String Theorists Accidentally Find a New Formula for Pi

Two physicists have come across infinitely many novel equations for pi while trying to develop a unifying theory of the fundamental forces | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

A Dolphin That Has Been Biting People May Just Be Friendly

Dolphin ecologist Tadamichi Morisaka discusses common dolphin behaviors that could explain instances of the animals biting people in Japan | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

This Ancient Sea Cow Was Killed by a Croc and Eaten by a Shark

Scientists re-create the last moments of a manateelike animal that was eaten by both a crocodilian and a shark | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

What to Know about Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus Spread by Mosquitoes

An expert explains the transmission and symptoms of eastern equine encephalitis, a rare mosquito-borne illness that has caused one death and two hospitalizations in northeastern states | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

'Sloth Fever' Virus Is Spreading. Here’s What You Need to Know about Oropouche

The Oropouche virus, which causes a disease nicknamed “sloth fever” for one of the animals that can be infected, has seen its first cases in the U.S. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Massive Megalith That Predates Stonehenge Shows Science Savvy of Neolithic Humans

A survey of the Dolmen of Menga suggests that the stone tomb’s Neolithic builders had an understanding of science | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Social Prescriptions Can Transform Medicine and Better Our Lives

“Prescribing” community resources and activities, like art classes and cycling groups, can improve our health and our health care | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Brain Scientists Finally Discover the Glue that Makes Memories Stick for a Lifetime

A long-running research endeavor reveals key chemical players that cement memories in place—and still more have yet to be discovered | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

How to Grow Your Houseplant Collection Ethically

A curator at the New York Botanical Gardens explains what we can learn about the past and the present from houseplant trends. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Queen’s Brian May Is a Champion for Badgers and Science

Queen guitarist Brian May has spent a decade studying the science of bovine tuberculosis, which can be carried by badgers, and has identified a new method of spread | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Adult Drowning Deaths Are Increasing. Swimming Lessons and Reduced Alcohol Use Could Prevent Them

Most fatal drowning incidents in the U.S. involve adults, not children, and they often involve alcohol | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Drastic Molecular Shifts in People’s 40s and 60s Might Explain Age-Related Health Changes

A new study suggests that waves of aging-related changes occur at two distinct points in our life | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

‘Corn Sweat’ and Climate Change Bring Sweltering Weather to the Midwest

A heat wave is sending temperatures soaring in the Midwest, and “corn sweat” is pushing humidity sky-high | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

First At-Home Syphilis Test Approved by FDA amid Nationwide Syphilis Surge

An easy-to-access rapid test could lower barriers to detecting syphilis, which is surging nationwide | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

Ultrasound Brain Stimulation Boosts Mindfulness

Study participants felt time distortion, fewer negative thoughts and greater detachment from feelings with a noninvasive ultrasound intervention | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Ascends, Ozempic Is Linked to Depression, and Mpox Cases Spread Rapidly

We cover Mars mission updates, a new brain implant that shows promise for Parkinson’s, the latest on the mpox outbreak, and more in this week’s new roundup. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 2 months ago

NASA’s Stranded Astronauts Will Fly Home on SpaceX’s Dragon

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams launched to the International Space Station in June, expecting eight days in space. Now the stranded astronauts finally have a ride home | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Fall COVID Vaccines and the Latest Guidance on Tests and Treatment

We’re in a summer COVID surge, and updated vaccines are due soon. Here’s a quick update on what you need to know | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Won’t Collapse in Worst-Case Scenario

Antarctica’s riskiest glacier is a disaster in slow motion. But in a rare bit of good news, the worst-case scenario for its collapse may be off the table | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

AI Makes Unreliable Investment Decisions

Until AI algorithms understand what words mean, they won’t be reliable for important decisions—especially those with money on the line | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Polaris Dawn Is the Most Ambitious—And Risky—Private Spaceflight Yet

The Polaris Dawn mission—a partnership between SpaceX and billionaire Jared Isaacman—will soar to historic heights and attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Will the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies Ever Collide?

Andromeda and the Milky Way may collide, or they may safely swing past each other. Time will tell | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

The Way Politicians Such as Kamala Harris and Tim Walz Speak Influences Our Perception of Them

A sociophonetician explains presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s intonational patterns and the way that the properties of candidates’ speech influences how they are perceived. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Remote Antarctica May Be Polluted with Far-Flung Plastic Trash

New research suggests that remote Antarctica is more vulnerable to trash and invasive species washing up from longer distances than previously thought | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

In Early Science Journalism, These Women Were Writing for Their Lives

Starting in the 1920s female writers pioneered the field of science writing for the mass market, making it their mission to help ordinary people understand everything from astronomy to venereal disease | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Brain Scans Reveal Aging Patterns Based on Disease, Alcohol and Smoking

Brain scan study hints that methods could be developed to detect the earliest stages of neurodegenerative disease | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

How the Search for Aliens Is Redefining Life in the Golden Age of Astrobiology

The search for extraterrestrial life has profound physical, mental and spiritual implications, says Nathalie Cabrol in The Secret Life of the Universe—and it belongs to everyone | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Artificial Sweetener Erythritol Likely Linked to Thrombosis Risk, Study Warns

A new study suggests a commonly used sugar substitute could increase the risk of blood clots, raising concerns for heart complications | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Wealthier Members of Congress Have Family Links to Slavery

U.S. Senators and Representatives whose family had a history of enslaving others have greater present-day wealth | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

West Nile Virus Proliferates where Climate Change Brings Warm, Wet Weather

Houston’s warm, wet spring, driven in part by climate change, was a boon for mosquitoes and West Nile virus | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Solving Inflammatory Bowel Disease’s Mysteries May Lead to New Therapies

Understanding genetics, immunology and the microbiomes of people with inflammatory bowel disease could aid in finding the right treatments for the condition | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

High-Dimensional Sudoku Puzzle Proves Mathematicians Wrong on Long-standing Geometry Problem

Mathematicians reveal that tiling your multidimensional bathroom will lead to never-ending disorder | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

The U.S. Has Its First Plan for Plastic Pollution. This Is What’s in It

The U.S.’s first plastic pollution plan features better measuring standards, more responsibility for producers and an end to single-use products | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

The Wow! Signal SETI Mystery Might at Last Be Solved

A new explanation for the Wow! signal suggests it was a chance detection of a furious flare crashing into a hydrogen cloud. But some researchers doubt that this idea has truly cracked the case | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

How Are These Mineral Deposits Producing Oxygen from the Ocean Floor?

Polymetallic blobs are producing “dark oxygen” from the depths of the ocean—and no one knows exactly how. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Europe's JUICE Jupiter Probe Zooms past the Moon in Historic Flyby

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft took a shortcut to the giant planet by way of the Earth and the moon | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Without AC, Texan Prisons Sentence People to Unsafe Heat

Air-conditioning is uncommon for incarcerated people, and the heat index inside many of Texas’s 100 prison buildings can exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

John McFall Is Breaking Barriers as the World’s First Parastronaut

Paralympian and surgeon John McFall is redefining the astronaut image and proving that space travel is achievable for people with physical disabilities | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

How Does a Bioluminescent Petunia Glow?

A bioluminescent petunia led me to a world of radiant mushrooms, 19th century experiments and a modern rivalry between scientists in Russia and the Americas | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Can Thousands of Huge Machines Capture Enough Carbon to Slow Climate Change?

Tech firms, oil companies and the U.S. government are investing billions of dollars in carbon capture technology to suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Can it save the warming world? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Do Space and Time Follow Quantum Rules? These Mind-Bending Experiments Aim to Find Out

Proposed experiments will search for signs that spacetime is quantum and can exist in a superposition of multiple shapes at once | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Contributors to Scientific American’s September 2024 Issue

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


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

New Pain Medication Suzetrigine Prevents Pain Signals from Reaching Brain

The medication initially known as VX-548 blocks sodium channels in nerves, blocking pain signals before they reach the brain | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Next-Generation Biotech Is Rendering Some Lab Animals Obsolete

Replacing research animals with tools that better mimic human biology could improve medicine | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Voting Is Just the Beginning

Your vote matters. But so does your involvement in civic actions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Review: A Celebration of Bioluminescence, Moonlight and Nocturnal Creatures

In Night Magic, darkness is revered, and its secrets are revealed | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

How Did Dinosaurs See, Smell, Hear and Move?

New fossils and analytical tools provide unprecedented insights into dinosaur sensory perception | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago

Find the Next Digits in the Sequence in This Math Puzzle

Can you find the pattern behind this progression of digits? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 3 months ago