Contributors to Scientific American’s November 2024 Issue

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Lucy Turns 50, and Dark Energy Gets More Mysterious

What works to improve health equity? And it might be time to end the leap second | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Contrary to Occam’s Razor, the Simplest Explanation Is Often Not the Best One

Occam’s razor holds that the simplest explanation is closest to the truth. But the real world is quite complex | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Leap Seconds May Be Abandoned by the World’s Timekeepers

We have been adding “leap seconds” to time kept by our atomic clocks, but soon we may have to subtract one. Are the tiny adjustments worth the bother? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Kids with ADHD May Still Have Symptoms as Adults

Fortunately, recognition and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in grown-ups are getting better | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Book Review: The Big Costs of Mining the Planet for Electric Power

Vince Beiser’s tour of the “Electro-Digital Age” puts resource extraction at the center | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

November 2024: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago

Computer chess champ; dental chloroform killer | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How Rwanda Is Containing a Deadly Marburg Virus Outbreak

Rwanda’s health minister says authorities are tracing every potential contact of the index case in the country’s outbreak of Marburg virus disease to reduce the risk of wider spread | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Devastating Hurricane Milton Takes Aim at Tampa’s Climate Vulnerabilities

A 2013 report from the World Bank placed the Tampa Bay area seventh on a list of the top 10 global cities facing the costliest damage from coastal floods | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Europe’s Hera Mission Launches to Visit an Asteroid Smacked by NASA

Hera will arrive in 2026 at Dimorphos, an asteroid deliberately struck by NASA’s DART spacecraft | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

What Trump or Harris Would Mean for Health Care Access and Affordability

Both Trump and Harris pledge to make drug prices affordable and health care accessible. Here’s how their policies differ | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Nobel Prize in Physics Awarded for Breakthroughs in Machine Learning

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was given to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for development of techniques that laid the foundation for revolutionary advances in artificial intelligence | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hurricane Milton Spins toward Florida as a Category 5 Storm

Parts of Florida still recovering from Hurricane Helene will face their second major storm in just two weeks | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Human Longevity May Have Reached its Upper Limit

New research dispels the notion that human beings can continue to radically extend their lifespan | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Comb Jelly with Two Butts Is Actually Two Individuals Fused Together

Two injured sea creatures merged to form a “Franken-jelly” | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Cannibalized Captain of Doomed Arctic Expedition Identified by DNA Analysis

Scientists reveal the identity of a cannibalized captain from the doomed Northwest Passage expedition of 1845 to 1848 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How a Harris or Trump Presidency Could Affect Gun Policy

Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump offer starkly different responses to gun violence | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Awarded for Discovery of MicroRNA Gene Regulation

The award was given to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for a discovery of an important mechanism of gene regulation in cells | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Fallout from Hurricane Helene, Stem Cell Treatments for Diabetes and Spread of Marburg Virus

We cover the spread of Marburg virus, a stem cell treatment for diabetes and the way dolphins smile in this week’s news roundup. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Challenging Big Oil’s Big Lie about Plastic Recycling

California’s lawsuit against Exxon is about ending the lie that most plastic is recyclable | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How Hurricane Helene’s Floods Are Disrupting Voting Access This Election

With voting underway, election officials in flood-ravaged North Carolina must mail new ballots and replace destroyed polling places after Hurricane Helene | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hurricane Helene Signals the End of the ‘Climate Haven’

Experts say the effects of global warming are playing a greater role in where people decide to move | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Astronomers Spot a ‘Super-Mars’ Exoplanet around Barnard’s Star

Claims of worlds orbiting Barnard’s star have been made before. But an advanced instrument could provide the breakthrough that finally confirms the star hosts a planetary system | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hurricane Helene Made Me a Climate Change Refugee

A climate advocate learns firsthand on the price of climate change in our lives, and calls for voters to head off future disasters | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How the 2024 Election Will Shape the Future of AI

Both U.S. presidential candidates voice support for innovation in AI, but Kamala Harris has been more outspoken about its risks to individuals | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How Dark Is the Night Sky?

The night sky isn’t perfectly dark—instead it glows faintly, and the source isn’t exactly local | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Today’s Mathematicians Seek Modern Solutions to Complex Problems

Today’s mathematicians grapple with higher-order mathematical questions and real-world applications. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

In Floods like Hurricane Helene’s, Toxic Chemicals Are a Silent and Growing Threat

People living near industrial facilities often have few details about the chemicals inside, which poses major risks when floods occur | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Harris' Focus on Maternal Health Care Gains Support Among Black Women

Polls show an increased number of Black women voters back Kamala Harris. Her emphasis on maternal mortality, reproductive rights and gun control may be contributing | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hurricane Helene Survivors Face a Second Disaster—Insurance Woes

Only 2 percent of households in parts of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina that were flooded by Hurricane Helene can get insurance payments | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Where Did All the Thalidomide Pills Distributed in the U.S. Go?

FDA medical examiner Frances Oldham Kelsey saved American lives by refusing to approve thalidomide. But millions of pills had been sent to doctors in the U.S. for so-called clinical trials | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How to Save the World from Apocalyptic Asteroids

Sooner or later a doomsday asteroid will wipe out most life on Earth—unless, that is, we prevent threatening space rocks from hitting us in the first place | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Why Mount Everest Is the World’s Tallest Mountain

A model suggests a massive uplift caused by a phenomenon called “river piracy” partly explains Everest’s impressive height | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hard Nuclear Weapons Choices Await Harris or Trump as President

Whoever wins the 2024 presidential election will face heightened nuclear geopolitics, deadlines on nuclear deals with Russia and Iran and decisions on a $2-trillion weapons-modernization effort | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

What Linguistic Analysis from the 2024 Debates Reveals about Harris, Trump, Walz and Vance

Linguist and sociophonetician Nicole Holliday analyzes the language used by candidates in the recent presidential and vice presidential debates | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Largest Brain Map Ever Reveals Fruit Fly’s Neurons in Exquisite Detail

Wiring diagram lays out connections between nearly 140,000 neurons and reveals new types of nerve cell | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hurricanes Helene’s Floods Swamped a Hospital, Highlighting Climate Threats to Health Care

Hurricane Helene forced dozens of medical facilities across the southern U.S. to evacuate patients, underscoring the human costs of climate change | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Hurricanes Kill People for Years after the Initial Disaster

The average tropical cyclone in the U.S. ultimately causes about 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths, new research finds | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Power-Thirsty AI Turns to Mothballed Nuclear Plants. Is That Safe?

As Microsoft strikes a deal to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island to power AI, nuclear specialists weigh in on the unprecedented process | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Revealed: Elephants and Gorillas Hang Out in Hidden Playgrounds

In a dense Republic of Congo rainforest, scientists have mapped a network of strangely open clearings where wild beasts go to eat and hang out | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How the 2024 Election Will Affect IVF and Abortion Access

The presidential candidates have vastly divergent records on and plans for protecting access to reproductive health care, including abortion and IVF | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Why Cheeses Such as Mozzarella and Cheddar Melt Differently Than Ricotta

Food science can explain why mozzarella melts like a dream while feta and ricotta don’t | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Google Is a Monopoly. Should You Use Another Search Engine?

Alternatives to Google Search include Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave Search and Ecosia | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Suzetrigine Is Part of a New Class of Pain Medications That Could Offer Relief for Chronic Pain

A new class of drugs treats pain at the periphery. Here’s what that could mean for those with chronic pain. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Pickleball Physics Explained, from Balls and Paddles to Shots

‘Professor Pickleball’ reveals the science behind the U.S.’s fastest growing sport | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Project 2025 Would Leave Hurricane Helene Survivors with Little Disaster Aid

The conservative Project 2025 playbook for a possible Trump presidency calls for cutting aid for disasters such as Hurricane Helene | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

Sports Celebrate Physical Variation—Until It Challenges Social Norms

Human anatomy is delightfully varied, but female athletes are heavily criticized for not conforming to socially accepted bodily norms | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago

How Mathematicians Wrestled with the Biggest Controversy in the Field

A surprisingly simple concept shook the foundations of mathematics | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 month ago