The reason we need sleep has long mystified scientists, but it’s crystal clear that we do need it. In fact, the more we learn about what happens while we snooze, the more we discover new benefits for multiple processes including hormone balance, immune function, emotional h … | Continue reading
A few brief reports about international science and technology from German to Rwanda, including one on the discovery of the world's oldest known brewery, discovered in Israel. | Continue reading
Top news from around the world | Continue reading
Pine needles can easily be broken down into sugars, as well as the building blocks of paint, adhesives and medicines. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading
Jocelyn Bell Burnell discovered pulsars (a specific type of neutron star) and got zero credit for it until recently. Here's her story | Continue reading
Letters to the editor from the September 2018 issue of Scientific American | Continue reading
A new way to measure internal time could yield insight into sleep deprivation and disease | Continue reading
Neither animal, plant, fungus nor familiar protozoan, a strange microbe foretells incredible biodiversity yet to be discovered | Continue reading
Quadcopters with thermal imagery cameras can help detect vicious mini-mines that often kill or maim children | Continue reading
Fructose and sucrose can make it all the way to the colon, where they spell a sugary death sentence for beneficial bacteria. Karen Hopkin reports. | Continue reading
Experts reveal 15 emerging trends that will significantly influence plants, animals and ecosystems—for better and worse | Continue reading
Motivated by events like Hurricane Harvey, researchers are trying to determine how climate change interacts with agriculture, energy, transportation and other human systems | Continue reading
A new algorithm raises parking rates in busy neighborhoods and lowers them elsewhere, guaranteeing free parking spots regardless of location. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading
Changes in phytoplankton growth, and nutrients, could affect famous mirror-like clarity | Continue reading
Mice with the human version of a gene can run for longer without becoming fatigued | Continue reading
Scientists are continuing to showing that everything from the “runner’s high” to the “yogi’s tranquility” can have profound effects on your brain | Continue reading
Studies to improve the productivity, resistance and taste of rice crops are central to China’s commanding position | Continue reading
Ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry, also makes food, and food smells, irresistibly appealing. Karen Hopkin reports. | Continue reading
As temperatures warm, it becomes more likely the drought will match past “megadroughts” for length as well | Continue reading
A new study suggests that, unconsciously, we actually do believe that looking exerts a slight force on the things being looked at. Karen Hopkin reports. | Continue reading
The holidays can bring joy or dread, but family rituals make them enjoyable, research suggests | Continue reading
So-called 'relaxation music' is only about as effective as a soothing Chopin piece at lulling listeners into a relaxed state. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading
California Representative-elect, Mike Levin, thinks climate can rally voters in the next presidential race | Continue reading
The hormone irisin encourages bone remodeling, in part by by first triggering another substance that encourages some bone breakdown. | Continue reading
Savvy Psychologist Dr. Ellen Hendriksen puts to rest four common travel anxieties | Continue reading
The Chang’e-4 mission could have major effects on Earthbound science and politics | Continue reading
Book recommendations from the editors of Scientific American | Continue reading
Few Chinese researchers are regarded as global leaders, as the pressure for rapid output prevails | Continue reading
A potent molecular cocktail containing a compound from ayahuasca spurs rapid growth of insulin-producing cells | Continue reading
The Bahia's broad-snout casque-headed tree frog needs a pool to raise its young that's just right. | Continue reading
In the absence of rigorous science, psychologists disagree about using the neurobiology of stress to defend police officers who kill | Continue reading
Philosopher Peter Carruthers insists that conscious thought, judgment and volition are illusions. They arise from processes of which we are forever unaware | Continue reading
The first flight to take astronauts around the moon looms larger than the first to land | Continue reading
A particular set of brain neurons may be behind registering itch and inducing us to scratch. | Continue reading
Nine states and Washington, D.C., aim to rein in the rising share of emissions from transportation | Continue reading
Freud’s notion of a dark, libidinous unconscious is obsolete. A new theory holds that the brain produces a continuous stream of unconscious predictions | Continue reading
NASA’s first sample-return mission to an asteroid is a voyage into the genesis of our solar system—and, perhaps, the precursors to life’s origins on Earth | Continue reading
The structure has potentially been used as a place of worship for thousands of years | Continue reading
Warming temperatures may be causing tundra ponds to evaporate or drain into thawing permafrost | Continue reading
Christopher Skaife talks about his new book The Ravenmaster: My Life With the Ravens at the Tower of London, in front of a live audience at Caveat, “the speakeasy bar for intelligent nightlife" in lower Manhattan. | Continue reading
The pink-colored object is nearly 4 times more distant from the Sun than Pluto, and hints at the possibility of an as-yet-undiscovered giant planet farther out | Continue reading
A machine learning algorithm uses EEG traces to find a patient’s odds of waking | Continue reading
A scientist leverages big data to pin down precepts that extend beyond the self-help aisle | Continue reading
What is mindfulness? Can it really improve your mental state? What does the research have to say about it? | Continue reading
Policies championed by the departing Interior Secretary will also increase emissions from public lands | Continue reading
The 156-page “rulebook” governs how nations will achieve their pledged emissions reductions | Continue reading
Nora Volkow of the National Institute on Drug Abuse addresses record high stats among 12th graders | Continue reading