Blogs - Science






Scientific American
- The Absurd Pregnancy Math behind the Texas 'Six-Week' Abortion Ban 2021-09-04The law the Supreme Court just failed to block is not just a blow to women; it’s biologically nonsensicalMichelle Rodrigues
- You Have Probably Eaten This Natural Food Additive without Knowing It 2021-09-02A new video series from Scientific American and Spektrum der Wissenschaft gives you a serving of science. In this episode, we take a look at something called inulin.Spektrum, Scientific American Staff
- Abortion Rights Are at the Greatest Risk since Roe v. Wade Was Decided in 1972 2021-09-02The Supreme Court will hear a case in the upcoming term that could officially overturn that historic rulingElizabeth Nash
- Rogue Antibodies Involved In Nearly One Fifth of COVID Deaths 2021-09-01Self-targeting antibodies attack part of the immune system that plays a key role in fighting infectionDiana Kwon, Nature magazine
- New Tool Shows Geology behind Kidney Stone Crystallization 2021-09-01Rather than crystallizing all at once, kidney stones dissolve and re-form over and overHarini Barath
- Virus or Bacterium? Rapid Test Pinpoints Infection's Cause 2021-08-31A generation of new tests could lessen overuse of antibioticsHarini Barath
- U.S. Forces Are Leaving a Toxic Environmental Legacy in Afghanistan 2021-08-30Legal and practical obstacles make it difficult to clean the burn pits and health-damaging chemicals that remain at military basesKelsey D. Atherton
- COVID, Quickly, Episode 13: Vaccine Approval, Breakthrough Infections, Boosters 2021-08-27Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. You can listen to all past episodes here.Josh Fischman, Tanya Lewis, Jeffery DelViscio
- YouTube's Plan to Showcase Credible Health Information Is Flawed, Experts Warn 2021-08-27Search results may include a special section with videos from sources that are deemed reliableGrant Currin
- How to Reduce Racial Disparities in Smoking Deaths 2021-08-26African Americans die at a higher rate than other groups and have a harder time quitting. But new evidence-based approaches can change thatBryan W. Heckman, Anne Davis, James E.K. Hildreth
- Humanitarians Push to Vaccinate in Conflict Zones 2021-08-26Pandemic ceasefires offer an opportunity to expand vaccination efforts, experts say. But negotiation is trickyMadeline Drexler, Undark
- How COVID, Inequality and Politics Make a Vicious Syndemic 2021-08-26Overlapping diseases and social conditions in the U.S. continue to dictate who is hurt most badly by the novel coronavirusEmily Mendenhall, Clarence C. Gravlee
- Unraveling the Mystery of Why Children Are Better Protected from COVID Than Adults 2021-08-26Their immune system is more primed to fight off the novel coronavirusLars Fischer
- COVID Vaccines Show No Signs of Harming Fertility or Sexual Function 2021-08-24The novel coronavirus, in contrast, can disrupt both things in unvaccinated men and womenEmily Willingham
- Policies Mandated by Multilateral Institutions Are Contributing to India's COVID Catastrophe 2021-08-22The World Bank’s and the International Monetary Fund’s pressure to privatize India’s health care system deepened inequities in access—to lethal effectPuja Changoiwala
- The FDA Should Remove Its Restrictions on the 'Abortion Pill' Mifepristone 2021-08-21The science is clear: abortion by medication is safe and effectiveKelly Cleland
- Should You Get a Booster Shot? Here's What We Know 2021-08-20Experts weigh in on common questions about whether and when additional doses of coronavirus vaccines may be neededTanya Lewis
- Years Before COVID-19, Zombies Helped Prepare One Hospital System for the Real Pandemic 2021-08-20An educational experiment used escape rooms and the undead to set the stage for a terrible situation that would become all too realMaddie Bender
- The True Haiti Earthquake Death Toll Is Much Worse Than Early Official Counts 2021-08-19A tool built by the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the number of fatalities may range from 10,000 to 100,000 or moreSara Reardon
- A New Resource for Fighting Vaccine Misinformation 2021-08-19The #ScienceUpFirst initiative was created to provide, support and amplify accurate scientific information to help people make informed health decisionsJonathan N. Stea, Krishana Sankar
Scientific American Content: Global
- Was 'Oumuamua, the First Known Interstellar Object, Less Weird Than We Thought? 2023-03-22A new study suggests that ’Oumuamua, the mysterious visitor that whizzed through our solar system in 2017, may have been merely a small comet from another starMeghan Bartels
- 'Plasticosis' in Seabirds Could Herald New Era of Animal Disease 2023-03-22Ocean animals are growing sicker from ingesting too much plasticMatthew Savoca, The Conversation US
- Use Nature as Infrastructure 2023-03-22In the climate crisis, wetlands have more economic value than new developmentThe Editors
- Volcanic Activity on Mars Upends Red Planet Assumptions 2023-03-22A mass of moving material on Mars called a mantle plume may be causing marsquakes and volcanismPhil Plait
- Health Research Is Needed Now before Sending Civilians to Space 2023-03-22Now is the time to protect the health and safety of civilians who will be traveling, living and working in the dangerous environment of spaceMichael Marge
- Spring Is Starting Earlier--It's Not Your Imagination 2023-03-22Birds are heading north before their insect prey emerge. Bees are missing out on early blossoms. Ticks and other pests have more time to feast and spread diseaseJude Coleman
- Artificial Intelligence Helped Make the Coolest Song You've Heard This Week 2023-03-22Machine-learning algorithms are getting so good that they can translate Western instruments into Thai ones with ease.Allison Parshall
- Deadly Fungi Are the Newest Emerging Microbe Threat All Over the World 2023-03-21These pathogens already kill 1.6 million people every year, and we have few defenses against themMaryn McKenna
- Scientists Just Warned We Need to Cut Emissions by 60 Percent, but the U.S. Is Years Away 2023-03-21The IPCC’s latest climate assessment says the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2035, but the U.S. is already behind on a less ambitious targetJean Chemnick
- Will Humans Ever Go Extinct? 2023-03-21It’s probably a matter of when and how, not if, we humans will meet our doomStephanie Pappas
- Fast, Deep Cuts in Emissions Are Needed to Avoid 'Climate Time Bomb' 2023-03-20To keep warming below levels that scientists say will bring extreme climate impacts, nations must act quickly to make deep cuts in carbon emissions, according to the final installment of the IPCC’s latest climate reportAndrea Thompson
- Fixing the Hated Open-Design Office 2023-03-20Open-office designs create productivity and health problems. New insights from Deaf and autistic communities could fix themGeorge Musser
- The Strange Way a 12-Foot-Long Invasive Python Was Caught 2023-03-20In Key Largo, Fla., scientists are looking to protect endangered native rodents and slow the invasion of massive Burmese pythonsMeghan Bartels
- The Science of Spring's Green Show 2023-03-20Spring’s burst of brightness comes before chloroplasts grow and matureClara Moskowitz, Rebecca Konte
- RSV Vaccines Are Nearly Here after Decades of False Starts 2023-03-20Decades of failed attempts have given way to several successful vaccines and treatments for the respiratory disease RSVTara Haelle
- The World's Simplest Theorem Shows That 8,000 People Globally Have the Same Number of Hairs on Their Head 2023-03-20Hairiness is the perfect way to demonstrate the math underlying the “pigeonhole principle,” first conceived in 1622Manon Bischoff
- Space Force Humor, Laser Dazzlers, and the Havoc a War in Space Would Actually Wreak 2023-03-20In the inaugural episode of Cosmos, Quickly, we blast off with Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno of the Space Force, who is charged with protecting our space in space, particularly from Russia and China.Lee Billings, Clara Moskowitz, Jeffery DelViscio
- How the Psychology of Silicon Valley Contributed to a Bank Collapse 2023-03-18Venture capitalists and start-ups don’t mind losing money, but dealing with a bank run is a whole different storyGary Stix
- New Evidence Supports Animal Origin of COVID Virus through Raccoon Dogs 2023-03-18Genetic sequences show evidence of raccoon dogs and other animals at the Wuhan market sites where SARS-CoV-2 was found in early 2020, adding to evidence of a natural spillover eventTanya Lewis
- What High-Tech Prizes Does the Downed U.S. Drone Hold? Russia Really Wants to Know 2023-03-17An MQ-9 Reaper drone is sitting at the bottom of the Black Sea. Will the U.S. or Russia recover it?Jason Sherman
Scientific American: Mind & Brain
- Fixing the Hated Open-Design Office 2023-03-20Open-office designs create productivity and health problems. New insights from Deaf and autistic communities could fix themGeorge Musser
- How the Psychology of Silicon Valley Contributed to a Bank Collapse 2023-03-18Venture capitalists and start-ups don’t mind losing money, but dealing with a bank run is a whole different storyGary Stix
- AI Can Re-create What You See from a Brain Scan 2023-03-17Image-generating AI is getting better at re-creating what people are looking at from their fMRI data. But this isn’t mind reading—yetAllison Parshall
- There's a Psychological 'Vaccine' against Misinformation 2023-03-13A social psychologist found that showing people how manipulative techniques work can create resilience against misinformationDaisy Yuhas
- Vitamin D Supplements Probably Won't Prevent Mental Illness After All 2023-03-13Despite the stream of “good news” about vitamin D, the supplement’s prospects to prevent mental health disorders in adults remain dimIngrid Wickelgren
- The Scientific Secret to Soothing Fussy Babies 2023-03-08Some animals’ babies physically relax when their parents whisk them away from danger. The same thing works for tiny, wailing humans.Karen Hopkin
- The Weird Reason We're Afraid of Clowns 2023-03-07Scientists figure out the origin of our fear of clownsSophie Scorey, James Greville, Philip Tyson, Shakiela Davies, The Conversation
- Babies Are Born with an Innate Number Sense 2023-03-07Plato was right: newborns do mathJacob Beck, Sam Clarke
- How 'Anomalous Health Incidents' in Cuba Sidelined Science 2023-03-06The Havana syndrome saga is an epic failure of science, one with severe consequences both for patients and for international relationsMitchell J. Valdés-Sosa
- Spotlight on Women in Science 2023-03-06Honoring women at the forefront of scienceScientific American
- Many Differences between Liberals and Conservatives May Boil Down to One Belief 2023-03-01Conservatives tend to believe that strict divisions are an inherent part of life. Liberals do notJer Clifton
- Does Not Being Able to Picture Something in Your Mind Affect Your Creativity? 2023-02-27Researchers who study aphantasia, or the inability to visualize something in your “mind’s eye,” are starting to get a sense of how to accurately measure the condition and what it may mean for those who have it.Stefano Montali
- Your Brain Could Be Controlling How Sick You Get--And How You Recover 2023-02-27Scientists are deciphering how the brain choreographs immune responses, hoping to find treatments for a range of diseasesDiana Kwon, Nature magazine
- Love and the Brain: Do Partnerships Really Make Us Happy? Here's What the Science Says 2023-02-20How romance affects our well-being is a lot more complicated than “they lived happily ever after.”Shayla Love
- Survivors of Deadly Earthquakes Must Deal with Lasting Trauma 2023-02-17A psychiatrist who has studied the effects of previous devastating quakes explains how the Turkey-Syria earthquake could impact survivors’ mental healthTanya Lewis
- Love and the Brain: The Animal Matchmaker and the Panda Romeo and Juliet 2023-02-17In fair zoo-ona, a pair of star-cross’d pandas take their life. And we learn about whether or not animals can fall in love.Shayla Love
- Love and the Brain: How Attached Are We to Attachment Styles? 2023-02-15Are you “anxious,” “avoidant” or “disorganized?” So-called attachment styles have taken the Internet by storm. But it turns out there’s a lot more to unpack than people think.Shayla Love
- Long COVID Now Looks like a Neurological Disease, Helping Doctors to Focus Treatments 2023-02-14The causes of long COVID, which disables millions, may come together in the brain and nervous systemStephani Sutherland
- Monogamous Prairie Voles Reveal the Neurobiology of Love 2023-02-13Studies of prairie voles are providing surprising new insights into how social bonds formSteven Phelps, Zoe Donaldson, Dev Manoli
- The Best Way to Boost Workers’ Mental Health Is to Give Them Good Managers 2023-02-13To improve workers’ health, research shows, companies need to support “transformational” leaders and weed out “destructive” actors, not just tout wellness programsDaisy Grewal
Scientific American: Technology
- Artificial Intelligence Helped Make the Coolest Song You've Heard This Week 2023-03-22Machine-learning algorithms are getting so good that they can translate Western instruments into Thai ones with ease.Allison Parshall
- Space Force Humor, Laser Dazzlers, and the Havoc a War in Space Would Actually Wreak 2023-03-20In the inaugural episode of Cosmos, Quickly, we blast off with Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno of the Space Force, who is charged with protecting our space in space, particularly from Russia and China.Lee Billings, Clara Moskowitz, Jeffery DelViscio
- What High-Tech Prizes Does the Downed U.S. Drone Hold? Russia Really Wants to Know 2023-03-17An MQ-9 Reaper drone is sitting at the bottom of the Black Sea. Will the U.S. or Russia recover it?Jason Sherman
- Nord Stream Pipeline Blasts Stirred Up Toxic Sediment 2023-03-17The Nord Stream pipeline explosions happened in a dumping ground for chemical warfare, but other contaminants proved most toxic to marine lifeKatharine Sanderson, Nature magazine
- AI Can Re-create What You See from a Brain Scan 2023-03-17Image-generating AI is getting better at re-creating what people are looking at from their fMRI data. But this isn’t mind reading—yetAllison Parshall
- Squeak Squeak, Buzz Buzz: How Researchers Are Using AI to Talk to Animals 2023-03-17The burgeoning field of “digital bioacoustics” is helping us understand animals like never before.Sophie Bushwick, Kelso Harper
- What the New GPT-4 AI Can Do 2023-03-16OpenAI just released an updated version of its text-generating artificial intelligence program. Here’s how GPT-4 improves on its predecessorSophie Bushwick
- What the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Means for Science Start-ups 2023-03-16Bailouts mean customers’ deposits are safe, but the Silicon Valley Bank’s demise has sparked concern about future investment in small tech companiesKatharine Sanderson, Nature magazine
- Quantum Computing Is the Future, and Schools Need to Catch Up 2023-03-15Top universities are finally bringing the excitement of the quantum future into the classroomOlivia Lanes
- AI's Victories in Go Inspire Better Human Game Playing 2023-03-13Famed AI wins in Go let human players rethink their moves in a whole new wayEmily Willingham
- Controversy Surrounds Blockbuster Superconductivity Claim 2023-03-10Will a possible breakthrough for room-temperature superconducting materials hold up to scrutiny?Sophie Bushwick
- NASA's Latest Asteroid Explorer Celebrates Our Ancient Origins in Space and on Earth 2023-03-08The Lucy spacecraft and its target asteroids show that the way that we name discoveries mattersPhil Plait
- Nuclear Waste Is Piling Up. Does the U.S. Have a Plan? 2023-03-06We needs a permanent national nuclear waste disposal site now, before the spent nuclear fuel stored in 35 states becomes unsafeAllison Macfarlane, Rodney C. Ewing
- Spotlight on Women in Science 2023-03-06Honoring women at the forefront of scienceScientific American
- These Researchers Used AI to Design a Completely New 'Animal Robot' 2023-03-06“Xenobots” are living, swimming self-powered robots that measure less than a millimeter across. They are evolved by artificial intelligence and built out of frog stem cells—and they could open new medical frontiers.Luke Groskin
- What Can We Do to Make Sure the FAA and Southwest Airlines Fiascoes Never Happen Again? 2023-03-02Congress and the airline industry must reassess how they approach and fund air transportation modernizationLaurie Garrow
- Why Is It So Hard to Make Vegan Fish? 2023-02-28Futuristic food science technology could finally bring plant-based salmon filets and tuna steaks to the tableJoanna Thompson
- New Color-Changing Coating Could Both Heat and Cool Buildings 2023-02-27A thin film can switch from releasing heat to trapping it, and wrapping the coating around buildings could make them more energy-efficientAllison Parshall
- Sorry, UFO Hunters--You Might Just Be Looking at a Spy Balloon 2023-02-24From space aliens to foreign surveillance, we spoke to experts to find out what’s really going on with the balloon brouhaha.Sophie Bushwick, Tulika Bose
- AI Outraces Human Champs at the Video Game Gran Turismo 2023-02-23The program also challenges certain assumptions about self-driving carsSophie Bushwick
Scientific American
- Readers Respond to the April 2021 Issue 2021-08-28Letters to the editor from the April 2021 issue of Scientific AmericanScientific American
- Poem: 'Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (1822–1907)' 2021-08-21Science in meter and verseJessy Randall
- In Case You Missed It 2021-08-14Top news from around the worldMaddie Bender
- One Head, 1,000 Rear Ends: The Tale of a Deeply Weird Worm 2021-08-08Ramisyllis multicaudata is an animal that seems to have adopted the lifestyle of a fungusJennifer Frazer
- O UFOs, Where Art Thou? 2021-08-05Five reasons why sorting all of this out is so scientifically challengingCaleb A. Scharf
- 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: August 2021 2021-08-01Tasty radio; early fake leatherMark Fischetti
- The Human Framework for Alien Life 2021-07-29 Andrea Gawrylewski
- Why So Many Young People Hate STEM Courses 2021-07-28Take it from someone who almost gave up on her dream of being a scientistRhea Wanchoo
- NASA Investigates Renaming James Webb Space Telescope after Anti-LGBT+ Claims 2021-07-26Some astronomers argue the space agency’s next flagship observatory will memorialize discrimination. Others are waiting for more evidenceAlexandra Witze, Nature magazine
- Quantum Mechanics, Plato's Cave and the Blind Piranha 2021-07-24Can we ever really know the world?John Horgan
- For Good Science, You Need Engaged Citizens 2021-07-22They strengthen the institutions that ensure a strong democracy, leading to rational decisionsGregory E. Kaebnick, Michael K. Gusmano
- These Dinosaurs Had a Complicated Air Conditioner in Their Skull 2021-07-21Cooling 5,000-pound, armor-plated giants was no small feat.Aaron Martin
- Moths Have an Acoustic Invisibility Cloak to Stay under Bats' Radar 2021-07-21New research finds they fly around on noise-cancelling wingsKaren Hopkin
- Hardy Microbes Hint at Possibilities for Extraterrestrial Life 2021-07-21Studies of extreme ecosystems on Earth can guide the search for Martian life and may reveal the fundamental limits of biologyBrianne Palmer
- Jeff Bezos Launches into Space on Blue Origin's First Astronaut Flight 2021-07-20The billionaire and three others take a suborbital trip onboard the craft New ShepardMike Wall, SPACE.com
- Behold the 'Borg': Massive DNA Structures Perplex Scientists 2021-07-20Researchers say they have discovered unique and exciting DNA strands in the mud; others are not sure of their noveltyAmber Dance, Nature magazine
- Play Is Serious Business for Elephants 2021-07-20Young dogs, apes and other animals develop skills needed to survive and reproduceCaitlin O'Connell
- Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin Are Finally Flying to Space 2021-07-19After nearly twenty years pursuing a lifelong dream of spaceflight, the world’s wealthiest person is at last ready for lift offMike Wall, SPACE.com
- The Idea That Trees Talk to Cooperate Is Misleading 2021-07-19It’s a romantic notion, but pretending they’re like humans could actually harm the cause of conservationKathryn Flinn
- Poem: 'Lesson from the West African Lungfish (Protopterus annectens)' 2021-07-17Science in meter and verseChristina Olson
Scientific American Content: Videos
- Inside the Scientific Quest to Save (Most) of the World's Parasites 2023-03-13Scientists are on a mission to save parasites—not to kill them. Climate change is already doing an increasingly good job at the latter, and that could be a big problem for the world.Emily V. Driscoll
- These Researchers Used AI to Design a Completely New 'Animal Robot' 2023-03-06“Xenobots” are living, swimming self-powered robots that measure less than a millimeter across. They are evolved by artificial intelligence and built out of frog stem cells—and they could open new medical frontiers.Luke Groskin
- This Particle Accelerator Makes a Substance That Has Not Existed in 13 Billion Years 2023-02-22By using one of the most complicated and powerful machines on the planet, scientists have found a way to glimpse back to the very beginning of time itself.Jason Drakeford, Clara Moskowitz, Jeffery DelViscio
- Can We Stop Aging? 2023-02-01What really happens to our bodies when we age—and could we find a way to slow it down?Michael Tabb, Tulika Bose
- Did Plants Domesticate Humans? Watch 'The First Entanglement' 2023-01-26Archaeologists studying one of the birthplaces of agriculture find a complex interplay between human actions and the workings of nature and genetics.Regina Sobel
- All the Gold in the Universe Was (Likely) Created This Way 2023-01-05For a long time, no one knew how “heavy metals” formed—or showed up on Earth. Now some new evidence finally points the way to an answer.Jason Drakeford, Clara Moskowitz, Jeffery DelViscio
- Meet the Medical Student Challenging Racial Bias with TikTok 2022-12-23Medical influencer Joel Bervell is challenging racism in health care, one TikTok at a time.Tulika Bose