600 Years Old Were For Beer Brewing

Archaeologists working in the ancient city of Hierakonpolis discovered five ceramic vats containing residues consistent with brewing beer. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

How can sea mammals drink saltwater? (2001)

Marine biologist Robert Kenney of the University of Rhode Island offers the following explanation: | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Are Blackouts Here to Stay? A Look into the Future

Scientists and policy makers assess whether California’s utilities will have to regularly cut power over the next decade to lessen huge wildfires | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

CDC Report Finds 35,000 Americans Die of Antibiotic-Resistant Infections Each Year

While the number of deaths has gone down since 2013, new infections—such as the deadly Candida auris—have appeared | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Plasma Scalpel Takes On Cancer

A pilot study is ongoing with the new tool | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Children Are Particularly Vulnerable to Climate Change's Health Impacts

Global warming is already affecting public health, and efforts to address the problem are inadequate, a new report says | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Apple Launches Virtual Health Studies Aiming to Enroll Hundreds of Thousands of Customers

Amid privacy concerns, the tech giant plans to monitor mobility, menstruation and hearing via users Apple watches and iPhones | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The U.S. Needs a Mental Health Czar

A psychologist general, on par with the surgeon general, would ease our minds | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The Straight Dope on CBD

The compound is found in everything from coffee to cookies, but the research on its efficacy is scant | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Climate Change May Be Blowing Up Arms Depots

More intense heat waves can destabilize the components of munitions, particularly where explosives are not properly stored | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Famously Fickle Felines Are, In Fact, Clingy

Cats are clingier to their human owners than their reputation would suggest. Karen Hopkin reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Literacy Might Shield the Brain from Dementia

An ability to read and write, even with little or no schooling, could offer protection | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Literacy Might Shield the Brain from Dementia

An ability to read and write, even with little or no schooling, could offer protection | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Sea-thru algorithm counteracts distorting impact of water on underwater photos

A new algorithm counteracts the distorting impact of water | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Democratic Presidential Contenders Chart Different Paths to Clean Energy

While the frontrunners all want to reduce carbon emissions, their proposed policies vary on issues like nuclear power | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Key Photosynthesis Complex Viewed in Spinach

Findings fuel hopes for improved food-crop efficiency | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Hearing Is Seeing: Sound Waves Create a 3-D Display

An interactive system produces levitating images by projecting color onto a tiny bead as it zips around a darkened box | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago