Scientific American

Heat Dome Temperatures May Break Records in Eastern U.S.

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:30:00 +0000

Tens of millions of people are already under heat alerts, and the worst is yet to come

What Scientists on Greenland’s Ice Sheet Are Learning about Our Changing Climate

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Think: subzero temperatures, bone-rattling storms and mysteries about the future of our planet under the ice.

Hulk Hogan’s Biggest Impact May Have Been in Digital Privacy

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 19:45:00 +0000

Hulk Hogan, a larger-than-life wrestler known for his showmanship, succumbed to cardiac arrest after a career marked by digital hoaxes and a landmark battle against online exploitation

‘Arsenic Life’ Microbe Study Retracted after 15 Years of Controversy

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:00:00 +0000

A controversial arsenic microbe study unveiled 15 years ago has been retracted. The study’s authors are crying foul

Gravitational Wave Science Faces Budget Cuts Despite A First Decade of Breakthroughs

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Less than a decade since the first detection of gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime itself—proposed budget cuts threaten to silence this groundbreaking science

Polymetallic Nodules, a Source of Rare Metals, May Hold the Secrets of ‘Dark Oxygen’

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

When researchers discovered evidence of “dark oxygen” last year, the news spread around the world, but the biggest challenge to the science comes from its funders

U.S. Ends Support for CMB-S4 Project to Study Cosmic Inflation

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Researchers hoped CMB-S4, a $900-million cosmology experiment, would answer one of the greatest questions in physics. Instead it’s become another cautionary tale of pursuing big science amid shrinking budgets

Heat Dome’s Extreme Heat and Humidity Triggers Alerts across Eastern U.S.

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 16:45:00 +0000

High humidity and low overnight temperatures will put tens of millions of people under heat alerts over the course of the coming week

Physicists Blast Gold to Astonishing Temperatures, Overturning 40 Years of Physics

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Physicists superheated gold to 14 times its melting point, disproving a long-standing prediction about the temperature limits of solids

Can a Chatbot be Conscious? Inside Anthropic’s Interpretability Research on Claude 4

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

As large language models like Claude 4 express uncertainty about whether they are conscious, researchers race to decode their inner workings, raising profound questions about machine awareness, ethics and the risks of uncontrolled AI evolution

Study Finds COVID Pandemic Accelerated Brain Aging in Everyone

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

A study of nearly 1,000 people showed that brain aging was not linked to infection status

Trump Administration Changes at NIH, EPA, NASA, NSF Spark Internal Dissent

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Hundreds of staffers at the National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Science Foundation have signed public letters to leadership opposing the direction in which the agencies are headed

Nonfiction and Fiction Summer Reading Recommendations from Scientific American

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If you’re seeking a summer read, Scientific American has some fantastic fiction and notable nonfiction to recommend.

Ozzy Osbourne, Who Suffered with a Form of Parkinson’s, Dies at 76

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath, has died at age 76. He said he had been previously diagnosed with a form of Parkinson’s disease linked to the gene PRKN

Biggest Trial of Four-Day Workweek Finds Workers Are Happier and Feel Just as Productive

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

The largest yet study on a four-day workweek included 141 companies, 90 percent of which retained the arrangement at the end of the six-month experiment

Why I’m Suing OpenAI, the Creator of ChatGPT

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0000

My lawsuit in Hawaii lays out the safety issues in OpenAI’s products and how they could irreparably harm both Hawaii and the rest of the U.S.

NASA Employees Warn Science and Safety Are at Risk from White House Budget Cuts

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

A declaration of dissent from past and present NASA employees warns that science and safety are at risk and joins similar documents from staff at other federal science agencies

Male Birth Control Pill YCT-529 Passes Human Safety Test

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:00:00 +0000

A hormone-free pill, called YCT-529, that temporarily stops sperm production by blocking a vitamin A metabolite has just concluded its first safety trial in humans, getting a step closer to increasing male contraceptive options

Optimists Are Alike, but Pessimists Are Unique, Brain Scan Study Suggests

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Optimists have similar patterns of brain activation when they think about the future—but pessimists are all different from one another, a brain scan study suggests

Try These Logic Puzzles from the International Logic Olympiad

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 17:30:00 +0000

In only its second year, the International Logic Olympiad is already booming as logic becomes more and more crucial in our ever changing world

Humidity from Corn Sweat Intensifies Extreme Heat Wave in U.S. Midwest

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:55:00 +0000

Humid heat is blanketing the eastern U.S. this week, exacerbated by “corn sweat” in the Midwest

Could AI Have Prevented SkyWest Airliner’s Near Collision with a B-52 Bomber?

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 15:53:00 +0000

A SkyWest pilot’s last-second decision could have prevented a collision that air-traffic controllers may not have foreseen

How Humility Can Restore Trust in Expertise

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Acknowledging the limits of one’s own knowledge could be as important a signal of expertise as credentials and confidence

Landmark Langlands Proof Advances Grand Unified Theory of Math

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

The Langlands program has inspired and befuddled mathematicians for more than 50 years. A major advance has now opened up new worlds for them to explore

Who Was First in Flight? This 1925 Scientific American Piece Dives into a Museum Disagreement

Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This episode of Science Quickly goes on an archival adventure in Scientific American’s July 1925 issue.

Tests that AIs Often Fail and Humans Ace Could Pave the Way for Artificial General Intelligence

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Discover why some puzzles stump supersmart AIs but are easy for humans, what this reveals about the quest for true artificial general intelligence—and why video games are the next frontier

Can U.S. Math Research Survive NSF Funding Cuts?

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 14:30:00 +0000

A 72 percent reduction in federal funding is devastating to math research. The American Mathematical Society is offering $1 million in backstop grants—but it’s likely not enough

This Number System Beats Binary, But Most Computers Can’t Use It

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Why do computers only work with the numbers 0 and 1? There are machines that process three digits with more efficiency than you might expect

Can You Drink Saturn’s Rings?

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:45:00 +0000

It’s certainly possible to consume water sourced from the icy rings of Saturn, but doing so safely may require extra steps

Dropout.tv’s Brennan Lee Mulligan Brings Dungeons and Dragons to the Masses

Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Dropout.tv’s Brennan Lee Mulligan talks about the emotional and cultural importance of Dungeons and Dragons.

What Is Chronic Venous Insufficiency, Trump’s Blood Vessel Condition?

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 21:18:00 +0000

After photographs showed President Donald Trump with swollen ankles and bruised hands, the White House revealed he has chronic venous insufficiency—a blood vessel disease that affects circulation in the legs

New Thermal Hole Opens at Yellowstone National Park

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 20:40:00 +0000

The park’s newest hydrothermal feature has an otherworldly milky texture from dissolved silica

Three-Person Mitochondrial IVF Leads to Eight Healthy Births

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Long-awaited results of a three-person IVF technique suggest that mitochondrial donation can prevent babies from inheriting diseases caused by mutant mitochondria

Brain Activity Patterns Reveal Why Waking Up from Sleep Can Be So Difficult

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 17:50:00 +0000

Neuroscientists have found that the brain can wake up in different ways, explaining why some mornings feel like a dream and some feel like a disaster

New Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS’s Biggest Mysteries Explained

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000

Scientists are racing to learn as much as possible about the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS before it fades from view forever

How Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act Will Raise Energy Costs, Carbon Emissions

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 18:15:00 +0000

Household energy expenses will rise, as will greenhouse gas emissions, as a result of the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act

New Parkinson’s Implant Listens to Brain Waves to Treat Symptoms

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000

New deep-brain-stimulation implants for Parkinson’s disease can listen in on brain waves and adapt to treat symptoms. Can this approach target other conditions?

Astronomers See Planet Formation ‘Time Zero’ in an Alien Solar System

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:45:00 +0000

Observations of a baby star may show the earliest stages of planet formation that astronomers have ever seen

The Large Hadron Collider Discovers Antimatter Behaving Oddly in New Class of Particles

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 15:00:00 +0000

The LHCb experiment has observed a new difference between matter and antimatter in particles called baryons

The Link between Weather and Migraines Explained by a Neurologist

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0000

A neurologist explains why weather changes from heat waves to thunderstorms might bring on painful headaches

China Powers AI Boom with Undersea Data Centers

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:30:00 +0000

China is pulling ahead of the rest of the world in sinking data centers that power AI into the ocean as an alternate way to keep them cool

Cosmic Explorer, Laser Breakthroughs and the Next Generation of Gravitational-Wave Research

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

After 10 years of gravitational-wave research, the LIGO Lab team at MIT is getting ready for the next generation of detectors.

Aging Rates Vary by Country. Politics Might Be Why

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 20:30:00 +0000

Social inequality and the decay of democratic institutions are linked to accelerated aging, but education seems to slow the process

AI Weather Forecasts Missed the Texas Floods, and Trump NOAA Cuts Will Stymie Research

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:15:00 +0000

The Trump administration wants to reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget by $2.2 billion, eliminating research that might help advance AI weather models

Monster Black Hole Merger Is Most Massive Ever Seen

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0000

A U.S. gravitational wave detector spotted a collision between fast-spinning “forbidden” black holes that challenge physics models

Pneumonic Plague Infections in Modern Times Show the Black Death Isn’t Dead

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:45:00 +0000

A person in Arizona recently died of pneumonic plague—a rare and severe form of the disease. An expert explains how the bacteria that spurred the Black Death centuries ago continues to claim lives

Science Crossword: On the Fly

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Your favorite word game with a twist of science

Bird Flu Is Killing Wildlife, and Experts Fear the Ecological Toll

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Bird flu fears have focused on the poultry and dairy industries and human health. But wild animals are threatened, too—at scales no one fully understands

Could Bird Flu Spread between Humans? Here’s What It Would Take

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0000

The H5N1 avian flu is circulating in cows and other mammals. Whether it will make a permanent leap to humans is another question

Bird Flu Is out of the News but Still Circulating

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Bird flu was nearly everywhere in the U.S.—in chickens, cows, pet cats and even humans. Cases have gone down, but experts warn that it hasn’t disappeared