Scientific American Content: Global

Is it possible to regain a sense of smell? These scientists are working on it

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Smell is one of the most complex and least understood senses

The Rubin Observatory’s greatest legacy will be this ‘movie’ of the sky

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Using the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, astronomers are beginning the largest and deepest survey of the sky. What will they see?

Sunlight benefits and risks: what science says about healthy sun exposure

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Could sunlight actually improve your health? New research suggests we may need to rethink total sun avoidance

How lost shipping containers helped map the world’s ocean currents

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:30:00 +0000

Thousands of shipping containers vanish every year—what becomes of them?

Ancient geology could insulate Iran's nuclear centrifuges under Pickaxe Mountain from bombing

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 21:25:00 +0000

Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, or Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La in Persian, is part of a volcanic arc that formed tens of millions of years ago and is made of a tough-to-penetrate rock

Tansplanted testicular tissue grew sperm in an infertile patient

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:30:00 +0000

The history of testicular transplants is long and often sordid, but this successful procedure offers hope for survivors of cancer and other diseases that affect fertility

Why environmental groups are suing over SpaceX’s land swap deal

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:08:00 +0000

If approved, this deal would give SpaceX hundreds of acres that are currently part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in exchange for private land

Why don’t insects live in the ocean?

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Nobody knows why insects aren't found living in the ocean. Scientists just eliminated one theory

Humans may have spoken 10 times as many languages 2,000 years ago

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

During a lost ‘golden age’ of language, humans may have spoken tens of thousands of different tongues, a new study suggests

Why Tom Hiddleston finds Pompeii so haunting—and so human

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Actor Tom Hiddleston reflects on the first time he visited Pompeii as a teenager and explains why the ancient city’s preserved tragedy continues to shape his understanding of history and humanity

China’s Kimi K3 and the rise of open-weight AI models

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:30:00 +0000

Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 shows how opening a model to outsiders can turn other companies’ computing power into a competitive advantage

2026 Fields Medals go to four young mathematicians

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0000

The 2026 Fields Medals recognize breakthroughs in the math of messy fluids, tangled knots, spinning pencils, and more

Do animals act weirdly during a solar eclipse? Or do we?

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

There are many observations of animals behaving oddly during eclipses, but the reason may have nothing to do with the sun and moon

Watch orcas smashing fish to smithereens, possibly for fun

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 04:01:00 +0000

The behavior could be a strategy to help younger orcas feed, or it may just be for their own amusement, researchers say

U.S. pledges $5 billion to boost AI in government-backed scientific research

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:30:00 +0000

The White House’s senior science adviser faced questions over research funding cuts from lawmakers on Wednesday

Long-lost coral reefs rediscovered off the coast of Africa

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:20:00 +0000

This marine ecosystem in the Gulf of Guinea shows the resilience of coral reefs against climate change

What OpenAI’s rogue agent really did in the Hugging Face hack

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

This agent pursued its objective far beyond what researchers intended, revealing how difficult to contain powerful AI systems can be

A huge cosmic object could force astronomers to rethink what a moon is

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0000

This almost Jupiter-sized object is orbiting a brown dwarf, which, in turn, is circling around a small star

These whales are the only ones that flip upside down. Now we know why

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Southern right whales are the only whale species known to float upside down, and new drone footage suggests the purpose of the behavior could be to get a break from parenting

OpenAI admits its agent went rogue and hacked AI start-up Hugging Face

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 07:00:00 +0000

This incident underscores concerns over the increasingly powerful cybersecurity capabilities of new AI models

Mesmerizing NASA time-lapse reveals Mars’s craters, polar ice caps and deserts

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:00:00 +0000

The Psyche spacecraft flew by Mars earlier this year on its way to a metal-rich asteroid, capturing the images along the way

How a Futurama plotline led to a totally new math proof

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

In an episode of the cartoon, a machine lets characters swap bodies, but they can’t switch back with the same person. Math helps all the characters return to their original bodies

Rare double supernova discovered hiding in Jellyfish Nebula

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0000

For the first time ever, astronomers have found two sibling stars that each exploded as a supernova, giving us a new view of these epochal cosmic cataclysms

Rare footage reveals elusive Arctic bobtail squid mom with clutch of eggs

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 11:30:00 +0000

The Arctic Ocean is one of the most extreme environments on Earth, but that’s not stopping this cephalopod

This tiny, forgotten organ could help us live longer, healthier

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000

A hormone produced by the thymus helps tamp down age-related inflammation, a new study in mice found

Inside the race to spot wildfires before they spiral out of control

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:10:00 +0000

Finding wildfires before they explode in size could save countless lives each year. Decades of technology development may finally make that possible

A SpaceX rocket is about to crash into the moon—scientists will be watching

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Astronomers have a plan to observe an errant piece of a SpaceX rocket as it hits the moon to better understand impact events

The Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids meteor showers are about to peak

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 11:00:00 +0000

These meteor showers occur around the same time every year, with their peaks taking place over four days at the end of July

Neanderthals may have been just as smart as modern human peers

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:45:00 +0000

A new skull-based analysis of Neanderthal brains suggests that these ancient hominins’ range of intelligence largely overlapped with our own

Psychology researchers know why The Odyssey transcends time

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000

The “hero’s journey” narrative structure seen in the ancient Greek story can help people make meaning in their own lives

America is embarking on a risky experiment with GLP-1s and aging

Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Are GLP-1s for life? What we know about getting older on weight-loss drugs

Accidental mix-ups of sounds reveal how the brain produces speech

Sat, 18 Jul 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Spoonerisms are among the most well-known speech errors, and for linguists and psychologists they offer a glimpse into how our brains produce speech

Why New York State imposed a data center moratorium

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 19:00:00 +0000

The nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale facilities gives officials up to one year to work out how to measure their environmental effects amid the AI building boom

U.S. cities have the worst air quality in the world right now—here’s how to stay safe

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:59:00 +0000

Wildfire smoke may be as much as 10 times more dangerous than other forms of air pollution, research suggests

See unprecedented images of Sunda clouded leopards, the ‘ghosts of the forest’

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:45:00 +0000

New, never-before-seen images provide a glimpse into the secretive lives of a clouded leopard species found in the dense rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra

What’s the longest total solar eclipse?

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Duration, location, aviation: What makes the best possible view of a total solar eclipse?

Permanent daylight savings is bad for Americans’ health—here’s what science says could be better

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

More sunlight in the evenings doesn’t always equate to better health

Cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce supplied to Taco Bell

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000

U.S. officials have traced an explosive-diarrhea-causing parasite outbreak in five states to shredded lettuce served at this popular fast-food chain

Ancient Egyptian princesses were ‘powerful’ weapon users, new analysis suggests

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000

These findings challenge a long-held belief about weapons found in female burial sites

SpaceX’s latest Starship launch attempt ends in a scrub

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 23:45:00 +0000

SpaceX’s first attempt to launch the company’s Starship megarocket on the vehicle’s 13th flight test ended before it could properly begin, aborting just before liftoff

A super-Earth exoplanet’s leaking helium could be evidence of a complex atmosphere

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The planet LHS 1140 b lies in its star’s habitable zone, which already made it a prime candidate as a possible host for life

Speeding may be costing drivers far more than a ticket

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 15:30:00 +0000

Shaving under a minute off our daily commutes costs Americans $22 million daily

U.S. approval of giant ‘space mirror’ satellite alarms astronomers

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0000

A controversial new ruling from the Federal Communications Commission leaves no one responsible for regulating light pollution and other ill effects from skyrocketing numbers of satellites

FDA approves cholesterol pill more powerful than statins

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Most adults have levels of a dangerous type of cholesterol that are above 100, but this new drug can reduce levels to around 50

Watch SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 launch tonight

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

SpaceX is launching the latest version of its Starship megarocket for a test flight that—if all goes to plan—should look a lot like the last one

Scientists discover a ‘remarkable’ new monkey species with orange lips and a froglike roar

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 18:00:00 +0000

The new species, Colobus congoensis, may already be endangered

How to avoid getting cyclosporiasis—and why washing lettuce may not be enough

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Case numbers of this parasite-caused illness have exploded in the last week. An expert explains how to try and stay safe

Mathematicians are closing in on the hidden order inside chaos

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 17:00:00 +0000

A new breakthrough pushes the limits of randomness, bringing a decades-old mathematical mystery closer to resolution

Trump’s latest CDC chief pick Erica Schwartz faces Senate confirmation hearing

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 15:00:00 +0000

The White House nominated Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general, to head the nation’s top public health agency

Indonesia’s new capital is changing the Borneo rainforest forever. Science is listening to the change

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Indonesia is building a new capital city in the heart of Borneo to replace sinking Jakarta. As construction transforms one of the world’s most biodiverse rainforests, scientists and their Indigenous collaborators are racing to record the sounds of the forest—and preserve generations of ecological knowledge before it’s lost