For decades, many scientists thought our sleeping habits fit neatly into two categories: we were either night owls or early birds, with the latter group considered healthier overall. New research, though, shows there’s more to it than that. www.scientificamerican.com/article/earl...

A controversial geoengineering proposal suggests that brightening clouds off South America could weaken a burgeoning El Niño, but major technical and ethical questions remain. www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-...

SCOOP: [correction] To align Universal Coordinated Time with the Earth’s rotation, a second occasionally gets added to the year. That may change in 2027—a proposal is up for vote to make the leap second a leap hour. www.scientificamerican.com/article/inte...

Just what we need. www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

For almost 60 years, a global ban on nuclear weapons in space has held up. But the growing number of satellites and increasing geopolitical tension has scientists worried the moratorium could fail www.scientificamerican.com/article/dete...

Here's what we know about the building in Midtown Manhattan that is at risk of collapse.

Getting as little as 90 minutes less sleep than usual may lead to gaining weight and becoming more sedentary, a new study finds www.scientificamerican.com/article/too-...

For the past 70 years, scientists have taught us that female mammals are born with a finite ovarian egg supply. In humans, that supply dwindles until menopause, when it goes bankrupt. That dogma might be utterly wrong, new research suggests. www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

IVF has a notoriously low success rate—could AI boost the chances of a successful pregnancy? Some fertility experts aren't so sure. www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-...

A Chinese spacecraft on a mission to collect and return samples of a near-Earth asteroid beamed back its first image of its target. www.scientificamerican.com/article/chin...

This heat wave? Wouldn't have happened 250 years ago. 🧪

Think you've got what it takes? NASA has put out a call for its Moon & Mars Exploration Analog, which recreates the challenges of a long-duration space mission. www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

If you're a runner, or know someone who runs marathons, you've likely heard of "hitting the wall," or "bonking." Turns out male runners are far more likely to bonk than female marathoners—and surprisingly, faster male runners are even more likely to bonk. www.scientificamerican.com/article/male...

A heat wave over the Fourth of July weekend could put millions at risk of heat-related illnesses. Here’s what to do to stay safe—and why you don’t just need to drink lots of water www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

In a first, scientists recovered human DNA from ancient cave paintings, a breakthrough that could open new ways to investigate prehistoric human activity by enabling caves to act as “genetic archives." www.scientificamerican.com/article/anci...

A new group led by Harvard professor Avi Loeb aims to advise the Trump administration and the U.S. intelligence community on UAPs (UFOs), as well as to publish its findings in peer-reviewed journals. Read all about it: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

A new Supreme Court ruling limits the use of geofence searches by police, which include your smartphone's record of everywhere it has been. Here's what that means for you. www.scientificamerican.com/article/supr...

Have you ever tried an IVF add-on treatment including EmbryoGlue, corticosteroids, endometrial receptivity testing, preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A), or something else? I'm working on a story for Scientific American and would like to chat with you—DMs open!

What’s more unnerving than a giant cockroach? Perhaps a part-robot, part-insect, giant cockroach capable of diving underwater for as long as three hours at a time. www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...

A new AI model flags people at high risk of sudden cardiac death using just a routine ECG—revealing a hidden warning sign in the heart’s electrical activity www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-f...

We’re taking a dive deep into some concepts coming from calculus and physics! Come along for the ride. www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...

This launch was scrubbed—new target is no earlier than Wednesday, July 1 at 5:43 A.M. EDT...

Pigeons seem to defy a century-old psychology law about how rewards and consequences help us learn www.scientificamerican.com/article/chao...

Really not a great time for our portable a/c unit for the kitchen and living room to have crapped out. (At least we have units in the bedrooms.) Me for @sciam.bsky.social

It might be possible to train your brain to spot AI-generated faces by paying extra attention to these six features. www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...

What if we lived in a world where we could talk to animals—and they would be able to understand us? Julie Elie is working toward that goal, one zebra finch call at a time. www.scientificamerican.com/article/will...

Tomorrow, an L-1011 Stargazer aircraft will take off from the Marshall Islands, 2,300 miles southwest of Hawaii. With that, an ambitious quest to save the doomed NASA SWIFT space telescope will begin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

I got another bingo for @sciam.bsky.social summer reading! Forgot to log the first one but here's the second: 🎧 To Be Taught, If Fortunate 🧪 The Best Science Stories and How They Work 🌞 Free Space! 📖 Almost everything I've read so far ❤️ The Mimicking of Known Successes #SciAmSummerReading

These radical new devices keep time using fluctuations in the energy states of an atom’s nucleus, rather than those of its electrons, which atomic clocks currently use to define the length of a second

Seen a lot of theories about why the paint is peeling at the Reflecting Pool. I spent way too much time tracking down pool experts to get to the bottom of this. www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

Poor preparation and a failure to properly apply the coating may be just a few of the reasons why the Reflecting Pool’s new paint job appears to be peeling off

Will NASA’s SkyFall Mars helicopter fleet sink science at the Red Planet? Mars researchers are wrestling with the potential costs of a flashy new NASA mission to the Red Planet www.scientificamerican.com/article/will...

The evidence is mounting: this interstellar visitor is even older and weirder than anyone thought

I recently found a tick on my body and didn't know what to do. I went into journalist mode to find out. Here's what I learned about how to manage tick bites, with illustrations of the tick species that cause diseases in humans by Diogo Guerra and maps of where they occur by @jenchristiansen.com 🧪

Two people were the first to receive the therapy for a condition that damages the spinal cord and optic nerve

The 2026 World Cup is underway, running through the final on July 19. Here's a thread of all our coverage, from the physics of the Trionda ball to how to beat the heat at matches 🧵

Knowing what kind of tick bit you and where you got it can help inform next steps

Mars researchers are wrestling with the potential costs of a flashy new NASA mission to the Red Planet

Today on the pod, what’s going on with the Ebola outbreak, how the World Cup is dealing with rising temperatures, and how becoming a father can change your brain

Find a tick after a hike this weekend? My @sciam.bsky.social colleague @katewong.bsky.social calmly walks you through what to do, and beautiful identification illustrations by Diogo Guerra won’t gross you out as you arm yourself with information. www.scientificamerican.com/article/got-... 🧪 #sciart

Preliminary study finds that testosterone levels increase or stabilize in people taking GLP-1 medications

Fathers show changes in some of the same brain areas as mothers, but the effect of parenthood on dads isn’t nearly as well studied

From tiny hamsters to giant salamanders, here are some of the most unusual examples of fatherhood across the animal kingdom

Influencers and ultra-rich people looking to extend their lifespan are trading tips and tricks on how to eke out extra years

People with “fearful” or “preoccupied” insecure attachment styles had more children, whereas securely attached people had fewer, according to a recent study

The climate at the World Cup is hot - so how do national teams at the tournament keep players cool? My latest for @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/worl...

The Trump administration wanted the surface of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to be “American flag blue.” A water-treatment expert explains why the pool is still algal green and why the bloom could keep coming back

From booed hydration breaks to cooling-gel vests, teams are trying everything to keep their players from overheating. Physiologists—and one World Cup team doctor—say feeling cooler is different than cooling the body

A new study captures how cork, wine and air interact over time

Astronomers may have found the remains of two long-dead stellar siblings