Mirror-Image Supernova Yields Surprising Estimate of Cosmic Growth

A new way to gauge the universe’s expansion rate has delivered a confusing result that conflicts with previous related measurements | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

These Sharks Hold Their 'Breath' to Stay Warm

Scalloped hammerhead sharks take dramatic dives to hunt for food in cold, deep waters—and new evidence suggests they hold their breath to keep warm while they do so | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How AI Knows Things No One Told It

Researchers are still struggling to understand how AI models trained to parrot internet text can perform advanced tasks such as running code, playing games and trying to break up a marriage | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

New EPA Rules Would Slash Power Plant Emissions

The EPA has announced new draft rules that would require power plants that burn fossil fuels to capture 90 percent of their climate-warming emissions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

JWST's Exoplanet Images Are Just the Beginning of Astrobiology's Future

Hints of life on distant worlds will come from signals pioneered by NASA’s jumbo space telescope | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Watch Out: Tornado Alley Is Migrating Eastward

Tornado outbreaks are moving from Texas and Oklahoma toward Tennessee and Kentucky, where people may not be prepared | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Did JWST Just Find Water on a Rocky Exoplanet?

Hints of water vapor on a world called GJ 486 b could just as well come from the planet’s host star | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Physicists Create Long-Sought Topological Quantum States

Exotic particles called nonabelions could fix quantum computers’ error problem | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Some Crabs Are Losing Their Sense of Smell as Oceans Acidify

Commercially valuable Dungeness crabs lose their sense of smell as the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide and becomes more acidic | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

More Frequent Dust Storms Could Be in Our Future

A combination of climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices could lead to Dust Bowl–like conditions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Tweaking Vegetables' Genes Could Make Them Tastier--And You'll Get to Try Them Soon

Flavor is a tricky target, but technology and powerful genetic techniques are making it more feasible to improve the taste of vegetables | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

462-Million-Year-Old Fossil Trove Holds Miniature World of Marine Creatures

Paleontologists have uncovered a miniature world of sea creatures whose tiny guts, eyes and even brains remain visible 462 million years after they perished | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

A 19th-Century Obscenity Law Is Being Used Again to Limit Abortion

Recent rulings on the abortion pill cite the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law that’s still on the books | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Virtual Reality System Lets You Stop and Smell the Roses

A wireless device worn on the face or lip can produce fragrances such as lavender and green tea in a virtual world | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

NASA's Interplanetary Plans May Be Lurching toward Disaster

Delays and budgetary overruns are causing many to worry that NASA’s ambitious planetary science program is at a breaking point | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Here's the Weird Physics That Makes Peanut Butter a Liquid

Yes, peanut butter is a liquid (and a great example of a non-Newtonian fluid) | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Here's How to Use Window Films to Actually Protect Birds

Bird-strike-deterrent window films don’t work if they’re placed on the indoor side | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

JWST Sees Alien Asteroid Belt around Nearby Star

The first asteroid belt ever found outside the solar system is more complex than expected | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

U.S. COVID Public Health Emergency Is Ending. Here's What That Means

As the federal public health emergency is set to expire on May 11, here’s what you need to know about future COVID testing, treatment and vaccines | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

World COVID Emergency Status Is Over, but Dangerous Threat Remains

The World Health Organization has declared that COVID is no longer a “public health emergency of international concern” but cautions that it is still an ongoing health issue | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

These Mini-Ecosystems Existed Underfoot of Dinosaurs, but Our Parking Lots Might Pave Them to Extinction

Vernal Pools are safe havens for creatures like the fairy shrimp, who have lived through the end of the dinosaurs, the breakup of Pangea, and multiple ice ages, but humans are paving them over. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Heat Waves Fueled by Climate Change Topple Records around the Globe

High temperature records have been set from Portugal to Thailand as heat waves fueled by climate change have arrived early this spring | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Amid War in Ukraine, Open Source Intelligence Investigators Need Better Ethics

Much of the open-source intelligence (OSINT) community ignores ethical questions and the safety risks of reporting discoveries from the war in Ukraine | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

What Is Benford's Law? Why This Unexpected Pattern of Numbers Is Everywhere

A curious mathematical phenomenon called Benford’s law governs the numbers all around us | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Map of Bushmeat Consumption Reveals Pandemic Risks

Unregulated wild animal markets increase the risk of more epidemics | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Poem: 'Confluence'

Science in meter and verse | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

This Frog May Be the First Amphibian Known to Pollinate Flowers

A tiny, orange Brazilian tree frog may be the first known amphibian pollinator, further broadening our understanding of which animals perform this crucial biological function | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Heavy Cannabis Use Linked to Schizophrenia Especially among Young Men

A huge Danish study shows that up to 30 percent of psychosis diagnoses in young men could have been prevented if these individuals hadn’t used marijuana heavily | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Another New Alzheimer's Drug: What Promising Trial Results Mean for Treatment

Findings suggest that the amyloid-targeting drug candidate slows cognitive decline in some people, but questions remain over its potential side effects | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Forest Service Explores Moving Trees to Save Them from Hotter Weather

A new program looks to replant warm weather trees in northern Minnesota to help them adjust to a rapidly warming world | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Should You Give Your Kid Melatonin?

Young children are taking melatonin gummy supplements, but experts say they should be a last resort to help with sleep | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Masks Work. Distorting Science to Dispute the Evidence Doesn't

New mask studies relying on a medical paradigm do not erase decades of engineering and occupational science that show they work | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

New Technique Can Map Ocean Plastics from Space

Researchers figured out how the flow of microplastics flattens ocean waves, letting satellites paint a clearer picture for future policy and cleanup efforts | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

This $600-Million Room Contains the World's Largest Collection of These Tiny Endangered Animals

Inside a vault at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles lies a microscopic population of immense value—the repository for vernal pool fairy shrimp. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

More than a Quarter of a Billion People Went Hungry in 2022

The number of people facing acute food insecurity shot up for the fourth year in a row in 2022 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

RSV Vaccines Are Finally Here after Decades of False Starts

Decades of failed attempts have given way to several successful vaccines and treatments for the respiratory disease RSV | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Why the 'Sleeping Beauty Problem' Is Keeping Mathematicians Awake

A thought experiment that’s dividing mathematicians can help illuminate how belief shapes rational decisions | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Population Decline Will Change the World for the Better

A future with fewer people offers increased opportunity and a healthier environment | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

SpaceX Faces Reckoning after Starship's Messy First Flight

SpaceX’s Starship launch site in southern Texas is now the subject of a lawsuit after the vehicle’s first flight caused concerning damage | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

JWST Spots Planetary Building Blocks In A Surprising Galaxy

Planets might be more common throughout the universe than previously thought, suggest results from the James Webb Space Telescope | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Allergic to Your Pet? This Immunotherapy May Help

Developing an allergy to your dog or cat can be a nightmare, but hyposensitization could offer permanent relief | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

A New Era in Addiction Medicine: A Trailblazing Doctor's Legacy and the Ongoing Search for a Cure

Medication treatment for heroin addiction has come a long way since its pioneer died. But what would she think of the field today? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Strawberries Have 8 Sets of Chromosomes to Thank for Their Survival

Hidden beneath the surface of the treasured strawberry is a unique branch of the evolutionary tree, where eight sets of chromosomes are better than two | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Astronomers Just Saw a Star Eat a Planet for the First Time

A dying star swallowing a giant planet hints at the fate awaiting our solar system some 5 billion years from now | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

The Health Risks of Gas Stoves Explained

Gas stoves produce emissions that can harm human health and the environment. Experts answer questions about the dangers and how to limit them | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Will the Chesapeake Bay Become a Dead Zone?

The country's largest estuary is under critical threat from pollution and climate change. The question is—can it be saved? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

This Might Be the World's Oldest Tree. And It Could Die of Thirst

Lañilawal, a Patagonian cypress that may be one of the oldest trees on Earth, needs greater protection if scientists are to understand its secrets of survival, an environmental scientist says | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

This Might Be the World's Oldest Tree. And It Could Die of Thirst

Lañilawal, a Patagonian cypress that may be one of the oldest trees on Earth, needs greater protection if scientists are to understand its secrets of survival, an environmental scientist says | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago