Algorithms are already used to remove online hate speech. Now scientists have taught AI to respond—which they hope might spark more discourse. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading
An intentional blackout was aimed at keeping power equipment from sparking a wildfire | Continue reading
A deficit arises in molecules needed for neurons to communicate efficiently | Continue reading
Fear is a hardwired response, but it doesn’t have to rule our emotions | Continue reading
Confused by all those theories? Good | Continue reading
Anomalous motions of stars orbiting our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole might reveal the existence of long-hypothesized tunnels through spacetime | Continue reading
John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino share the 2019 Chemistry Nobel Prize for the development of lithium-ion batteries that have led to portable electronic devices that are rechargeable virtually anywhere on the planet. | Continue reading
Environmental reviews emphasize the relatively small contributions from individual infrastructure projects, ignoring the bigger picture | Continue reading
The power packs drive mobile phones, laptops, electric cars and solar panels | Continue reading
A new study suggests a dose of “acting extroverted” could boost your mood—but some researchers caution there is a cost to acting against type | Continue reading
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to John Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino for the development of lithium-ion batteries. | Continue reading
Some 15 billion years ago the universe emerged from a hot, dense sea of matter and energy. As the cosmos expanded and cooled, it spawned galaxies, stars, planets and life | Continue reading
Officials pressure wireless companies so first responders and residents can communicate and save lives | Continue reading
An animal study brings us closer to understanding our own behavior | Continue reading
The new study demonstrates a bizarre quantum effect at never-before-seen scales | Continue reading
An experiment that partially revived slaughterhouse pig brains raises questions about the precise end point of life | Continue reading
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to James Peebles "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology" and to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star." | Continue reading
James Peebles, who helped found the field of cosmology, shares the prize with Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, discoverers of the first exoplanet around another sun-like star | Continue reading
As quantum computing creeps closer, IBM successfully demonstrates a way to secure sensitive information | Continue reading
William Kaelin, Sir Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza share the 2019 Nobel Prize for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. New therapies for cancer and conditions such as anemia are in the pipeline based on these discoveries. | Continue reading
European and Canadian orbiters can work together to catch wayward emissions | Continue reading
A major showdown looms over how aggressively California cities will confront sea level rise | Continue reading
Research by William Kaelin Jr., Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza led the way for applications in treating anemia, cancer and other diseases | Continue reading
Enjoy and loop on | Continue reading
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” They identified molecular machinery that regulates gene activity in re … | Continue reading
Outlawing possession does not appear to stem the release of alligators, snakes and other problematic species | Continue reading
DNA from the teeth of medieval plague victims indicate that the pathogen likely first arrived in eastern Europe before spreading across the continent. | Continue reading
A new analysis adds to existing evidence for a racial disparity in wait times at polling places | Continue reading
About 70 percent of our planet’s surface is covered with water, and water plays an important role in our daily lives. But how did water get on Earth in the first place? | Continue reading
Scientists found eight species of nematodes living in California's harsh Mono Lake—quintupling the number of animals known to live there. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading
Everybody wants to get that beach body right now or to run that 10k next month, but can you really get fit fast? | Continue reading
Top news from around the world | Continue reading
Areas have gone from near-record wetness to drought conditions in just a matter of months | Continue reading
Existing religious and philosophical exemptions endanger public health | Continue reading
The Institute of Medicine hasn’t set an upper limit on fiber, meaning that there’s no amount at which it’s considered toxic. That doesn’t mean that an excess of fiber couldn’t make you uncomfortable | Continue reading
Scientists isolate and synthesize two compounds that can fight common, and even drug-resistant, infections | Continue reading
The city is connecting rooftop solar installations and storage batteries to increase resilience during storms and heat waves | Continue reading
In the first global estimate of its kind, researchers tally an incredible 5,600 species harvested for commercial use—and predict which ones could be next | Continue reading
A study of 17 patients with the mysterious illnesses revealed inflammation suggestive of inhaled toxic substances | Continue reading
Researchers search for ways to put today’s small noisy quantum systems to work | Continue reading
A little perfectionism can get you a long way, but too much holds you back like a 300-pound bouncer trying to break up a bar fight | Continue reading
The object 2I/Borisov has the same composition as comets in the solar system, suggesting its system of origin might resemble ours | Continue reading
Scientific American senior editor Jen Schwartz talks with WHO officials Dr. Maria Neira and Dr. Agnès Soucat about climate and health, and with Rachel Kyte, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General on energy and the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All. | Continue reading
By engineering mutations into fruit flies, scientists reconstructed how the bright orange butterflies came to tolerate to milkweed toxins | Continue reading
As lung injuries among e-cigarette users mount amid a youth vaping epidemic, the impact of new restrictions remains unclear | Continue reading
Populations of the mosquito species thought to transmit Eastern equine encephalitis have persisted later than usual this year | Continue reading
Tiny insects called treehoppers produce very different mating songs at higher versus lower temperatures, but the intended recipient still finds the changed songs attractive. | Continue reading
The cordyceps fungus is said to have the power to fix a host of health problems from muscle fatigue to diabetes. But are the claims too good to be true? | Continue reading