Scientific American Content: Global

How solar became the cheapest form of energy in the world

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Here are four reasons solar energy has seen a meteoric rise in recent years

Poem: ‘The Bachelor, Season 92 Million’

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Science in meter and verse

How Golden Dome’s space-based missile interceptors would work

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Golden Dome’s most audacious element would require a vast constellation of weapons that does not yet exist. Defense companies are already lining up to build it

Readers Respond to the April 2026 Issue

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Letters to the editors for the April 2026 issue of Scientific American

SciAm is on the move

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A recent change in ownership is an opportunity for SciAm to be even better and have some fun

Scientists cited by Heritage Foundation report on women’s sports say it misrepresented their research

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The conservative think tank’s report claims that high-intensity and elite sports training has lasting effects on menstrual cycles and fertility

How Zipline’s drone delivery system works in U.S. suburbs

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Zipline’s tethered delivery system lowers packages from the sky. Now it has to show that people want the service

The brain doesn’t just experience reality. It edits it into a story

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Neuroscience is revealing how our brains are wired for narrative

September 2026: Science history from 50, 100 and 150 years ago

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A heavenly read; a 25-foot eye; a case of double personality

Does fibermaxxing work? It may depend on your microbiome

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

We are rightfully told to eat more fiber. But our depleted gut microbiomes may not benefit from superhigh levels

Science crossword: Give me some space!

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Play this crossword inspired by the September 2026 issue of Scientific American

What really happened on Easter Island?

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale

From geothermal energy to tidal power, these bold projects could change our clean-energy future

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Companies are making big bets on technology to solve lingering challenges in the clean-energy rollout. Here are four of the most ambitious projects

How many satellites can safely orbit Earth?

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Soaring numbers of satellites could pose grave threats to the heavens above and our planet below

How NASA turned a spy satellite into the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will soon launch to unravel the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter

Can QuantumScape and Factorial Energy mass-produce solid-state batteries?

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Two American companies are pursuing rival manufacturing strategies for these long-promised cells in an industry China dominates

OpenAI funds research to try to stop AI from being used to make bioweapons

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 19:45:00 +0000

The start-up’s grant to the Nuclear Threat Initiative will fund an international information sharing system designed to flag biosecurity threats from AI

How Hurricane Lala was juiced by El Niño

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 18:11:00 +0000

El Niño years typically mean warmer ocean temperatures and less wind shear in some parts of the Pacific—and that means more potential for hurricanes

How climate change created a new ‘Ice Silk Road’ in the Arctic

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

China plans to send container ships along Russia’s northern coast, reviving environmental concerns about the fragile polar region

AI decodes the mathematical ‘fingerprints’ of famous jazz musicians, from Chick Corea to Thelonious Monk

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Music and math often come together in ways we don’t expect

Total solar eclipse, vaccine controversy and coffee health benefits

Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

From eclipse awe to vaccine debate, earthquake recovery and coffee’s benefits

Why it may be impossible to eradicate feral hogs

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The U.S. is spending millions to try to control feral hogs, but are those efforts in vain?

388 years ago Galileo worked out why human giants can’t exist—and explained a law of nature

Sat, 15 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Giants have featured in stories for millennia, but the reason why they don’t exist helps explain the natural world

Tropical Storm Lala nears Hawaii as forecasters expect it to strengthen into a hurricane

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:50:00 +0000

Hawaii rarely sees direct hurricane hits—if Lala strengthens, it will be just the third recorded hurricane to make landfall there

Why 14 inches of rain fell in Japan in just one day

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 17:16:00 +0000

This extreme rain was deadly, with at least eight people killed and many others stranded

Why is Illinois suddenly being hit with so many tornadoes?

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

This state, which has seen more than 200 twisters this year, could beat Texas’s all-time record of 244 tornadoes in 12 months

The X-Files creator Chris Carter on Scully, science and the truth that’s still out there

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:00 +0000

The creator of The X-Files discusses what Frankenstein elements are in the newly released director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe and how Mary Shelley’s classic influenced the movie’s story

What the mathematics of billiards can tell us about loving and letting go

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A mathematician may have solved a 250-year-old question about whether every polygon contains a path home

When will Betelgeuse go supernova?

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Betelgeuse, the sky’s most famous red supergiant, is well studied but poorly understood

A nonspeaking person is the star of this opera. AI made that possible

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

What if artificial intelligence is used to amplify human creativity rather than replace it?

Physicists find major clue to matter’s biggest mystery

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Researchers have nailed down an elusive quantity called baryon number, which may be responsible for the cosmic mismatch between matter and antimatter

Rare Tropical Storm Lala on course for Hawaii, with hurricane conditions possible

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:30:00 +0000

This storm, a rarity for this part of the Pacific, is expected to bring heavy rains, strong wind and possibly “life-threatening flooding” to Hawaii this weekend

Stunning time lapse lets you relive the 2026 total solar eclipse in 4K glory

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:30:00 +0000

There’s a reason humans have been obsessed with these celestial events for millennia—they are beautiful

Drone time lapse shows total solar eclipse in amazing 4K quality

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:00:00 +0000

Relive the 2026 total solar eclipse, as seen by a drone over Spain

Neuroscientists have vastly underestimated brain cells’ computing power

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A new study shows that each neuron can do multiple computations at once thanks to hundreds of sprawling branches

Popular drug metformin transforms your gut into a sugar sink

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Researchers are finally learning the mechanism behind one of the most prescribed medicines in the U.S., primarily used to treat or prevent type 2 diabetes

Squishies are everywhere. But what are they made of?

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

We asked a simple question: What’s in kids’ squishy toys? Finding an answer was surprisingly complicated

Estrogen-only hormone therapy could lower risk of Alzheimer’s

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 20:52:00 +0000

In a retrospective study, people taking estrogen-only hormone therapy for menopause were less likely to see signs of dementia

See the 2026 total solar eclipse from around the world

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:40:00 +0000

From a partial eclipse over Berlin to totality over Spain, see some of the incredible images of the August 12 total solar eclipse

Major COVID study that fueled vaccine skepticism retracted over ‘misinformation’

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:15:00 +0000

This study was originally published in 2024 and was criticized as being misleading by other scientists at the time

See hundreds of stingrays swarming off the coast of New York

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:45:00 +0000

A “fever” of cownose rays revealed by striking drone footage could be a sign of warming oceans

Yale study finds ‘Medicare for All’ could save $1 trillion and 114,000 lives every year

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:00:00 +0000

This study has been touted by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont as proof of the benefits of a universal, single-payer health care system, but the research hasn’t been peer-reviewed

Stunning new images reveal cosmic cycle of death and rebirth

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000

A new study of the Helix Nebula shows a never-before-seen detail of how dying stars recycle elements. Researchers found it by accident

No, AI didn’t just solve the thorniest problem in math

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000

There’s a $1-million prize for proving the Riemann hypothesis. Claude couldn’t pull that off, but it made significant progress on a related problem

JWST images illuminate ‘black hole stars’ at cosmic dawn

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:00:00 +0000

First glimpsed as “little red dots” in deep-space images from the James Webb Space Telescope, these giant, gas-shrouded black holes are full of surprises

New JWST images reveal the Lion Nebula in all its glory

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:00:00 +0000

This dying star appears to have a face of gas and a mane of space dust

Watch today’s total solar eclipse live

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Follow all the latest updates about the August 12 eclipse with Scientific American

Could Rocky’s musical language in Project Hail Mary actually work?

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Linguists explain how a language built from musical notes could convey complex meaning and even support conversation

Land speed record holder shatters hydrogen car record with 406-mph race

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:45:00 +0000

Andy Green holds the overall land speed record, having hit 763.035 miles per hour while driving a jet-powered vehicle in 1997

Can AI make mathematics more human?

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Mathematician Yang-Hui He explains why artificial intelligence is fundamentally transforming mathematical work—and why that’s a good thing