Social Sciences

Certain values carry more weight in spring and autumn than in summer and winter

In online forums the term “cuck” has become synonymous with “sucker” and “loser.” But this use distorts its history and meaning, creating a baseless moral panic that harms both women and science

Science in meter and verse

A delightful course on keeping (and cracking) secrets

Letters to the editors for the May 2024 issue of Scientific American

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

Time lags between discoveries and awards show how the Nobel Prizes reward science

A biography of the scientist whose work led to fears of a ‘population bomb’

Best baseball batting order; mummies demystified

In Pillars of Creation, Richard Panek gets up close to the JWST

In a postapocalyptic world on the verge of its next crisis, history gets rewritten

This month’s issue covers the reasons it’s so hard to go back to the moon, the science of empathy and new advances in treating sickle cell disease