https://www.scientificamerican.comScientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.en-usTue, 19 May 2026 14:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-nasa-hubble-image-captures-a-rare-turbulent-galaxy/<p>The new image shows the galaxy NGC 1266, a middle-aged object with a clutch of young stars that likely collided with another, smaller galaxy 500 million years ago</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 14:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-nasa-hubble-image-captures-a-rare-turbulent-galaxy/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-race-to-develop-ebola-drugs-as-outbreak-surges/<p>Clinical trials for treatments against Ebola Bundibugyo virus are &lsquo;in a strong position&rsquo; to be launched quickly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-race-to-develop-ebola-drugs-as-outbreak-surges/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/math-puzzle-fix-the-matchstick-equation/<p>Fix the matchstick equation in this math puzzle</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/math-puzzle-fix-the-matchstick-equation/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/female-beast-hunters-battled-leopards-in-ancient-rome/<p>Mosaic depictions of a weapon-wielding female gladiator are the first physical evidence showing women in ancient Rome could be skilled beast hunters</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/female-beast-hunters-battled-leopards-in-ancient-rome/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-dreams-of-a-nuclear-power-plant-on-the-moon-heres-why/<p>To build its moon base, NASA needs a lot of power</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-dreams-of-a-nuclear-power-plant-on-the-moon-heres-why/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/which-problems-will-quantum-computers-solve-and-when/<p>Quantum computing could lead to revolutions in cryptography, materials design and telecommunications. But fulfilling those promises could be many years away</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/which-problems-will-quantum-computers-solve-and-when/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-real-quantum-leap/<p>Sometimes science does make our world turn upside down</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-real-quantum-leap/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-field-guide-to-quantum-computer-qubits/<p>Here are six ways to build a quantum computer</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-field-guide-to-quantum-computer-qubits/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-high-resolution-map-transforms-what-we-know-about-roman-roads-and-the-roman-empire/<p>A massive digitization project has nearly doubled the known extent of the first continent-scale road network</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-high-resolution-map-transforms-what-we-know-about-roman-roads-and-the-roman-empire/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quantum-computing-is-reaching-its-make-or-break-moment/<p>Will computers based on quantum physics really change the world?</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quantum-computing-is-reaching-its-make-or-break-moment/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-commercial-satellites-are-changing-modern-warfare/<p>Commercial satellites can now watch much of Earth in near-real time. Militaries are learning new ways to fool them</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-commercial-satellites-are-changing-modern-warfare/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/readers-respond-to-the-february-2026-issue/<p>Letters to the editors for the February 2026 issue of <i>Scientific American</i></p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/readers-respond-to-the-february-2026-issue/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-ways-to-keep-from-losing-muscle-on-ozempic/<p>Ozempic and just getting older take off muscle. New therapies could retain it</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-ways-to-keep-from-losing-muscle-on-ozempic/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/helion-energy-is-building-a-fusion-power-plant-can-its-technology-deliver/<p>This company says its pulsed plasma machine will deliver electricity to the grid by 2029. Some physicists warn that its promises are outrunning what the technology has proved</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/helion-energy-is-building-a-fusion-power-plant-can-its-technology-deliver/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-riemann-hypothesis-is-a-million-dollar-math-problem-hardly-anyone-is-trying-to-solve/<p>The intimidating legacy of the scariest problem in mathematics</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-riemann-hypothesis-is-a-million-dollar-math-problem-hardly-anyone-is-trying-to-solve/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poem-horseshoe-crab/<p>Science in meter and verse</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poem-horseshoe-crab/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-crossword-at-the-same-time/<p>Play this crossword inspired by the June 2026 issue of<i> Scientific American</i></p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-crossword-at-the-same-time/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/june-2026-science-history-from-50-100-and-150-years-ago/<p>Door-building spiders; a new quantum liquid</p>Tue, 19 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/june-2026-science-history-from-50-100-and-150-years-ago/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ebola-outbreak-triggers-u-s-ban-on-travelers-from-three-african-nations/<p>At least six Americans are believed to have been exposed to the Ebola virus, and one person who appears to have contracted the virus has been evacuated to Germany</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 20:25:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ebola-outbreak-triggers-u-s-ban-on-travelers-from-three-african-nations/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-scientists-developed-a-hantavirus-pcr-test-in-a-weekend-inside-the-race-to-develop-a-hantavirus-pcr-test/<p>Researchers at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory worked round the clock to develop a test for the Andes virus at the center of the deadly cruise ship outbreak</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 17:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-scientists-developed-a-hantavirus-pcr-test-in-a-weekend-inside-the-race-to-develop-a-hantavirus-pcr-test/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-copy-of-the-oldest-known-poem-in-the-english-language-leaves-researchers-speechless/<p>Researchers discovered the copy of the 1,300-year-old poem lurking inside a historical text in an Italian library</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 17:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-copy-of-the-oldest-known-poem-in-the-english-language-leaves-researchers-speechless/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-world-is-less-prepared-for-a-pandemic-than-before-covid-heres-why/<p>As world health leaders face deadly outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola, a major pandemic preparedness report finds we are less safe from viral outbreaks than before COVID</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-world-is-less-prepared-for-a-pandemic-than-before-covid-heres-why/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-a-lincoln-memorial-sized-asteroid-pass-within-just-56-000-miles-of-earth-today/<p>The asteroid will swing by Earth on Monday and be close enough to be visible using an amateur telescope</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 15:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-a-lincoln-memorial-sized-asteroid-pass-within-just-56-000-miles-of-earth-today/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-administration-ousts-top-nih-infectious-disease-leaders/<p>Eight of the top 10 officials at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have now been pushed out since President Donald Trump took office</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 14:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-administration-ousts-top-nih-infectious-disease-leaders/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-programmer-whose-code-underpins-the-internet/<p>Sharla Boehm, a math teacher, spent her summers coding. She&rsquo;d go on to build what would eventually evolve into the Internet</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-programmer-whose-code-underpins-the-internet/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-marijuana-rewires-the-teenage-brain/<p>A growing body of research suggests cannabis poses risks to the developing brain</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-marijuana-rewires-the-teenage-brain/https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/hantavirus-cruise-ship-pcos-name-change-a-fish-that-hides-in-another-animals-butthole/<p>What you should know about hantavirus, why PCOS is getting a new name, and how some fish hide in an unusual spot</p>Mon, 18 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/hantavirus-cruise-ship-pcos-name-change-a-fish-that-hides-in-another-animals-butthole/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-homo-erectus-and-denisovans-mate-tooth-proteins-hint-at-ancient-trysts/<p>Genetic analysis suggests interbreeding between two groups of human relatives</p>Sun, 17 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/did-homo-erectus-and-denisovans-mate-tooth-proteins-hint-at-ancient-trysts/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-small-rodent-is-at-the-center-of-theories-about-the-hantavirus-outbreak/<p>The long-tailed pygmy rice rat is the primary host for Andes virus, the type of hantavirus responsible for sickening passengers on the MV <i>Hondius</i> cruise ship</p>Sun, 17 May 2026 11:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-small-rodent-is-at-the-center-of-theories-about-the-hantavirus-outbreak/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/these-ants-navigate-with-a-compass-tuned-to-the-moon/<p>A newfound nocturnal navigation system challenges what entomologists thought they knew about how ants find their way</p>Sun, 17 May 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/these-ants-navigate-with-a-compass-tuned-to-the-moon/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-reveals-new-clues-to-2027s-artemis-iii-the-final-test-mission-before-a-moon-landing/<p>NASA is starting to paint in some of the details of its planned 2027 <i>Artemis III </i>mission, but key questions, such as who its astronauts will be, are yet to be answered</p>Sat, 16 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-reveals-new-clues-to-2027s-artemis-iii-the-final-test-mission-before-a-moon-landing/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-catalog-the-fractal-dimensions-of-more-than-130-000-islands/<p>The &ldquo;coastline paradox&rdquo; helped to define fractals, but coastlines themselves turn out to be less fractal than thought</p>Sat, 16 May 2026 11:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-catalog-the-fractal-dimensions-of-more-than-130-000-islands/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hantavirus-can-persist-in-semen-for-years-but-that-doesnt-mean-it-remains-contagious/<p>Researchers know very little about how long the Andes version of the hantavirus can remain in human hosts</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 19:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hantavirus-can-persist-in-semen-for-years-but-that-doesnt-mean-it-remains-contagious/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-real-mr-snuffleupagus-meet-the-oceans-strangest-new-fish-species/<p>A strange, tiny fish that resembles the famous Sesame Street character camouflages amid red algae thanks to its flamboyant reddish &ldquo;hairs&rdquo;</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 18:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-real-mr-snuffleupagus-meet-the-oceans-strangest-new-fish-species/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-startup-wants-to-make-drugs-in-orbit-if-it-succeeds-it-could-transform-the-space-economy/<p>Varda&rsquo;s plan to develop medicines in microgravity has its advantages, but it requires a big up-front cost</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 18:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-startup-wants-to-make-drugs-in-orbit-if-it-succeeds-it-could-transform-the-space-economy/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-arm-yourself-against-hantavirus-misinformation/<p>Hantavirus misinformation is spreading fast. COVID trauma and social media algorithms may be to blame</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 17:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-arm-yourself-against-hantavirus-misinformation/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-plants-have-consciousness-the-film-silent-friend-reimagines-the-science/<p>The filmmaker behind the newly released movie <i>Silent Friend</i> shares the scientific and historical inspiration for its story of botanical consciousness</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 17:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-plants-have-consciousness-the-film-silent-friend-reimagines-the-science/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/asking-ai-to-explain-your-medical-results-what-doctors-want-you-to-know/<p>As more people turn to chatbots for medical guidance, the technology is revealing both its promise and its risks</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 14:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/asking-ai-to-explain-your-medical-results-what-doctors-want-you-to-know/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microbe-cities-may-solve-a-key-ocean-mystery/<p>Some of Earth&rsquo;s tiniest life-forms inhabit slowly sinking particles of fish poop and debris, playing a crucial role in ocean carbon storage</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 10:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microbe-cities-may-solve-a-key-ocean-mystery/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-astronomers-ignoring-some-of-the-cosmos/<p>There are parts of the universe, and of the electromagnetic spectrum, that we&rsquo;re not covering with our telescopes&mdash;but not as many as you might think!</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 10:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-astronomers-ignoring-some-of-the-cosmos/https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/why-black-women-are-at-greater-risk-for-fibroids-and-endometrial-cancer/<p>A new book argues that disparities in fibroids, cancer and diagnosis reveal a lifelong gynecologic health crisis for Black women</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/why-black-women-are-at-greater-risk-for-fibroids-and-endometrial-cancer/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/celebrate-endangered-species-day-meet-the-scaly-foot-snail-the-most-metal-animal-in-the-world/<p>This snail became the first animal living on deep-sea hydrothermal vents to be added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species&mdash;it also turns poisonous sulfur into armor</p>Fri, 15 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/celebrate-endangered-species-day-meet-the-scaly-foot-snail-the-most-metal-animal-in-the-world/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-supreme-court-allows-mifepristone-by-mail-for-now/<p>The nation&rsquo;s top court extended a stay on a lower court order banning telemedicine access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions&mdash;but the order sets up a longer legal fight</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 23:20:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-s-supreme-court-allows-mifepristone-by-mail-for-now/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/theres-an-82-percent-chance-el-nino-will-emerge-soon-nws-says/<p>The El Ni&ntilde;o climate event is due to return this year, with U.S. forecasters predicting an 82 percent chance of it coming in May through July and a 96 percent chance for it doing so in December through February 2027</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 20:32:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/theres-an-82-percent-chance-el-nino-will-emerge-soon-nws-says/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/golden-rule-in-abstract-art-just-discovered-by-mathematicians/<p>A mathematical ratio could explain why AI-generated art doesn&rsquo;t evoke awe from viewers</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 19:35:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/golden-rule-in-abstract-art-just-discovered-by-mathematicians/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/implantable-living-materials-that-deliver-drugs-on-demand-could-help-fight-infections/<p>In a &ldquo;breakthrough,&rdquo; researchers demonstrate how engineered bacteria held in a jellylike container could help fight infection in mice</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 18:57:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/implantable-living-materials-that-deliver-drugs-on-demand-could-help-fight-infections/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/doubts-grow-over-theory-that-bird-watchers-trip-to-argentine-landfill-sparked-hantavirus-outbreak/<p>The hantavirus cruise outbreak may not have started in a garbage dump in Ushuaia, Argentina, after all</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 17:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/doubts-grow-over-theory-that-bird-watchers-trip-to-argentine-landfill-sparked-hantavirus-outbreak/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-psyche-mission-is-snapping-photos-of-mars-on-its-way-to-an-asteroid/<p>The Psyche spacecraft is bound for a metal-rich asteroid that it will examine up close starting in 2029. But first, it needs to swing past the Red Planet</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 17:20:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-psyche-mission-is-snapping-photos-of-mars-on-its-way-to-an-asteroid/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-helium-3-create-a-gold-rush-on-the-moon/<p>The rare isotope helium-3 is one of Earth&rsquo;s most precious commodities&mdash;so precious, in fact, that it might prove profitable to mine from the moon</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 16:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-helium-3-create-a-gold-rush-on-the-moon/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-war-in-iran-is-supercharging-an-ecological-crisis-in-the-persian-gulf/<p>Despite decades of damage, the Persian Gulf&rsquo;s ecological marvels remain&mdash;for now</p>Thu, 14 May 2026 11:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-war-in-iran-is-supercharging-an-ecological-crisis-in-the-persian-gulf/