Scientific American Content: Global

Eli Lilly shows GLP-1 weight-loss pill Foundayo can dramatically improve sleep apnea

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 18:31:00 +0000

Foundayo, a daily pill, successfully reduced obstructive sleep apnea, according to clinical trial data

The coin-flipping trick that counts the Internet

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 15:15:00 +0000

Here’s how the ubiquitous HyperLogLog algorithm works

Bursts of ‘pink noise’ during sleep could help your brain clean itself

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 11:45:00 +0000

Triggering a flow of the brain’s cleaning fluid could lead to better sleep—and may decrease harmful waste particles

Why measles is spreading again, how hackers are targeting freezers, and whether cats fart

Mon, 09 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0000

One story asks whether cats fart. The others are a lot less funny

Why do some people hear pitch better than others? Internal noise may be the key

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 13:00:00 +0000

The less internal noise you have, the more reliably you can tell similar sounds apart

Acorns—not deer—can predict a rise in Lyme-spreading ticks

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Despite deer’s essential role in tick reproduction, looking to acorn numbers instead can forecast Lyme disease booms almost two years in advance

NASA reveals new lunar rover, PROMISE, to launch to moon in 2028

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 22:45:00 +0000

At a press event on Saturday, the agency’s officials stressed that rovers and other infrastructure will be critical to ensuring human survival on the moon

Earth’s rocks have a missing layer spanning up to a billion years. Scientists finally know what happened to it

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 13:00:00 +0000

The “Great Unconformity” has puzzled scientists since its discovery in the 1870s

The mathematical trick that explains how to find a needle in a haystack

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 12:00:00 +0000

We asked a statistics expert how difficult it would be to find a needle in a haystack—the answer is: just as hard as you think

Nothing can be fully transparent, physicists discover

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 11:30:00 +0000

Quantum researchers show how materials inevitably absorb light

Math Puzzle: Secret formula

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Can you guess the puzzle writer’s secret formula?

This brain change can make foxes act like pet dogs

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Using data from a 1950s Russian experiment, researchers are getting “to the heart of brain programming” in foxes

Have astronomers spotted Planet Nine?

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 11:45:00 +0000

Archived observations appear to show a moving object in the far-distant outer solar system, but its reality is unclear

Kevin Roose says the race to build superintelligence is accelerating

Fri, 06 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0000

What happens when a technology becomes more powerful than its creators can fully understand?

Ancient humans used cannabis in burial rituals 2,800 years ago

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 19:00:00 +0000

New findings from a Siberian tomb offer the earliest direct evidence for human marijuana use

These are the doctors and scientists elected in the 2026 midterms

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:32:00 +0000

Learn more about the scientific community coming into office in January

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is changing the color of the ocean

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:15:00 +0000

The ocean’s blue and green hues near the infamous zone of debris have gotten brighter over the past 20 years, satellite data show

Hundreds of stunning ice age drawings discovered inside Spanish cave

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 13:30:00 +0000

The find includes 280 engravings, including 55 depictions of animals

How George Clinton’s Mothership landed onstage in 1976

Thu, 05 Nov 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Fifty years after its spectacular debut, George Clinton’s smoke-spewing spaceship remains a marvel of live-music technology and Afrofuturist imagination

2026 election results show widespread opposition to AI data centers

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 23:00:00 +0000

Across 10 states this Election Day, voters overwhelmingly backed restrictions on data center development or rejected measures that would have eased their construction

The Super El Niño is already soaking the U.S. Expect more flooding to come

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 19:00:00 +0000

This week Florida and the Four Corners region have been hammered by major rain events, swamping roads and washing away homes

Science advocates react to Democrats’ historic midterm rout: ‘It’s a new day in Washington’

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 17:30:00 +0000

Researchers and advocates say they hope the “blue wave” could signal more accountability after two years of attacks on science

Could SpaceX’s retirement of Falcon 9 spark a launch crisis?

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 17:15:00 +0000

What happens when the most successful rocket in history stops flying? The world is about to find out

The polar vortex is about to go haywire

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 17:00:00 +0000

“Everybody’s hair is on fire in the climate or meteorologist community”

What a historic ‘blue wave’ midterm means for climate action

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:56:00 +0000

Democrats swept Congress and won in red states. Here are the races that matter most for decarbonization, disasters and data centers

NASA’s Swift telescope plunges back to Earth

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:45:00 +0000

The observatory had spent decades studying powerful cosmic explosions and was the target of an unsuccessful rescue mission earlier this year

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is wobbly—scientists have a fix that could reveal new alien worlds

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 16:00:00 +0000

By modeling the James Webb Space Telescope’s tiny movements, a new technique can reveal up to 15 times fainter alien worlds

How does mental fatigue begin in the brain?

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 14:30:00 +0000

New findings could help explain why cognitive exhaustion feels so crummy

How the tiny soybean took over the American diet

Wed, 04 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0000

How soybeans became the hidden ingredient powering the U.S.

How hackers are turning grocery store freezers into heaters

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 19:45:00 +0000

By hijacking built-in defrost controls, attackers have spoiled millions of euros’ worth of food across Europe. U.S. military bases may have been hit, too

The most impractical calculator in the world only has two buttons

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Modern calculators have many buttons, including ones for sine, square root, pi and exponents. But it’s possible just two could suffice

Inca children were given hallucinogens before they were sacrificed to the gods

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:57:00 +0000

New toxicology tests of Inca mummies found the kids were given not just cocaine but also alcohol and chemicals found in ayahuasca before the ceremony

New York’s first measles death in 30 years is an omen of worse to come

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:50:00 +0000

A child died after contracting the disease amid the largest national measles outbreak in more than three decades

Self-flying cargo planes are coming. Can they be safe with no one aboard?

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:00:00 +0000

A start-up valued at more than $1 billion wants to fly cargo planes with no one in the cockpit. First it needs to prove to regulators that they’re safe without a human aboard

The 2026 midterms are today—here’s what scientists say is at stake

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 12:00:00 +0000

The second Trump administration has dismantled, disrupted or weakened many of the country’s scientific bodies

Do cats fart? An investigation into the mysteries of feline flatulence

Tue, 03 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Dogs are constantly passing gas. So why don’t cats seem to?

This bull and donkey show interspecies homosexual bonds can run deep

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 16:00:00 +0000

The unlikely pairing suggests that social relationships between males are more complex than we thought

How to tell if a voice recording is AI-generated

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 14:15:00 +0000

I can clone my voice in seconds—but there are tricks to help tell real speech from AI

Ebola update, AI math scoop and permanent daylight saving time

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Ebola outbreak crosses grim milestone, artificial intelligence solves major math problems, and scientists caution against making daylight saving time permanent

These tattoos can magically' disappear—here’s how they work

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 10:00:00 +0000

How handy would it be if you could make your tattoos invisible for a job interview in the morning and reveal them again for a party in the evening?

How your brain can turn your own reflection into something unrecognizable

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Staring at yourself in the mirror can create an illusionary effect, distorting your features to the point of appearing fantastical

How to ‘fall back’ this weekend without losing your mind

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Time changes are more disruptive to our health than you might think. Here are some tips for a smooth transition

Boo! See the universe’s spookiest sights in time for Halloween

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

From ghosts to skeletons and even spiders, the cosmos is full of scary surprises

Math Puzzle: Mysterious pyramid

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Can you ascend this unusual pyramid?

The world’s biggest cities are sinking. Is yours one of them?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 18:47:00 +0000

Global cities are subsiding by up to several inches a year, an exhaustive new survey shows

‘Paleo lighting’ can fix your brain’s clock after daylight savings

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000

The clocks falling back this weekend will give you the opportunity to sleep like a caveman

This October is on track to be the hottest ever recorded

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:45:00 +0000

Global projections suggest this October will be 1.76 degrees Celsius higher than preindustrial averages

An exclusive conversation with the developer of REA, the viral AI reverse engineering tool

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:30:00 +0000

An AI tool called REA can take apart software that isn’t meant to be opened in printers, smart TVs, cars, and more. Its pseudonymous creator wants everyone to get a peek

What’s the scariest thing in the universe?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:45:00 +0000

It’s Halloween, and nothing is scarier than our terrifying universe

The science of why we’re obsessed with vampires

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0000

What vampire stories reveal about changing fears, identities and human nature