How to Identify Almost Anyone in a Consumer Gene Database

New techniques that dig more deeply into genetic databases may soon make the anonymity of their customers’ DNA impossible to safeguard | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Beyond Intelligence

Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

To Solve Real-World Problems, We Need Interdisciplinary Science

Solving today’s complex, global problems will take interdisciplinary science | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Clara Is a Story of Exoplanets, Existential Longing--and Real Science

A conversation with the director and a science advisor behind a new film on the search for extraterrestrial life | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Early Warnings of Terrible Earthquakes Appear High in the Sky, a New Theory Says

The best early warnings of a big disaster may appear 180 miles above the ground, a controversial new theory says | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

To Get to a Zero-Carbon World, a Firm Timeline Is Needed

Too much focus is being put on how much carbon can still be emitted to achieve warming goals, experts say  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Hubble Telescope Stops Collecting Data After Mechanical Fault

A malfunctioning gyroscope has temporarily hobbled the aging space observatory | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Soccer Headers Cause More Brain Damage in Female Players

New research could explain why women athletes report more severe brain injury symptoms than men | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Proof of the Impossible? A Mathematical Journey

Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Europa's Equator May Be Covered in Perilous Ice Towers

Jagged ice spikes called ‘penitentes’ on Jupiter’s ocean-bearing moon could pose grave risks for robotic landers | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

How We Save Face--Researchers Crack the Brain's Facial-Recognition Code

A Caltech team has deciphered the way we identify faces, re-creating what the brain sees from its electrical activity | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Science Under Scrutiny: The Problem of Reproducibility

Better incentives could reduce the alarming number of studies that turn out to be wrong when repeated | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Diverse Forests Capture More Carbon

Replanting forests with a mix of trees, rather than one species, will sequester more carbon dioxide | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Japan Set to Allow Gene Editing in Human Embryos

Draft guidelines permit gene-editing tools for research into early human development, but would discourage manipulation of embryos for reproduction | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Why Do People Kill Themselves?

Why do people die by suicide? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Optical Tweezers and Tools Used for Laser Eye Surgery Snag Physics Nobel

The award’s recipients include the first female physics laureate in 55 years | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

How Fake News Will Get Worse

Artificial intelligence is making it possible for anyone to manipulate audio and video. The biggest threat is that we stop trusting anything at all | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Scientific American: Bizarre Particles Keep Flying Out of Antarctica’s Ice

Cosmic rays emanating from the south polar ice cap could lead to new physics | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Shock Waves from World War II Bombs Felt at Edge of Space

Ripple effects from massive aerial raids include disturbances in Earth’s ionosphere | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Is Butter a Healthy Fat?

Butter is making a comeback as a healthy fat. But are the claims for the benefits of butter for real? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Take a Deep Breath and Say Hi to Your Exposome

Researchers begin to explore the unique cloud of airborne microbes and chemicals that surrounds each of us | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Moon Is Stepping Stone, Not Alternative to Mars, NASA Chief Says

The Red Planet remains the U.S. space agency’s ultimate goal | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Kavanaugh Confirmation Fight Has Consequences for Climate Law

The Supreme Court could hear cases related to the EPA’s climate obligations and other environmental issues | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Reimagining of Schrödinger's Cat Breaks Quantum Mechanics

In a multi-“cat” experiment the textbook interpretation of quantum theory seems to lead to contradictory pictures of reality, physicists claim | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Watching a Friend Get Eaten Could Help Animals Learn to Stay Alive

“Predator boot camps” in Australia are teaching a group of native animals some hard lessons in coexistence | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Is the Ketamine Boom Getting Out of Hand?

The anesthetic and party drug offers depression patients new hope, but some clinics may stray from science | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Antifreeze Surface Fights Ice with Ice

Patterning a surface with tiny stripes of ice prevents frost formation on the rest of the surface—a technique that could keep planes or roads frost-free. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Growing Brains in Lab

Scientists create 3-dimensional brain spheroids—small, spherical, laboratory-grown human brain tissue | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Humans Contribute to Earth's Wobble, Scientists Say

Droughts, melting ice and rising seas linked to anthropogenic climate change are altering the planet’s motions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

After Years of Paralysis, a Man Walks the Length of a Football Field

An electrical stimulation device combined with intensive rehabilitation restores walking ability to a spinal cord injury patient | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Scale Can Measure Medicine--And Play a Scale, Too

Researchers have designed a musical instrument that can detect counterfeit drugs by the pitch of its notes. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

What Are Chemtrails Made Of?

Believers in chemtrails say those trails are actually clouds of chemicals used by the government for nefarious purposes. But as Carl Sagan says, “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof” | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Diverse Tree Portfolio Weathers Droughts Better

Forests with numerous tree species, and therefore a mix of water-management strategies, appear more tolerant of drought. Christopher Intagliata reports.  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

A Brief History of Plastic's Conquest of the World(2011)

Cheap plastic has unleashed a flood of consumer goods | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Electroceuticals

Nerve-stimulating therapies could soon replace drugs for many chronic conditions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Sea Otters' Powerful Paw Prey Perception

The marine mammals have extraordinarily sensitive touch—which helps them nab prey in the absence of other sensory cues. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

SpaceX Plans to Fly Humans Around the Moon in 2023

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and a hand-picked coterie of artists could embark on a lunar mission within five years | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Big Data Gives the “Big 5” Personality Traits a Makeover

An analysis of 1.5 million people tries to more accurately categorize people’s character traits | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

AI That Can Argue and Instruct

New algorithms will enable personal devices to learn any topic well enough to debate it | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Precision Medicine Comes of Age

After years of research, therapies tailored to the genomes of individual patients are reaching maturity | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Augmented Reality Everywhere

Coming soon: the world overlaid with data | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

The Future of Fish Farming May Be Indoors

New advancements in water filtration and circulation make it possible for indoor fish farms to dramatically grow in size and production | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Searching for Chocolate's Roots, and Enemies, in Colombia's Wilderness

A newfound peace has spurred the hunt for disease-resistant wild cacao within the nation’s borders | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

The Closest Exoplanet to Earth Could Be “Highly Habitable”

A new study suggests Proxima Centauri could sustain liquid water on its surface | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Burning Man's Mathematical Underbelly

It’s mostly an art festival, but attendees are impressively fascinated with science and math | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

Do Brain Scans of Comatose Patients Reveal a Conscious State?

Scans allow a researcher to communicate with people previously written off as unreachable and offer hope in identifying those who might respond to rehabilitation | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

South Africa Pushes Science to Improve Daily Life

Sweeping policy changes aim to refocus research efforts on poverty, unemployment, drought and other national problems | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago

The Environment's New Clothes: Biodegradable Textiles Grown from Live Organisms

To combat the ill effects of “fast fashion,” designers look for more sustainable methods  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 6 years ago