Scientific AmericanThere Are 4,000 Species of Native Bees in the U.S.Scientists estimate there are about 4,000 species of native bees in the U.S.—and they’re both cooler and ecologically more important than honeybeesApr 04, 2025
Scientific AmericanThe Kakeya Conjecture, a Decades-Old Math Problem, Is Solved in Three DimensionsFor a long time, the Kakeya conjecture, which involves rotating an infinitely narrow needle, kept mathematicians guessing—until nowApr 04, 2025
Scientific AmericanHow Many Rogue Planets Are in the Milky Way?According to new simulations, many, even most, planets get ejected from their star early in their historyApr 04, 2025
Scientific AmericanWhat Happens When USAID’s Global Public Health Programs Go Away?USAID is responsible for global health efforts that have saved the lives of millions of children. What happens when those programs are cut?Apr 04, 2025
Scientific AmericanXenolinguistics—the Study of Alien Languages—Helps to Reveal Why All Beings CommunicateStudying how extraterrestrials might communicate could help prepare for first contact and also hint at the point of language itselfApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanTrump Staff Cuts Hollow Out Extreme Heat ProgramsLayoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services have dealt a critical blow to the agency's efforts to manage rising temperatures made worse by climate changeApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanJWST Delivers Best-Yet Look at That Worrisome AsteroidNew observations from the James Webb Space Telescope show that the potentially hazardous asteroid 2024 YR4 is a building-sized space rockApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanSecretive Russian Military Satellites Release Mystery Object into OrbitA trio of classified Russian satellites, called Kosmos, has sparked intrigue in space-tracking circles after an unidentified object was launched into orbitApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanBonobo Calls Are More like Human Language Than We ThoughtBonobos’ grunts, peeps and whistles may share an advanced linguistic property with human languageApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanThe Uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, Targeted by Tariffs, Are a Biological WonderlandTrump’s tariffs put a spotlight on the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands, which comprise a remote volcanic refuge for penguins and seals and a UNESCO World Heritage siteApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanPioneering Female Doctor Evangelina Rodríguez Faced a Dictator’s Reign of TerrorBeginning in the 1930s, the work—and eventually the life—of Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo, the Dominican Republic’s first female doctor, became threatened by the country’s then new dictatorApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanJWST’s Fourth Year of Amazing Science Faces Funding WoesThe next year of science on the James Webb Space Telescope has been announced amid mounting budgetary uncertainty that could affect the unparalleled observatoryApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanGo Inside a Mexican Wolf Recovery Project Whose Future Is Now UncertainThe critically endangered Mexican wolf was mounting a comeback, thanks to a conservation program that dropped fostered wolf pups into wild dens. Then politics happened.Apr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanWhy Some People Follow Authoritarian Leaders—And The Key to Stopping ItTo protect democracy and counteract the allure of authoritarianism, reduce people's sense of fear and insecurity, psychology research saysApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanNew Plan for Particle Physics Megaproject Leaves out Funding DetailsA long-awaiting report from CERN explores the feasibility of building a supersized successor to the Large Hadron ColliderApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanWhy Aurora Physicists Are Excited about Fram2’s Private AstronautsThe commercial astronauts onboard SpaceX’s Fram2 mission are flying closer to Earth’s poles than anyone has before, offering an intriguing opportunity for auroral scienceApr 03, 2025
Scientific AmericanTiny, Injectable Pacemaker Runs on Light and then DissolvesThis temporary pacemaker, smaller than a grain of rice, could regulate the heart less invasivelyApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanThe Science behind Baseball’s ‘Torpedo Bats’After a stellar Yankees win on Saturday, torpedo bats are in the spotlight. Is there science behind these baseball bats?Apr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanDo We Live inside a Black Hole?The spins of some early galaxies could be a clue that the entire observable universe exists within a black hole—except, that is, for all the evidence to the contraryApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanShingles Vaccination May Help Protect People from Alzheimer’s DiseaseA natural experiment in Wales showed that a shingles vaccine might lower the risk of developing dementiaApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanTrump Administration Attacks on Science Trigger Backlash from Researchers“The risks of remaining silent at this defining time are far greater than the risks of speaking out,” says one scientist regarding the Trump administration’s attacks on scienceApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanTrump’s Tariffs Are Expected to Undermine the Clean Energy TransitionNew Trump administration tariff son imported goods could exacerbate a shortage of parts used by the energy industryApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanThe Hubble Tension Is Becoming a Hubble CrisisA long-simmering disagreement over the universe’s present-day expansion rate shows no signs of resolution, leaving experts increasingly vexedApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanWhat Is ‘Squirting’? The Science behind the Controversial Phenomenon ExplainedA mysterious and often debated aspect of human sexuality colloquially known as “squirting” sparks controversy. This episode explores what research reveals.Apr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanPsychology’s Groupthink Helps Explain the Signal Chat FiascoAt the heart of the Trump administration’s Signal scandal lies the familiar psychological pitfall of groupthinkApr 02, 2025
Scientific AmericanSpaceX’s Fram2 Mission Sends Four Private Astronauts into Polar OrbitThe privately funded Fram2 mission is the first ever to take astronauts into polar orbit—and the latest sign of a “new normal” for human spaceflightApr 01, 2025
Scientific AmericanNIH Director Removes Four Main Scientists amid Massive Staff PurgeThe Trump Administration has fired four leaders and thousands of employees at the National Institutes of Health in "one of the darkest days"Apr 01, 2025
Scientific AmericanTrump Administration Cancels NIH Scientific Integrity PolicyThe National Institutes of Health said it pulled the policy because of language on diversity and inclusion, in line with directives from the Trump administrationApr 01, 2025
Scientific AmericanEven Four-Year Olds Instinctively Fact-Check for MisinformationChildren ages four to seven demonstrate natural fact checking skills when put to a test with zebras and space aliensApr 01, 2025
Scientific AmericanAs Happened in Texas, Ignoring EPA Science Will Allow Pollution and Cancer to FesterTrump administration plans to destroy EPA science will leave the air we breathe and the water we drink more pollutedApr 01, 2025
Scientific AmericanAs Measles Continues to Rise, CDC Muffles Vaccine MessagingBy burying an assessment with updates and recommendations about the U.S.’s current measles outbreaks, the CDC has signaled an alarming shift in its public messagingMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanWatch SpaceX Launch Historic Fram2 Crewed Mission over Earth’s Poles TonightFram2, a first-of-its-kind private mission to send four astronauts into polar orbit around Earth, is about to launchMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanBig Banks Quietly Prepare for Catastrophic Climate ChangeMorgan Stanley, JPMorgan and an international banking group have quietly concluded that climate change will likely exceed the Paris Agreement's 2 degree goal and are examining how to maintain profitsMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanTop U.S. Researchers Warn against ‘Climate of Fear’ Threatening ScienceDespite fears that speaking out will make them targets, top researchers warn that the Trump administration’s “wholesale assault on U.S. science” will harm the nationMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanWhy 50-Degree-F Days Feel Warmer in Spring Than in FallThere are real, physiological reasons why the same temperature feels different in April and OctoberMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanIs There a Plus Side to Mental Labor?Women shoulder most of the work in managing a family and tell us it’s exhausting, but some also say it has benefitsMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanTime Spent in Nature is Good for Your Brain, but an Excess Can Negate These BenefitsA “Goldilocks” measure of green space might help stave off dementia, but an excess could lead to cognitive declineMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanDoes Intermittent Fasting Improve Health Beyond Weight Loss?Intermittent fasting has gained a following, in part because of tantalizing hints that it can boost cognition, fend off cancer and even slow agingMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanThe Sounds of Sharks, Meaning behind Mars Molecule and Federal Cuts to Science and Health AgenciesCuts to federal health and science agencies continue. Plus, we discuss the sounds of sharks, the meaning of Martian molecules and one big dino claw.Mar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanAre Near-Death Experiences the Brain's Attempt to Survive Lethal Threats?Researchers put forward a comprehensive model outlining the conditions that may give rise to the vivid mental phenomena that some people experience as they near deathMar 31, 2025
Scientific AmericanWhat Caused the Magnitude 7.7 Myanmar and Thailand Earthquake?A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar caused widespread shaking and likely considerable damage because of a lack of buildings built to withstand temblorsMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanCOVID Research Funding to Be Slashed, NIH Documents ShowStudies on COVID, climate change and South Africa are on the latest list of terminated grants by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, according to updated documents obtained by NatureMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanAmid Trump Cuts, Climate Researchers Wait for the Ax to FallClimate experts whose research is funded by federal grants hide, whisper and wait for their jobs to disappearMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanPFAS Found in Nearly Half of Americans’ Drinking WaterNew data released by the EPA show that nearly half of people in the U.S. have drinking water contaminated by toxic “forever chemicals,” or PFASMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanAs Starlink and Other Satellites Proliferate, Astronomers Learn to Manage InterferenceSwarms of satellites launched by SpaceX and other companies are disrupting astronomical observations. Here's how scientists are copingMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanSafe, Cheap and Non-Invasive: Ultrasound Could Treat Cancer, Psychiatric Disorders and MoreA bioengineer highlights the potential of low-intensity ultrasound for multiple uses, from enhanced drug delivery to the brain to combating cancerMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanThe First Sightings of Hofstadter's Butterfly Emerged from a Happy AccidentIn a first, physicists have directly seen Hofstadter’s butterfly—a long-sought-after fractal in the quantum realmMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanHow Long Do Pregnancy and Birth Affect the Body?Data from 300,000 births reveal how essential biological measurements are altered by carrying and delivering a babyMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanUrban Wildfire Smoke Sensors Miss Harmful ChemicalsAs fires burned in Los Angeles this year, newer toxin monitors found contaminants that aren’t measured by standard methods. Now scientists and officials are pushing for better detectionMar 28, 2025
Scientific AmericanSlashing Programs That Help People with Disabilities Is a Nod to EugenicsBy going after Social Security, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Education, Donald Trump is signaling his belief that having “good genes” means not having a disabilityMar 28, 2025