Myopia is projected to affect half of the world’s population by 2050. A new report says it needs to be countered by classifying it as a disease and upping children’s outdoor time | Continue reading
We are in a new and different kind of moon race, one the U.S. is losing. To win, says a former NASA official, we need new strategies | Continue reading
Physicists have detected a long-sought particle process that may suggest new forces and particles exist in the universe | Continue reading
Inland flooding from tropical cyclones, even at high altitudes, is a major worry—and one that scientists don’t know enough about | Continue reading
Physicists showed that photons can seem to exit a material before entering it, revealing observational evidence of negative time | Continue reading
Hurricane Helene fueled catastrophic flooding from Florida to Appalachia, leaving millions without power | Continue reading
“Fake news”-style misinformation is only a fraction of what deceives voters. Fighting misinformation will require holding political elites and mainstream media accountable | Continue reading
Here’s how misinformation and distrust in science are impacting global well-being. Plus, we present our regular roundup of this week’s science news. | Continue reading
The musical Lifeline tells the story of Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of antibiotics, as these revolutionary drugs continue to lose their efficacy | Continue reading
Neurons in certain brain areas integrate ‘what’ and ‘when’ information to discern hidden order in events happening in real time | Continue reading
Scientific American’s staff share their favorite sci-fi books, from beloved classics to overlooked gems and our modern favorites | Continue reading
How experiencing an unusual health issue can alter a person’s understanding of “rare” | Continue reading
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) could soon shine very bright in Earth’s skies | Continue reading
Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne Santos guides you through the ongoing debate about what math really is. | Continue reading
FDA medical examiner Frances Oldham wanted data that would show that thalidomide was safe to use during pregnancy. It wasn’t | Continue reading
Experts call for greater testing of contacts of a person who was infected with the H5N1 bird flu strain before the virus causes a wider outbreak | Continue reading
A species of legged fish uses taste receptors to search for hidden prey, providing an ideal window for scientists to study the emergence of new evolutionary traits | Continue reading
Flawed implementation of a global eradication strategy brought poliovirus to Gaza, and wartime conditions let the infection spread | Continue reading
Why ordinary people will follow orders to the point of hurting others remains a critical question for scientists—though some answers have emerged | Continue reading
An office in the Pentagon investigated UFOs—and the paranormal—over a decade ago, segueing into a long saga leading to Congressional hearings and breathless news stories today. But the real story looks more like former defense officials pushing their personal mythology, rather th … | Continue reading
Hurricane Helene is a large storm set to bring substantial storm surge to the coast of Florida, as well as wind and rain-driven flooding up into Tennessee and South Carolina | Continue reading
Looking silly when they run saves birds energy—and some dinosaurs may have done the same | Continue reading
A small asteroid, 2024 PT5, will spend the next two months alongside our planet as a mini moon before swooping back to deep space | Continue reading
Physicists report the first observations of quantum entanglement in quarks, the heaviest known fundamental particles, inside the Large Hadron Collider | Continue reading
Cases of deadly heatstroke of children in cars have remained stubbornly persistent—here’s why they happen and how we can prevent them | Continue reading
From spotless giraffes to secret squirrels, Janelle Shane probes the absurdity (and dangers) of generative AI | Continue reading
A study reports higher prevalence of eating disorders among people with polycystic ovary syndrome, regardless of their body mass index. | Continue reading
Experiment shows that a nuclear explosion could save the planet from a deadly asteroid impact | Continue reading
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo told Floridians to avoid mRNA vaccines, citing false safety concerns | Continue reading
Joint Nobel laureates aren’t necessarily direct scientific collaborators, and the prize money isn’t always split evenly | Continue reading
More and more climate scientists are supporting experiments to cool Earth by altering the stratosphere or the ocean | Continue reading
The incompleteness of the fossil record complicates efforts to figure out how life on Earth is faring today | Continue reading
The universe’s hidden mass may be made of black holes, which could wobble the planets of the solar system when they pass by | Continue reading
Quirky perspectives, separated lovebirds and a tobogganing penguin star in 2024 winners of the world’s largest bird photography competition | Continue reading
Uterus transplants are becoming more common, opening up the possibility of pregnancy and parenthood to people with certain health conditions | Continue reading
The new interconnected breed of autocrats gains and retains power by deception, globally undermining democracies through their own institutions | Continue reading
Cave fish develop taste buds on their heads and chins—and even in humans, taste cells grow in truly unexpected locations | Continue reading
This week’s news roundup explores how the brain is affected by pregnancy, the way “scuba diving” lizards breathe underwater, and much more. | Continue reading
Certain values carry more weight in spring and autumn than in summer and winter | Continue reading
Scientists are putting a new spin on the creation of binary asteroids | Continue reading
Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne will help you discover the beauty and power of math in this miniseries. | Continue reading
Three scientists are honored for developing a class of blockbuster weight-loss drugs. Is a Nobel prize on the way? | Continue reading
A long-awaited calculation of the W boson’s mass agrees with theory, contradicting a previous anomaly that had raised the possibility of new physics beyond the Standard Model | Continue reading
In the U.S. in the early 1960s the distributor of a thalidomide drug was impatient to get it on the market. But FDA medical examiner Frances Oldham Kelsey wanted more information to prove its safety | Continue reading
Some researchers dream of solving all mysteries with a common method—but a mathematical paradox may keep such solutions out of reach | Continue reading
Math’s “best-choice problem” could help humans become better decision-makers, at everything from choosing the best job candidate to finding a romantic partner | Continue reading
In online forums the term “cuck” has become synonymous with “sucker” and “loser.” But this use distorts its history and meaning, creating a baseless moral panic that harms both women and science | Continue reading
Neuroscientists at the University of Barcelona set about on a search for brain areas involved in chess-related tasks so that surgeons could avoid them when removing a tumor | Continue reading