Scientific American

The case for not filling up every minute of your day

A quarter of a century after the Twin Towers fell, those who lived through the attacks are still seeking care for myriad illnesses, including cancers, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more

An Anthropic researcher quit over fears of runaway AI. His colleague who still works there agreed. Security experts argue that the incidents that are already on record call for tighter oversight, not panic

Hang a painting poorly in this math puzzle

What happens when machines surpass the most brilliant human minds? Mathematicians are finding out

After months of headaches and visual hallucinations, a woman was finally revealed to have brain cysts filled with tapeworm larvae

The biggest questions in science inspire us even when we lack answers

The planet’s “wrinkles” give scientists a clue into how the world is contracting in size

Researchers devised the dice to solve a tricky math problem: When playing a game, who goes first?

Scientists disagree on how biology got started and on whether we can ever know for sure

NASA’s satellites captured the aftermath of the eruption, which lasted for more than a day

A new study tries to map why humans can experience beauty collectively

Scientists are pursuing the limits of longevity

Up and down the Pacific coast, dead gray whales are mysteriously washing ashore—and scientists think they know why

A new declaration from winners of the Fields Medal reflects many mathematicians’ growing alarm over a “severe misalignment” between the tech industry and their field a week after AI toppled one of math’s biggest open problems

Physicists are searching for what lies underneath the particles we know

An analysis of ancient bones found in a Chinese cave offer glimpses of how Denisovans lived more than 130,000 years ago

A mathematician compared the feat to the history-making chess competition in which IBM’s Deep Blue computer beat Garry Kasparov in 1997

Our understanding of consciousness could be fundamentally wrong

Dozens of temporary gas turbines are powering SpaceXAI’s expansion—and fights over permits and pollution

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

And how they might have helped save the future of American apples

Scientists have long wondered how these bizarre creatures endured for years without food—now they’ve found out why

Smallpox eradication; skyscraper excavations; research on the racetrack

Science in meter and verse

Two studies find signs of strange black hole binary systems

Will some of the biggest mysteries in science remain forever unsolved?

Deep-orange yolks could have a slight health benefit, but it’s easy for producers to fake it

The Atlantic Ocean has never seen a year without a hurricane since reliable records began

The latest gravitational-wave discoveries include record-breaking cataclysms

The company’s push into physical AI is putting Gemini inside humanoids—and testing whether its intelligence can survive in the real world

The five Platonic solids are the epitome of perfection—at least in mathematics. Topology explains why there are only five of them

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

After decades of hype, directed-energy weapons may offer the U.S. military a cheaper answer to the expensive problem of stopping drones

Prior to the announcement, rumors were circulating online among mathematicians over the proof’s origins—OpenAI has denied all allegations

The reversal of a Biden-era cap on emissions from the plants could have devastating effects in efforts to stop climate change

As new 9/11 documents emerge, AI transforms math and fuels debates over pollution, power and progress

A new study finds sharp contrasts between brain changes in menopause and those during pregnancy and puberty

The silliest science awards of the year are here, but the Ig Nobels aren’t just funny business

The findings, which were made in mice, may offer a new way to prevent a common chemotherapy side effect that can last well beyond treatment

Music doesn’t just mask stress; it guides our brains back to a calm state

Assistant professor of psychology Jessica Ayers’s new research challenges assumptions about the kind of friendships we need

Gondwana was much bigger than we thought, according to the new analysis

The looming El Niño conditions, combined with the warming effects of climate change, contributed to the historic temperatures

It’s unclear what these objects actually are, but evidence for them has been detected by NASA’s Chandra space telescope for years

The Trump administration has so far been silent on flu, COVID and RSV vaccine guidance for the coming season, even as these diseases kill thousands of people every year

The Pacific Ocean has seen an especially active hurricane season so far, while the Atlantic has had barely a whimper of a storm. Experts explain why

A floating island in a Canadian reservoir moved more than 30 kilometers across the water—here’s why

A researcher’s social media post that revealed how to break part of a popular encryption protocol has gone viral. But did he really do it with just “good old paper and pencil”?

The newfound star S301 orbits the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole so closely that its view of the heavens gets twisted