https://www.scientificamerican.comScientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.en-usFri, 20 Sep 2024 14:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/moral-judgments-may-shift-with-the-seasons/<p>Certain values carry more weight in spring and autumn than in summer and winter</p>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 14:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/moral-judgments-may-shift-with-the-seasons/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-so-many-tiny-asteroids-have-moons/<p>Scientists are putting a new spin on the creation of binary asteroids</p>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 10:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-so-many-tiny-asteroids-have-moons/https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/discover-maths-elegance-and-power-with-drag-queen-kyne-santos/<p>Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne will help you discover the beauty and power of math in this miniseries.</p>Fri, 20 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/discover-maths-elegance-and-power-with-drag-queen-kyne-santos/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/obesity-drug-pioneers-win-prestigious-lasker-award-for-medical-science/<p>Three scientists are honored for developing a class of blockbuster weight-loss drugs. Is a Nobel prize on the way?</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 18:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/obesity-drug-pioneers-win-prestigious-lasker-award-for-medical-science/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ultra-precise-particle-measurement-narrows-pathway-to-new-physics/<p>A long-awaited calculation of the&nbsp;W&nbsp;boson&rsquo;s mass agrees with theory, contradicting a previous anomaly that had raised the possibility of new physics beyond the Standard Model</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:15:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ultra-precise-particle-measurement-narrows-pathway-to-new-physics/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/was-thalidomide-safe-frances-oldham-kelsey-was-not-convinced/<p>In the U.S. in the early 1960s the distributor of a thalidomide drug was impatient to get it on the market. But FDA medical examiner Frances Oldham Kelsey wanted more information to prove its safety</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/was-thalidomide-safe-frances-oldham-kelsey-was-not-convinced/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-strange-story-of-the-algorithm-meant-to-solve-life-the-universe-and/<p>Some researchers dream of solving all mysteries with a common method&mdash;but a mathematical paradox may keep such solutions out of reach</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-strange-story-of-the-algorithm-meant-to-solve-life-the-universe-and/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-elegant-math-problem-could-help-you-make-the-best-choice-in-house/<p>Math&rsquo;s &ldquo;best-choice problem&rdquo; could help humans become better decision-makers, at everything from choosing the best job candidate to finding a romantic partner</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-elegant-math-problem-could-help-you-make-the-best-choice-in-house/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-what-the-manosphere-gets-wrong-about-cuckoldry/<p>In online forums the term &ldquo;cuck&rdquo; has become synonymous with &ldquo;sucker&rdquo; and &ldquo;loser.&rdquo; But this use distorts its history and meaning, creating a baseless moral panic that harms both women and science</p>Thu, 19 Sep 2024 11:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-what-the-manosphere-gets-wrong-about-cuckoldry/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/surgeons-identify-and-save-a-patients-chess-playing-brain-area/<p>Neuroscientists at the University of Barcelona set about on a search for brain areas involved in chess-related tasks so that surgeons could avoid them when removing a tumor</p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 18:15:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/surgeons-identify-and-save-a-patients-chess-playing-brain-area/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-crossword-cosmic-goals/<p>Play this crossword inspired by the October 2024 issue of <i>Scientific American</i></p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 15:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-crossword-cosmic-goals/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-your-brain-tells-speech-and-music-apart/<p>Simple cues help people to distinguish song from the spoken word</p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 12:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-your-brain-tells-speech-and-music-apart/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-there-fewer-spotted-lanternflies-in-new-york-city/<p>Invasive spotted lanternflies are spreading across the metro areas of New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., despite professional and amateur attempts to reduce their numbers</p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 11:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-are-there-fewer-spotted-lanternflies-in-new-york-city/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quantum-ghost-imaging-reveals-the-dark-side-of-plants/<p>Entanglement lets researchers watch plants in action without disruptive visible light</p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quantum-ghost-imaging-reveals-the-dark-side-of-plants/https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/why-early-prostate-cancer-screening-matters-for-black-men/<p>According to the American Cancer Society, Black men are about 70 percent more likely than white men to develop prostate cancer in their lifetime and twice as likely to die from the disease.</p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/why-early-prostate-cancer-screening-matters-for-black-men/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mystery-of-deep-ocean-biotwang-sound-has-finally-been-solved/<p>A strange sound dubbed &ldquo;biotwang&rdquo; was first heard bouncing around the Mariana Trench 10 years ago, and scientists have finally figured out where it comes from</p>Wed, 18 Sep 2024 04:05:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mystery-of-deep-ocean-biotwang-sound-has-finally-been-solved/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/record-breaking-rainfall-in-carolinas-and-europe-explained/<p>On opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, Central Europe and North Carolina have both been drenched by torrential rains</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 20:20:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/record-breaking-rainfall-in-carolinas-and-europe-explained/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-next-president-should-end-nasas-space-launch-system-rocket/<p>Rather than building an obsolescent, obscenely-over-budget jumbo rocket, NASA should turn to building truly innovative space technologies and plan a realistic lunar landing program</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-next-president-should-end-nasas-space-launch-system-rocket/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-patterns-show-nobel-prize-science-trends/<p>Time lags between discoveries and awards show how the Nobel Prizes reward science</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hidden-patterns-show-nobel-prize-science-trends/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/math-puzzle-find-the-imposter-number/<p>Can you find the number that doesn't belong?</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/math-puzzle-find-the-imposter-number/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-a-return-to-the-creepy-tensions-of-area-x/<p>In <i>Absolution</i>, Jeff VanderMeer explores the mysteries in his Southern Reach Trilogy</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-a-return-to-the-creepy-tensions-of-area-x/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poem-d-n-a/<p>Science in meter and verse</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poem-d-n-a/https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-is-sickle-cell-disease/<p>You have around 35 trillion red blood cells moving around your body at all times. Typically they are rounded and flexible. What happens when they aren&rsquo;t?</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-is-sickle-cell-disease/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-cryptography-is-as-much-an-art-as-a-science/<p>A delightful course on keeping (and cracking) secrets</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-cryptography-is-as-much-an-art-as-a-science/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/readers-respond-to-the-may-2024-issue/<p>Letters to the editors for the May 2024 issue of <i>Scientific American</i></p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/readers-respond-to-the-may-2024-issue/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sitting-in-a-chair-all-day-can-lead-to-disease-standing-up-and-moving-around/<p>Days spent in a desk chair can lead to heart disease or cancer. Getting up often and exercising more vigorously can stave off the ill effects</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sitting-in-a-chair-all-day-can-lead-to-disease-standing-up-and-moving-around/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/contributors-to-scientific-americans-october-2024-issue/<p>Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/contributors-to-scientific-americans-october-2024-issue/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/going-back-to-the-moon-researching-chickadee-hybrids-and-understanding/<p>This month&rsquo;s issue covers the reasons it&rsquo;s so hard to go back to the moon, the science of empathy and new advances in treating sickle cell disease</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/going-back-to-the-moon-researching-chickadee-hybrids-and-understanding/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-sickle-cell-treatments-highlight-the-power-of-patient-perspectives/<p>Illuminating the experience of people living with sickle cell could improve patients&rsquo; lives and enhance all of medicine</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-sickle-cell-treatments-highlight-the-power-of-patient-perspectives/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-how-one-weird-rodent-ecologist-tried-to-change-the-fate-of/<p>A biography of the scientist whose work led to fears of a &lsquo;population bomb&rsquo;</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-how-one-weird-rodent-ecologist-tried-to-change-the-fate-of/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hybrid-chickadees-reveal-how-species-boundaries-can-shift-and-blur/<p>When different chickadee species meet, they sometimes choose each other as mates&mdash;with surprising results</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hybrid-chickadees-reveal-how-species-boundaries-can-shift-and-blur/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/october-2024-science-history-from-50-100-and-150-years-ago/<p>Best baseball batting order; mummies demystified</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/october-2024-science-history-from-50-100-and-150-years-ago/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-hope-for-treating-people-with-sickle-cell-disease/<p>Improving sickle cell care by expanding treatment options, advancing new therapies and amplifying the voices of people with the disease</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-hope-for-treating-people-with-sickle-cell-disease/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-treatments-address-addiction-alongside-trauma/<p>A new generation of treatments addresses the trauma that often underlies addiction</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-treatments-address-addiction-alongside-trauma/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-a-bold-profile-of-the-james-webb-space-telescope/<p>In <i>Pillars of Creation</i>, Richard Panek gets up close to the JWST</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-a-bold-profile-of-the-james-webb-space-telescope/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-living-with-sickle-cell-disease-share-their-experiences/<p>Life expectancy for people with sickle cell in the U.S. has increased to about 50 years, but some people with the disease still face stigma and other barriers in health care</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/people-living-with-sickle-cell-disease-share-their-experiences/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-it-so-much-harder-for-nasa-to-send-people-to-the-moon-now-than-it-was-during-the-apollo-era/<p>NASA's Artemis moon program faces challenges the Apollo missions never did</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-is-it-so-much-harder-for-nasa-to-send-people-to-the-moon-now-than-it-was-during-the-apollo-era/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-global-initiative-to-advance-sickle-cell-research-could-benefit-millions/<p>Increased funding and new public health policies for sickle cell research are needed to ease the burden on low-income nations and improve patient care</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-global-initiative-to-advance-sickle-cell-research-could-benefit-millions/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-seek-new-solutions-to-ease-sickle-cells-extreme-pain/<p>Sickle cell disease causes severe pain that&rsquo;s hard to treat, but researchers are finding new ways to offer relief</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-seek-new-solutions-to-ease-sickle-cells-extreme-pain/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-arctic-seed-vault-shows-the-flawed-logic-of-climate-adaptation/<p>The difficulties of the Svalbard seed repository illustrate why we need to prevent climate disaster rather than plan for it</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-arctic-seed-vault-shows-the-flawed-logic-of-climate-adaptation/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-powerful-myths-shape-a-postapocalyptic-world/<p>In a postapocalyptic world on the verge of its next crisis, history gets rewritten</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/book-review-powerful-myths-shape-a-postapocalyptic-world/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-sickle-cell-treatments-reach-patients-after-years-of-effort/<p>The FDA recently approved three sickle cell drugs, and dozens more are in development</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-sickle-cell-treatments-reach-patients-after-years-of-effort/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet-the-advocates-and-researchers-revolutionizing-sickle-cell-care/<p>These sickle cell researchers and advocates are driving change from labs to global stages, transforming lives in the process.</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet-the-advocates-and-researchers-revolutionizing-sickle-cell-care/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/being-empathetic-is-easier-when-everyones-doing-it/<p>Research is revealing the key to motivating empathy&mdash;and making it stick</p>Tue, 17 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/being-empathetic-is-easier-when-everyones-doing-it/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-understand-your-childs-screenings-for-autism-and-other-conditions/<p>The predictive value of childhood screenings for autism and other conditions depends on how common the condition is, a limit that parents need to understand</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2024 19:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-understand-your-childs-screenings-for-autism-and-other-conditions/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brain-really-does-choke-under-pressure/<p>Study links choking under pressure to the brain region that controls movement</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2024 18:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-brain-really-does-choke-under-pressure/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vote-for-kamala-harris-to-support-science-health-and-the-environment/<p>Kamala Harris has plans to improve health, boost the economy and mitigate climate change. Donald Trump has threats and a dangerous record</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2024 16:15:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vote-for-kamala-harris-to-support-science-health-and-the-environment/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillars-sense-hungry-wasps-electrical-field/<p>Predators&rsquo; electricity gives caterpillars an early warning</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:45:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillars-sense-hungry-wasps-electrical-field/https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/understanding-the-origins-of-life-on-earth-could-help-find-life-beyond-it/<p>We can&rsquo;t yet tell how life got its start on Earth. That&rsquo;s one great reason to keep looking for life elsewhere</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:30:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/understanding-the-origins-of-life-on-earth-could-help-find-life-beyond-it/https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/ai-could-help-save-us-from-conspiracy-theories-and-massachusetts-could-help/<p>AI fights conspiracy theories, Massachusetts leads the way on waste reduction, and more in this week&rsquo;s science news roundup</p>Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/ai-could-help-save-us-from-conspiracy-theories-and-massachusetts-could-help/