Scientific American

String Theorists Say Black Holes Are Multidimensional String ‘Supermazes’

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 22:30:00 +0000

Physicists think the insides of black holes may be complex mazes of tangled strings in higher dimensions

Amid Trump Cuts, NOAA Halts Upkeep of Critical Weather Satellites

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:30:00 +0000

The decision by the Trump administration to defer maintenance of the Joint Polar Satellite System threatens to degrade the accuracy of weather forecasts

Letting Kids Fail Is Crucial

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Our instinct is to protect our kids from failure. But learning from failure is an important life skill that can’t be overlooked

Fermenting Miso in Space Offers Astrobiology Lessons

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:30:00 +0000

Overall, “space miso” tastes just like regular miso—but slight differences in its microbial profile suggest that extraterrestrial conditions affect how microbes grow and flourish

Asteroid 2024 YR4 Could Hit the Moon, Measles Cases Rise, and States Sue HHS

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

States sue HHS for public health cuts, measles cases continue to rise, and a study finds Americans live shorter lives compared with their European counterparts.

Breakthrough Prizes Awarded to Obesity-Drug Pioneers and Large Hadron Collider Physicists

Mon, 07 Apr 2025 04:01:00 +0000

Advances recognized by science’s most lucrative awards include high-energy physics experiments and groundbreaking weight-loss treatments

Dennis Gaitsgory Wins Breakthrough Prize for Solving Part of Math’s Grand Unified Theory

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 03:30:00 +0000

By solving part of the Langlands program, a mathematical proof that was long thought to be unachievable, Dennis Gaitsgory snags a prestigious Breakthrough Prize

Brain Structure That Filters Consciousness Identified

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:45:00 +0000

Our conscious awareness may be governed by a structure deep in the brain

Whooping Cough Killed Two Children in Louisiana. Here’s How to Protect Kids

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:00:00 +0000

The bacterial infection pertussis has sparked an uptick in cases nationwide and has caused two deaths in Louisiana

Utah’s Decision to Ban Fluoride Is a Bad Move for Kids

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 18:20:00 +0000

Becoming the first state to ban fluoride is going to cost Utah, both financially and dentally

Google DeepMind Taught Itself to Play Minecraft

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 17:00:00 +0000

The Dreamer AI system of Google's DeepMind reached the milestone of mastering Minecraft by ‘imagining’ the future impact of possible decisions

Tornado Damage Surveys Are a Crucial Tool for Understanding These Dangerous Storms

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 16:40:00 +0000

Damage surveys provide crucial information about when, where and how strong U.S. tornadoes are to better understand disaster risk

FEMA to Halt Billions in Grants for Disaster Protection, Internal Memo Says

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:30:00 +0000

An internal FEMA memo says the agency is canceling future and existing grants that help states and tribes prepare for floods, tornadoes and other disasters

Google, X and Facebook Are Modern-Day Tobacco Companies

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:00:00 +0000

Just as tobacco companies knew they were poisoning people, today’s social media titans knowingly poison our politics, peddling lies and stoking angry divides for profit

The Kakeya Conjecture, a Decades-Old Math Problem, Is Solved in Three Dimensions

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

For a long time, the Kakeya conjecture, which involves rotating an infinitely narrow needle, kept mathematicians guessing—until now

There Are 4,000 Species of Native Bees in the U.S.

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Scientists estimate there are about 4,000 species of native bees in the U.S.—and they’re both cooler and ecologically more important than honeybees

How Many Rogue Planets Are in the Milky Way?

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:45:00 +0000

According to new simulations, many, even most, planets get ejected from their star early in their history

What Happens When USAID’s Global Public Health Programs Go Away?

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

USAID is responsible for global health efforts that have saved the lives of millions of children. What happens when those programs are cut?

The Uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, Targeted by Tariffs, Are a Biological Wonderland

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 18:30:00 +0000

Trump’s tariffs put a spotlight on the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, which comprise a remote volcanic refuge for penguins and seals and a UNESCO World Heritage site

Bonobo Calls Are More like Human Language Than We Thought

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 18:00:00 +0000

Bonobos’ grunts, peeps and whistles may share an advanced linguistic property with human language

JWST Delivers Best-Yet Look at That Worrisome Asteroid

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 18:00:00 +0000

New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope show that the potentially hazardous asteroid 2024 YR4 is a building-sized space rock

Secretive Russian Military Satellites Release Mystery Object into Orbit

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 17:35:00 +0000

A trio of classified Russian satellites, called Kosmos, has sparked intrigue in space-tracking circles after an unidentified object was launched into orbit

Xenolinguistics—the Study of Alien Languages—Helps to Reveal Why All Beings Communicate

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:15:00 +0000

Studying how extraterrestrials might communicate could help prepare for first contact and also hint at the point of language itself

Trump Staff Cuts Hollow Out Extreme Heat Programs

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services have dealt a critical blow to the agency's efforts to manage rising temperatures made worse by climate change

Go Inside a Mexican Wolf Recovery Project Whose Future Is Now Uncertain

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 15:00:00 +0000

The critically endangered Mexican wolf was mounting a comeback, thanks to a conservation program that dropped fostered wolf pups into wild dens. Then politics happened.

JWST’s Fourth Year of Amazing Science Faces Funding Woes

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 14:00:00 +0000

The next year of science on the James Webb Space Telescope has been announced amid mounting budgetary uncertainty that could affect the unparalleled observatory

Pioneering Female Doctor Evangelina Rodríguez Faced a Dictator’s Reign of Terror

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Beginning in the 1930s, the work—and eventually the life—of Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo, the Dominican Republic’s first female doctor, became threatened by the country’s then new dictator

Why Some People Follow Authoritarian Leaders—And The Key to Stopping It

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000

To protect democracy and counteract the allure of authoritarianism, reduce people's sense of fear and insecurity, psychology research says

New Plan for Particle Physics Megaproject Leaves out Funding Details

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 11:00:00 +0000

A long-awaiting report from CERN explores the feasibility of building a supersized successor to the Large Hadron Collider

Why Aurora Physicists Are Excited about Fram2’s Private Astronauts

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 20:45:00 +0000

The commercial astronauts onboard SpaceX’s Fram2 mission are flying closer to Earth’s poles than anyone has before, offering an intriguing opportunity for auroral science

Tiny, Injectable Pacemaker Runs on Light and then Dissolves

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:15:00 +0000

This temporary pacemaker, smaller than a grain of rice, could regulate the heart less invasively

The Science behind Baseball’s ‘Torpedo Bats’

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

After a stellar Yankees win on Saturday, torpedo bats are in the spotlight. Is there science behind these baseball bats?

Trump’s Tariffs Are Expected to Undermine the Clean Energy Transition

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:15:00 +0000

New Trump administration tariffs on imported goods could exacerbate a shortage of parts used by the energy industry

Shingles Vaccination May Help Protect People from Alzheimer’s Disease

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:00:00 +0000

A natural experiment in Wales showed that a shingles vaccine might lower the risk of developing dementia

Trump Administration Attacks on Science Trigger Backlash from Researchers

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:45:00 +0000

“The risks of remaining silent at this defining time are far greater than the risks of speaking out,” says one scientist regarding the Trump administration’s attacks on science

Do We Live inside a Black Hole?

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 14:00:00 +0000

The spins of some early galaxies could be a clue that the entire observable universe exists within a black hole—except, that is, for all the evidence to the contrary

The Hubble Tension Is Becoming a Hubble Crisis

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000

A long-simmering disagreement over the universe’s present-day expansion rate shows no signs of resolution, leaving experts increasingly vexed

Groupthink Explains Defense Department’s Signal Chat Fiasco

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:30:00 +0000

At the heart of the Trump administration’s Signal scandal lies the familiar psychological pitfall of groupthink

What Is ‘Squirting’? The Science behind the Controversial Phenomenon Explained

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

A mysterious and often debated aspect of human sexuality colloquially known as “squirting” sparks controversy. This episode explores what research reveals.

NIH Director Removes Four Main Scientists amid Massive Staff Purge

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 22:15:00 +0000

The Trump Administration has fired four leaders and thousands of employees at the National Institutes of Health in “one of the darkest days”

SpaceX’s Fram2 Mission Sends Four Private Astronauts into Polar Orbit

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 21:00:00 +0000

The privately funded Fram2 mission is the first ever to take astronauts into polar orbit—and the latest sign of a “new normal” for human spaceflight

Trump Administration Cancels NIH Scientific Integrity Policy

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 16:30:00 +0000

The National Institutes of Health said it pulled the policy because of language on diversity and inclusion, in line with directives from the Trump administration

As Happened in Texas, Ignoring EPA Science Will Allow Pollution and Cancer to Fester

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 11:30:00 +0000

Trump administration plans to destroy EPA science will leave the air we breathe and the water we drink more polluted

Even Four-Year-Olds Instinctively Fact-Check for Misinformation

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 10:45:00 +0000

Children ages four to seven demonstrate natural fact-checking skills when put to a test with zebras and space aliens

As Measles Continues to Rise, CDC Muffles Vaccine Messaging

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 20:15:00 +0000

By burying an assessment with updates and recommendations about the U.S.’s current measles outbreaks, the CDC has signaled an alarming shift in its public messaging

Watch SpaceX Launch Historic Fram2 Crewed Mission over Earth’s Poles Tonight

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:45:00 +0000

Fram2, a first-of-its-kind private mission to send four astronauts into polar orbit around Earth, is about to launch

Big Banks Quietly Prepare for Catastrophic Climate Change

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 16:15:00 +0000

Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and an international banking group have quietly concluded that climate change will likely exceed the Paris Agreement’s 2 degree C goal and are examining how to maintain profits

Is There a Plus Side to Mental Labor?

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 15:15:00 +0000

Women shoulder most of the work in managing a family and tell us it’s exhausting, but some also say it has benefits

Top U.S. Researchers Warn against ‘Climate of Fear’ Threatening Science

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 15:00:00 +0000

Despite fears that speaking out will make them targets, top researchers warn that the Trump administration’s “wholesale assault on U.S. science” will harm the nation

Why 50-Degree-F Days Feel Warmer in Spring Than in Fall

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 14:30:00 +0000

There are real, physiological reasons why the same temperature feels different in April and October