Scientific American Content: Global

Plants move to get away from their decaying brethren

Sat, 17 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A new discovery reveals how plants protect themselves from microbes in rotting material

Here’s what scientists think about Theranos a decade after it imploded

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:48:00 +0000

A viral documentary has everyone talking about Elizabeth Holmes’s fraudulent blood testing start-up again—but scientists never stopped

Everything you need to know about flu season 2026

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

An early start doesn’t necessarily mean disaster

5 ways to make Halloween decorations friendlier to wildlife

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

You don’t need to sacrifice spookiness to keep real owls, bats and snakes safe

How many planets could fit in the solar system?

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:45:00 +0000

As far-fetched as it may seem, quirks of orbital mechanics could allow dozens of planets to be packed around a star

Are you addicted to your phone? What scientists say about screen time and social media

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Experts unpack the science of screen addiction and how to build a healthier relationship with technology

Google’s quantum Willow chip may be able to grow ‘magic states’

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The work could help improve quantum computers’ accuracy in complex calculations

Scientists discover an ancient shipwreck dating to when the Great Pyramid was built

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0000

The wreck was found with relatively intact cargo on the seabed off the coast of Türkiye and is believed to be between 4,700 and 4,400 years old

Can AI break encryption? OpenAI’s new math has cryptographers divided

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:30:00 +0000

OpenAI’s bumper crop of 722 math papers wowed and worried the research community—and cryptographers are split over whether the algorithms that protect our texts and bank log-ins are next

Scientists vote to end leap seconds, redefining how the world keeps time

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 12:40:00 +0000

A new system, called the “leap hour,” will allow Earth’s rotation and official time to fall out of alignment by a full hour

What would it take to terraform Mars? Erika DeBenedictis has ideas

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The CEO of Pioneer Labs, a biotech startup developing Mars-adapted microbes, is on a quest to make alien worlds nice places to live

Anthropic’s AI worm research raises new fears about smart device security

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Researchers explored how AI could spread through everyday gadgets. But cybersecurity experts have seen these tricks before

Honeybees deemphasize potential ‘misinformation’ in their waggle dances

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Confident bees work harder to convince their peers of tasty treats

New ‘First Proof’ exam reveals how AI-powered math is a pay-to-play sport

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:00:00 +0000

The benchmark confirms that some AIs are becoming exceptional tools for research-level math. But open-source models still struggle

NIH appears to shut down public comments on science peer-review rule change ahead of schedule

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The proposed change to how the National Institutes of Health handles grant applications has been criticized by scientists as reducing transparency

Microplastics are linked to inflammation—scientists might have finally worked out why

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Microplastics interact with water to create highly reactive molecules, a new study finds

Stunning video reveals the year-round dance of the sun’s corona

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

NASA’s PUNCH mission is showing a rarely seen aspect of our nearest star—the churning chaos of the solar corona

How a year of extreme weather and a ‘Super El Niño’ will affect fall foliage

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Leaf-peeping season is ramping up—here’s what to expect

An ancient Chinese math puzzle shows how to win at cards, horse races and gerrymandering

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:30:00 +0000

A stratagem that dates back two millennia leads to a math puzzle that took 30 years to solve

Climate scientists issue a sobering diagnosis about Earth's 'vital signs'

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 14:00:00 +0000

“The climate emergency is already here”

Amateur astronomer harnesses AI to find a possible hidden exoplanet

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Evidence for this possible super-Earth has been lurking for years in NASA data. Pavel Rabtsevich found it—with a little help from AI

Are Blue Zones real? One researcher finds the data deeply flawed

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The data behind Blue Zones might not be that strong

Claude just found a CRISPR-like DNA pattern, but even Anthropic's scientists aren't sure what it does

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The large language model took less than a day to identify the curious stretch of DNA

Hurricane Isaias shows ‘it only takes one’ to wreak havoc after historically calm Atlantic hurricane season

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 21:00:00 +0000

The Category 2 storm spawned tornadoes, flooding and extreme rain when it made landfall

Latest Trump administration proposal to change NIH research grant system draws scientists’ ire

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:50:00 +0000

One researcher tells Scientific American that the change would reduce transparency and risk politicizing the grant review process

The mathematical secret behind why rose petals curl

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The elegant curl of rose petals may be distinct among flowers—and math can explain why

OpenAI’s blockbuster Navier-Stokes proof isn’t what we thought it was

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:42:00 +0000

Rumors that OpenAI’s “Navier-Stokes” solution stole the work of two mathematicians may have been overblown

What happens to the body during menopause? New research hints at a biological ‘cliff’

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:35:00 +0000

Certain health markers seem to “jump” during menopause, according to a new study, but it’s unclear why

Scientists worry AI is stealing their ideas

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Researchers are using AI as a sounding board throughout their work. But concerns are growing that companies may present users’ ideas as those of their models

Sex-changing mouse clones may help fight to save endangered species

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:45:00 +0000

For the first time, scientists managed to turn cloned male mouse embryos into females, giving life to healthy and fertile individuals

Love blooms on a hostile colony world in As You Wake, Break the Shell

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Sci-fi author Becky Chambers on designing believable ecosystems, balancing scientific accuracy with emotional impact and emphasizing empathy over spectacle

Lettuce engineered to produce meat proteins

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Protein-packed leaves might be the key to better meat alternatives

A unique shape, a 3D einstein tile, has been discovered

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

AI helped uncover a special object that can fill space without repeating patterns

Nobel week: light-controlled brains, particles from outer space and mirror molecules

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 04:00:00 +0000

Breaking down this year’s Nobel Prize–winning science, from switching brain cells on and off with light to catching cosmic neutrinos in Antarctic ice to building mirror-image molecules. Plus, a 194-year-old tortoise’s DNA might hold the key to a longer life.

Could Tutankhamun's tomb hold clues to a mysterious Egyptian queen?

Sun, 11 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Signs of hidden chambers in the walls of the famous boy king's tomb have raised hopes among researchers of finding hints of Nefertiti's burial place—Tutankhamun's stepmother and mother-in-law

This beer-making waste may offer a new stream for cleaner water

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The research offers yet another way the brewery industry might repurpose its myriad by-products

Why taking a break from exercise might not mean you need to start from scratch

Sat, 10 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Why taking a break from exercise doesn't mean you need to start again from scratch

Major earthquake strikes Panama—damage and injuries are expected

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 20:45:00 +0000

The quake was a strike-slip event, and strong aftershocks could follow

How Hurricane Isaias got so dangerously strong so fast

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 20:05:00 +0000

The Category 3 storm intensified overnight—and is headed toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. Here’s what to know

The Social Reckoning is a ‘surreal’ portrait of social media’s harms, scientist says

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0000

The movie is based on the true story of how Facebook employee Frances Haugen blew the whistle on the company’s safety practices

I gave Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots my passwords for a week

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Meta’s and OpenAI’s new agents can streamline your life. Artificial intelligence researchers helped me test how far to trust them

Just how sunlike is the sun?

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:45:00 +0000

When compared with similar stars, where does sun fit in?

One doctor’s fight to make IUD placement better

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A new study shows promising results in lowering pain during IUD placements

Feverish after a vaccine? The reason could be your gut microbiome

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In a new study, people who had worse fevers after a COVID shot tended to have similar gut characteristics

The most exciting claims from OpenAI’s heap of new proofs

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:30:00 +0000

Scientists have called out several math and computer science results as the most significant in the company’s overwhelming new deluge of achievements

Mathematicians marvel, and grumble, at OpenAI’s trove of new results

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 19:00:00 +0000

The “slop drop” contains a number of groundbreaking proofs, but how it was generated remains unclear and contentious

Astronomers discover record-breaking ancient cosmic outburst

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:30:00 +0000

Detected by the MeerKAT array, this “fast radio burst” comes from three billion years after the big bang and could help map the universe’s otherwise-invisible intergalactic matter

This September was the hottest ever on record for the U.S.

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 17:10:00 +0000

It’s been a blistering year. A record-hot September doesn’t bode well for the rest of it

Artemis II images boost NASA’s moon base plans

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 15:00:00 +0000

The first crewed lunar mission in more than a half-century brought back more than 800 gigabytes of data on colorful craters, flashing meteoroids, and much more

Hurricane Isaias just set a new record for Atlantic storms

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:25:00 +0000

Isaias just became the latest-forming first hurricane of the Atlantic storm season since reliable records began, meteorologists say