Scientific American Content: Global

NASA’s Artemis II ‘free return’ trajectory lets gravity do the driving

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

An elegant mix of math and gravity powers the Artemis II “free return” trajectory from Earth to the moon and back

Trump speaks with NASA's Artemis II astronauts after historic moon flyby

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 03:15:00 +0000

On Monday night, the president of the United States called the crew aboard the Orion spacecraft to congratulate them on their moon mission

NASA’s Artemis II crew experience total solar eclipse from space

Tue, 07 Apr 2026 00:35:00 +0000

From the perspective of the Orion capsule, the moon will fully block the sun’s disk for nearly an hour

NASA’s Artemis II moon mission reaches greatest distance from Earth

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 23:07:00 +0000

The space exploration milestone came during a 40-minute period during which the Artemis II astronauts were unable to communicate with Earth

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts break Apollo’s distance record

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:56:00 +0000

The four astronauts onboard NASA’s moon mission just broke the record for the farthest distance from Earth traveled by any human

Watch live—NASA’s Artemis II’s moon flyby is underway

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:10:00 +0000

On Monday, the four astronauts of Artemis II observed the far side of the moon, setting distance records and experiencing a solar eclipse

Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The U.S. studied that option in the 1960s

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Newt Gingrich raised eyebrows with a social media post about using nuclear bombs to cut a new channel in the Strait of Hormuz. There’s history there

NASA’s Artemis II mission is about to pass behind the moon

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 13:55:00 +0000

The fifth day in space for Artemis II saw space suit tests, an Easter egg hunt and final preparations for an imminent close encounter with the moon

NASA’s Artemis II, endangered species and oil, low western U.S. snowpack

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

An update on NASA’s historic moon mission, alarm over the low snowpack in the western U.S. and a move that could endanger wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico

Where is Artemis II? NASA astronauts near the moon for first time in more than 50 years

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 14:15:00 +0000

Day four of the Artemis II mission to the moon saw the crew start to prepare in earnest for their lunar flyby and experience yet more toilet troubles

NASA’s Artemis II laser communications system is beaming 4K video from the moon

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A new laser system aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft is sending sharper video and more data back to Earth

NASA’s Artemis II moon mission is gearing up for its lunar flyby

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 22:33:00 +0000

NASA officials and the Artemis II crew are starting to prepare in earnest for Monday’s lunar flyby—while also trying to fix the mission’s toilet

What will NASA’s Artemis II astronauts see on the moon?

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 20:08:00 +0000

The Artemis II crew will spend about six hours observing the moon on Monday. Here’s what they’ll be looking for

Trump administration proposes massive budget cuts to science

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 13:30:00 +0000

The White House budget proposal would also curb federal payments for scientific publishing

Where is Artemis II now? NASA mission is now closer to moon than Earth

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:59:00 +0000

The third day of the Artemis II mission was relatively quiet, as four astronauts continued on their trek to fly around the moon

The mathematical formula that reveals when Easter is every year

Sat, 04 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

You can track the start of spring and the phases of the moon—or you can turn to a formula by mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss

NASA Artemis II astronauts in ‘great spirits,’ space agency officials say, as mission nears moon

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:36:00 +0000

Friday is the Artemis II mission’s third official day as it makes a 10-day journey around the moon and back

What are NASA’s Artemis II astronauts eating? 58 tortillas, 43 cups of coffee and a lot of hot sauce

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:30:00 +0000

The menu for NASA’s moon mission has 189 unique items on it and mirrors that of the International Space Station

How NASA’s moon mission could help transform space medicine

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:00:00 +0000

Artemis II’s AVATAR experiment will see organs-on-a-chip travel to the moon and back, revealing how such a journey affects the body’s cells

Inge Lehmann and Earth’s deepest Secret

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Science writer Hanne Strager explores how the trailblazing Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann overcame self-doubt to discover that Earth has a solid inner core, overturning the long-held belief that it was liquid

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts may catch a comet—if it can survive the sun

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 15:48:00 +0000

Amid a journey of celestial spectacles, the Artemis II astronauts may spot a comet—if it survives a dash past the sun

Where is Artemis II now? NASA mission is committed to the moon

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000

The second day of the Artemis II moon mission saw the crew perform a series of maneuvers that put the Orion capsule on course for the lunar far side

Where did the ‘Oh-My-God’ particle come from?

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:45:00 +0000

A single subatomic particle from deep space had the same energy as a baseball pitch, and scientists still don’t know how it got here

See the first stunning images of a massive coral reef that has lain hidden for decades

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:30:00 +0000

These incredible corals form what may be one of the world’s largest reef systems—and researchers have a plan to restore it

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts put spacecraft systems to the test on 10‑day mission

Fri, 03 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Artemis II blasts off on a high‑stakes lunar flyby, marking NASA’s first crewed mission to the moon in decades

NASA’s Artemis II mission is officially on track for the moon

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 23:57:00 +0000

The Orion spacecraft just completed its last planned major fuel burn, setting its course for the rest of its 10-day journey around the moon and back

Why humpback whale rescue effort got called off

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:25:00 +0000

It was a tough decision to leave Timmy the humpback whale to die on a small island in the Baltic Sea

RFK, Jr., and EPA announce plan to track microplastics in tap water and humans

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 20:00:00 +0000

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Environmental Protection Agency announced a joint effort to track microplastics in drinking water—but experts say doing so will be difficult

Octopus sex is even weirder than you think

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Scientists have learned how male octopuses’ specialized sperm-depositing arm knows where to go

How Eli Lilly’s new GLP‑1 pill stacks up against Wegovy and other weight‑loss drugs

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:00:00 +0000

This week the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a second GLP-1 pill for weight loss. The drug, called Foundayo, resulted in an average of 27 pounds lost in 72 weeks

‘Jaw-dropping’ fossils reset the clock on when complex animals evolved

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 18:00:00 +0000

A treasure trove of fossils from China shows that the Cambrian explosion may have been less explosive than scientists once believed

Anthropic leak reveals Claude Code tracking user frustration and raises new questions about AI privacy

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:40:00 +0000

Code that reads your frustration is the least interesting part of the story of this accidental leak from Anthropic. The leak reveals how AI tools are also concealing their own role in the work they help produce

See these ziti-sized fish scale a 50-foot waterfall

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000

These tiny fish use friction to put human rock climbers to shame

NASA’s moon mission day one—a toilet mishap and spacecraft maneuvers

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:20:00 +0000

The first day of the Artemis II mission saw the crew enter Earth orbit and prepare for their journey around the moon

Why do Black women have worse IVF outcomes?

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A new study helps narrow down the reasons why Black people undergoing infertility treatment have fewer live births

Humans have been gambling since the last ice age

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 04:01:00 +0000

A new archeological finding shows that Native Americans were exploring probability through games of chance far earlier than their Old World counterparts

NASA Artemis II astronauts ‘safe’ and ‘secure’ as they journey toward the moon, officials say

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 01:15:00 +0000

NASA launched the Artemis II moon mission on Wednesday, April 1—a date that will enable the crew to observe the moon pass in front of the sun from space

NASA’s Artemis II mission launches four astronauts to the moon

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:43:00 +0000

A daring 10-day voyage will take four astronauts on a loop around the moon and set the stage for future forays to the lunar surface

Secrets of color vision could hold clues to treating nearsightedness

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:45:00 +0000

Knowing how your eye optimizes vision could have big implications for the progression of nearsightedness

What the Meta and Google verdict means for social media design

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:45:00 +0000

A Los Angeles jury found Instagram and YouTube negligent in how they were built, opening a new legal fight over how courts view social media

Artemis II mission timeline

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:07:00 +0000

The four astronauts onboard the Orion spacecraft will carry out a packed schedule during their trip around the moon’s far side

Live: NASA’s Artemis II moon mission launches

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:00:00 +0000

The U.S. space agency on Wednesday evening launched four astronauts on what may be a record-breaking trip around the moon—see the spacecraft live

The Alaskan permafrost is thawing. Here’s why that’s so worrying

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:45:00 +0000

A Wisconsin-sized region of frozen soil is thawing fast, releasing three trillion more gallons of water per year than it did just four decades ago

Artemis II’s toilet is a moon mission milestone

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0000

On their voyages to the moon, NASA’s astronauts are finally getting some creature comforts of terrestrial toilets—such as having a door and being able to pee and poop simultaneously

April 1 snowpack this year is utterly dismal

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A record warm winter meant that snow levels across the western U.S. were already low, but an incredible March heat wave has made things even worse

Inside a bold plan to pulverize an Earth-bound asteroid

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Scientists are designing techniques to smash up space rocks that could be headed our way

Why do we have chins? Researchers may finally know

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Humans are the only species that has chins. A recent study sheds light on how that came to be and why evolution doesn’t always follow the rules

Eat more plant-based protein instead of meat, top heart health body says, contradicting RFK, Jr.

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 19:35:00 +0000

These guidelines reinforce the importance of whole grains and fruit and vegetables but clash with the government’s latest nutrition advice on red meat

How a statistical paradox can make research findings fall apart

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Simpson’s paradox demonstrates how counterintuitive statistics can be

How physicists proved that quantum weirdness is a feature, not a bug

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:45:00 +0000

Charles H. Bennett and Gilles Brassard, winners of the latest Turing Award, spent their lives touting the advantages of the quantum world