Supreme Court Preserves Access to Abortion Pill Pending Appeal

The nation’s highest court paused a lower court’s decision to nullify approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, keeping the medication available while an appeal moves forward | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How My AI Image Won a Major Photography Competition

Boris Eldagsen submitted an AI-generated image to a photography contest as a “cheeky monkey” and sparked a debate about AI’s place in the art world | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How Our Team Overturned the 90-Year-Old Metaphor of a 'Little Man' in the Brain Who Controls Movement

A pillar of every neuroscience textbook, the classic “homunculus” has just gone through a radical revision | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Biden Marks Earth Day with New Environmental Justice Orders

The president is creating an Office of Environmental Justice and expanding federal protections for communities that have been historically overburdened by pollution | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Over-the-Counter Narcan Is a Small Win in the Overdose Crisis. We Need More

Requiring a prescription for all forms of naloxone holds the overdose-reversing medication hostage, kept from millions of Americans who should carry it in their purses and back pockets | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

The Science of Melting Chocolate

Researchers used an artificial tongue to understand how chocolate changes from a solid to a smooth emulsion | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Environmental Policies Must Manage Climate Change and Biodiversity as One

Biodiversity loss and climate change are two sides of the same coin. Why can’t we treat them that way? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

AI Can't Solve This Famous Murder Mystery Puzzle

The 1934 puzzle book Cain’s Jawbone stumped all but a handful of humans. Then AI took the case | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Renewable Energy Is Charging Ahead

Renewable energy has seen considerable growth in recent years, but there is a long way to go to achieve a clean energy future that averts the worst effects of the climate crisis | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How Warming Upended One of Greenland's Most Stable Glaciers

Greenland’s Steenstrup Glacier doubled its annual ice loss in just a few years, thanks to warm ocean water | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

SpaceX's Starship Fails Upward in Milestone Test

Starship, a super powerful launch system that could revolutionize access to space, soared for mere minutes—but its test flight is still being hailed as a success | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

This Astoundingly Simple Ancient Technique Is Helping to Beat Back Drought

Amid a warming world, these conservationists have brought back a very old and very low-tech drought-busting practice and they are getting results. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Landslides Kill and Hurt Thousands, but Science Largely Ignores These Disasters

Compared with landslides, volcanoes and hurricanes get a lot more attention, as well as research funding | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Ongoing Development Is Part of the Colorado River Problem

Using “slow water” methods can make the Colorado River Basin and its people more resilient | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Methadone Maintenance versus Synthetic Heaven: Inside the Historic Fight over Heroin Treatment

In the 1970s Marie Nyswander thought that she had finally found a long-term treatment for heroin addiction, but not everyone agreed—including some of the people she was trying to help | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Oyster Mushroom Venom Kills Roundworms--So the Mushrooms Can Feast

A volatile compound makes nematodes food for oyster mushrooms | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How Do Birds Know When to Migrate?

Lengthening days set off a cascade of events in migratory birds that culminates in the birth of a clutch of chicks | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Tidal Power Faces a Fickle Future with Rising Seas

To pull power from the waves, you need a high tidal range or strong currents. Sea-level rise threatens to mess with both | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

New Planet-Hunting Technique Finds Worlds We Can See Directly

A promising combination of exoplanet-finding methods pinpoints details about its first world | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How Bears Hibernate without Getting Blood Clots

Hibernating brown bears avoid the blood clots that can develop in even temporarily immobile people. Scientists now think they know how the animals do it | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Electric Car Production Will Accelerate after EPA's Historic Tailpipe Emissions Rules

Aggressive restrictions will affect carbon, smog and soot emissions from compact cars all the way up to long-haul trucks | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

These Doctors Fought the Federal Bureau of Narcotics to Treat Addiction--With Drugs

In the early 1960s a trio at the Rockefeller Institute started a bold experiment to change the way heroin addiction was treated, and they did so using a drug originally created by “the devil’s chemist” | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How Often Should People Get COVID Boosters?

The CDC and FDA have decided that one updated COVID booster is enough for now, in contrast to recommendations from other countries and global health organizations | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

See the Sharp New Image of an Iconic Black Hole

Using machine learning, researchers have now created a much sharper portrait of the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M87 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

JWST's Newfound Galaxies Are the Oldest Ever Seen

We now know that the first galaxies in our universe formed shockingly fast, thanks to the latest results from the James Webb Space Telescope | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

The EPA Wants Two-Thirds of U.S. Car Sales to Be Electric by 2032

The Environmental Protection Agency has released draft regulations that set the stage for a huge transition to electric vehicles | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How the Mifepristone Ruling Could Affect Abortion Access

A federal judge in Texas ruled to withdraw the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, potentially making medication abortion less accessible nationwide | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Bizarre Material Combines the Best Traits of Gel and Metal

A new material was used in a simple snail robot, but it could one day make artificial nervous systems for more complex machines | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

What New Evidence from the Wuhan Market Tells Us about COVID's Origins

Recently released data from samples of the COVID-causing virus SARS-CoV-2 at the market where many early cases of the disease occurred suggest animals were present but stop short of proving that they were infected and transmitted the virus to humans | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

What New Evidence from the Wuhan Market Tells Us about COVID's Origins

Recently released data from samples of the COVID-causing virus SARS-CoV-2 at the market where many early cases of the disease occurred suggest animals were present but stop short of proving that they were infected and transmitted the virus to humans | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Good News for Coffee Lovers

A careful new study reveals coffee is generally safe for your heart and may boost your daily step count. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Abortion Clinics in Conservative-Led States Face Increasing Threats

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, physical and legal attacks against clinics that provide abortions have increased | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Southeastern U.S. Seas Are Rising at Triple the Global Average

Sea levels off the southeastern U.S. have risen more than a centimeter a year over the past decade—about triple the global average—and the effects on communities near the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean already are being observed | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Mifepristone Is Safe. A Court Ruling Reducing Access to It Is Dangerous

A judge’s bad decision about the abortion pill rests on stigma about abortion that harms health care | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Why Are Killer Whales Ripping Livers Out of Their Shark Prey?

Killer whales rip open the bellies of sharks to snag the liver. Other predators also have dietary preferences for organs, brains and additional rich body parts | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

How Over-the-Counter Narcan Can Help Reverse Opioid Overdoses

A recent Food and Drug Administration decision that makes naloxone available without a prescription may increase the drug’s accessibility. But cost could be a barrier | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

2 High School Students Prove Pythagorean Theorem. Here's What That Means

At an American Mathematical Society meeting, high school students presented a proof of the Pythagorean theorem that used trigonometry—an approach that some once considered impossible | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

A Bad Medication Abortion Decision Threatens the Future Availability of Drugs in the U.S.

With an April 7 court decision, one judge has harmed women’s health and undermined trust in science-based drug approvals in the U.S. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Astronomers Spy a Giant Runaway Black Hole's Starry Wake

A candidate “rogue” supermassive black hole may weigh as much as 20 million suns and has sparked a trail of star formation that is 200,000 light-years long | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Baseball Players Are Hitting More Home Runs--And Climate Change Is Helping

As atmospheric temperatures rise with climate change, baseballs can travel farther through the air, allowing for more home runs | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Newfound Mathematical 'Einstein' Shape Creates a Never-Repeating Pattern

A new shape called an einstein has taken the math world by storm. The craggy, hat-shaped tile can cover an infinite plane with patterns that never repeat. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Most Planets in the Galaxy Orbit Stars You Can't Even See

Red dwarfs are dim bulbs, but host more Earth-like planets than any other kind of star | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

What the FDA Ruling about 'Dense Breasts' Means for Cancer Risk and Screening

Women with dense breasts are at higher risk of breast cancer and are underdiagnosed, but other factors also play an important role | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

A Number System Invented by Inuit Schoolchildren Will Make Its Silicon Valley Debut

Math is called the “universal language,” but a unique dialect is being reborn | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Meet the Magnificent Microbes of the Deep Unknown

These two researchers journey toward the center of the earth–via windows to the crust–to find bacteria that can breathe iron, arsenic and other metals that would kill us pretty quick. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Science News Briefs from around the World: April 2023

Ancient Maya cities in laser focus, chickens gone wild in Singapore, high-tech drug research in the U.S., and much more in this month’s Quick Hits | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

Gulf Oil Platforms Emit Even More Methane Than Reported

The greenhouse gas intensity of offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico could be twice as much as government estimates | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago

JWST Captures Stunning Image of Rings around Uranus

The imagery offers a rare view of the ice giant’s ring system, bright moons and dynamic atmosphere | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 1 year ago