Yes, Climate Change Is Making Severe Weather Worse

Recent disasters show how climate change is making winter storms, flooding rains and summer heat waves more extreme | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Virtual Assistants Are Getting Smarter All the Time. Can We Trust Them with Our Data?

Virtual assistants are getting smarter. Let's think about how that will play out | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Calculus Reveals the Universe—and Can Make a Tuna Melt Sandwich

A new book that can make you love calculus | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Is Pot Any Good for Treating Pain?

The data are spotty, but there’s still a reasonable case to be made | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The Experiment That Will Probe the Deepest Recesses of the Atom

Where do protons and neutrons get their mass and spin? Surprisingly, we don't know. A new facility promises to peek inside these particles to find answers | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

At First-Ever Public Hearing on CBD, FDA and Advocates Try to Blaze Trail to Regulatory Compromise

Agency officials press sometimes confused stakeholders for more data. Is it possible to define a “more effective CBD cosmetic?” | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Don't Panic About Rare Earth Elements

The materials used in iPhones and Tesla cars need not become a long-term casualty of a U.S.-China trade war | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Mole-Rat Pain Resistance Could Point the Way to New Analgesics

A novel mechanism has been discovered in the bucktoothed rodents’ ability to withstand hurt | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Planned Changes to EPA Pollution Analyses Align with Industry Requests

New rules would reduce the tallied benefits of regulations compared to costs | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The Mighty Milky Way

Our galaxy is far bigger, brighter and more massive than most others | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Stronger, Wetter, Slower: How Hurricanes Will Change

Experts show how 22 recent hurricanes would be different if they formed near the end of this century | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The Universe's First Stars Exploded in Strange Ways

A new study finds observational evidence that one of the first stars exploded in an asymmetrical blast that spread heavy elements into the cosmos | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Mass Puffin Die-Off May Be Linked to Climate Change

Rising ocean temperatures and melting ice are disrupting the birds’ food sources | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Cancer Research Points to Key Unknowns about Popular "Antiaging" Supplements

The health promises of boosting an important metabolic molecule may be clouded by its possible role in promoting cancer-cell growth | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Bonobo Mothers Supervise Their Sons' Monkey Business

Some wild female bonobos introduce their sons to desirable females—then make sure their relations won’t be interrupted by competing males. Karen Hopkin reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

18 Small New Worlds Found In Old Planet-Hunting Data

Hundreds of previously overlooked Earth-sized planets may await discovery in archives from NASA’s Kepler mission | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Are Wormholes Real?

Everyday Einstein explores the far reaches of our universe (and beyond) | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Looks Matters, but so Does Smarts

A lesson from parakeet romance on how to get a date | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Trump Administration to Issue First Emissions Limits for Planes

Greenhouse gas contributions from air travel are expected to rapidly increase in the near future | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Does Thirst Start in the Mouth or the Gut?

A new study in mice reveals why consuming a beverage is usually pleasurable but is not always enough to quench thirst | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

What Conservation Efforts Can Learn from Indigenous Communities

A major U.N.-backed report says that nature on indigenous peoples’ lands is degrading less quickly than in other areas | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Music May Orchestrate Better Brain Connectivity in Preterm Infants

Preterm babies who listened to music in the neonatal intensive care unit had brain activity that more closely resembled that of full-term babies. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

100 Percent Renewable Pledges Do Not Equal Carbon-Free Power

The intermittent nature of solar and wind energy mean companies may be underestimating emissions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

New Pacemaker Harvests Energy from the Heart

A device that converts the heart’s mechanical energy into electrical energy has been successfully tested in pigs | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Millipede Genitalia Glow in Ultraviolet Light

A new imaging technique helps to distinguish different millipede species | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

How Much Should You Exercise While Pregnant?

If you’re pregnant, you may wonder how much exercise is optimal during pregnancy. Luckily, there are some new guidelines for expectant mothers | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

"Tug of War" Between Air Pollution and CO2 Masks Warming's Impacts

Rising pollution in Asia is contributing to weaker monsoons, the opposite of what is expected with climate change | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Are Nutritional Supplements a Waste of Money?

The FDA is stepping up its oversight of the $50 billion nutritional supplement industry | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

New Law Would Help Bees--but Could Leave Other Pollinators Out in the Cold

Proposed legislation focuses mostly on threats to honeybees and their wild cousins | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

What Happened to All of the Universe’s Antimatter?

Differences between matter and antimatter could help explain why the cosmos mostly lacks the latter today, researchers say | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Icy Room Temperatures May Chill Productivity


A new study suggests women's performance on math and verbal tasks increases as room temperature rises, up to about the mid 70s F. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Secrets of the Universe Revealed!

Cornell University applied mathematics professor Steven Strogatz talks about his new book Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Tiny, Snackable Fish Are Linchpins of Coral Reef Ecosystems

Fish that are so small and shy that they escape attention may be the foundation of reefs’ outsize productivity | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Mystery Solved: Warming Superpollutant Tracked to China

Chinese firms violated international law by using a banned, potent greenhouse gas in insulation manufacturing | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

What Are the Biological Consequences of Homelessness?

Understanding why living on the street seems to cause rapid aging could help homeless people—and governments | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

What Happened to All of the Universe's Antimatter?

Differences between matter and antimatter could help explain why the cosmos mostly lacks the latter today, researchers say | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Bird Beak Shapes Depend on More Than Diet

A study found that only a small percentage of bird beak shape variation is dependent on diet, with other factors, like display and nest construction, probably playing parts too. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Anthropocene Now: Influential Panel Votes to Recognize Earth's New Epoch

The atomic age would mark the start of the current geologic time unit, if proposal receives final approval | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Effort to Trade Gas for Hydropower in Northeast Meets Resistance

Some residents are concerned about environmental impacts from proposed transmission lines | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Creative Types Reserve a Special Corner of the Brain for Dreaming Big

Artists, novelists, actors and directors excel at tapping into “imagination” circuits | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Beautiful Math

A new book shows off spectacular works of art inspired by mathematical principles | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

What Prevents Pluto's Ocean from Freezing?

Layers of ice-like gas hydrates may insulate frigid ocean worlds across the cosmos | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Turn Methane into CO2 to Reduce Warming, Experts Propose

Converting methane into a less potent greenhouse gas would need to be done along with overall emissions reductions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

The Wobbly Table Theorem

For every table—turn, turn, turn... there is a proof | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

A Solution for Loneliness

Get out and volunteer, research suggests | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

How Wild Should We Let the Solar System Be?

Experts argue that more than 85 percent of the solar system should be left untouched so that we can sustainably move off-world | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Cannabis Compound Eases Anxiety and Cravings of Heroin Addiction

Cannabidiol reduces levels of stress hormone and blunts urge to use opioids | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago

Ancient Gum Gives Archaeologists Something to Chew On

Chewing gums found in western Sweden contain the oldest human DNA found in Scandinavia. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 5 years ago