A new study of AI sycophancy shows how asking agreeable chatbots for advice can change your behavior

Excited to share this piece by @parshallison.bsky.social and me in the April issue of @sciam.bsky.social. This is my fav type of #dataviz challenge: tackling a concept that is complex, fascinating, and that I haven’t seen represented in this way before. 📊 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

People often talk about the autism spectrum as if it's a simple sliding scale from "more autistic" to "less." This isn't true — the spectrum is dizzyingly complex, and @unamandita.bsky.social and I set out to visualize this in SciAm's April issue: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

As we get ready to watch Ilia Malinin skate, please read this fascinating piece by my colleague @parshallison.bsky.social about how the self-appointed Quad God is able to do what he does. And how figure skaters have been able to land progressively more difficult jumps. ⛸️ 🧪

Got kind of obsessed with Connor Storrie's accent in Heated Rivalry so me and @parshallison.bsky.social interviewed the show's dialect coach

My feature is on the cover of @sciam.bsky.social !! This is one of the more fascinating, maddening, mind-boggling stories I've reported in a long time. Please come on this journey with me.

Lost in the Stock Figuring out what’s actually in a box of chicken stock shouldn’t be that hard. Right? www.eater.com/23552129/wha... --> A wonderful look at the reality of reporting, as well as a insightful plunge into the abyss of Big Food. Answers all your questions about canned broth.

It's been thought since the early 70s that eukaryotes (basically any life with a cell nucleus) wouldn't survive above 62C and no complex life had been shown living above 60C. Until the "fire amoeba"... 🧪 (These are some of my favorite stories to write, just weird neat stuff we're learning.)

Happy Halloween 🦇🦇🦇 Horror movie music can be deeply unsettling. Here's how composers achieve that effect www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-... 🧪

Horror movie composers use musical tricks to hijack your nervous system and put you on edge

A special class of immune proteins protect us from pathogens but also drive inflammation and cell death

On today's @sciam.bsky.social science quiz, we've got space shuttles and cryptography puzzles. Share your score below! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/game/scienti...

Your brain gets used to wrongdoing. It can also get used to doing good

Congratulations to bicyclists: you're one of the most efficient movers in the animal kingdom! 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

We used @sciam.bsky.social's 180th anniversary as an excuse to revisit an old favorite. Familiar with the efficiency of locomotion chart from the March 1973 issue? Here it is again, reimagined for 2025 by DTAN Studio, w/text by @parshallison.bsky.social 📊 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hu...

Steve Jobs loved this original @sciam.bsky.social graphic and cited it constantly in interviews, calling computers "bicycles of the mind" for how they let us operate with max efficiency. Turns out, though, bikes are so efficient because they make us more like... fish? Check it out 🧪

The science is in: COVID boosters are worth it, even if you've been vaccinated and/or infected before. Stay safe out there, friends!: 🧪 🛟 www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-...

"Accessing the supports my autistic son needs can be brutally difficult, especially as he and his peers transition into adulthood. But unlike grievance parents, I believe my son deserves respect and understanding—not grievance parents’ relentless exploitation of their children as burdens."

Memorizing this

After yrs of disappointment scientists have made a genuine advance in treating Huntington's. The new gene therapy slowed disease progression by 75%. But it's still experimental and will likely be $$, @parshallison.bsky.social reports for @sciam.bsky.social: www.scientificamerican.com/article/firs...

Today on Science Quickly for @sciam.bsky.social: @drdemetre.bsky.social on how the CDC has decayed from a trusted source of health information to "an ideology propaganda machine that’s Orwellian"—and what we can do about it www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...

On this week's @sciam.bsky.social science quiz, we've got earth wind and fire. (Kinda.) Can you get 6/6? www.scientificamerican.com/game/science... 🧪

"They say he was the composer's composer." Indeed.

A museum exhibit in Australia lets visitors hear music generated by brain cells derived from the blood of a dead composer.

Every new thing I learn about Alvin Lucier is cooler than the last. He used his brainwaves to make music in the '60s--and he found a way to keep it up, even after his death. "If anyone was gonna pull off immortality, it was him," his daughter, Amanda Lucier, told me. Enjoy the episode!🧪

Today on @sciam.bsky.social's Science Quickly, our unofficial music correspondent @parshallison.bsky.social tells us how one experimental composer is continuing to make music from beyond the grave www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...

Wound up cutting this, but Jennifer Cook (Love on the Spectrum) had a great quote for all mothers freaked out by Monday's presser: "Trust your doctor. You’re going to be ok. If you’re child is autistic, it’s not going to be a death sentence, it’s just a difference." www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/a...

I participated in a @nytopinion.nytimes.com @nytimes.com roundtable and they asked me what a better world for #ActuallyAutistic people would look like if Trump and RFK Jr. didn't focus so much on Tylenol or vaccines. This was my honest-to-God response. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/o...

🎉 Science Quickly is a Signal Awards Finalist! 🎉 🗳️ Support us by casting your vote before October 9: bit.ly/3W5wCLb Thanks for tuning in each week to hear host Rachel Feltman and our guests dive into fascinating conversations about the science that shapes our world 💜

Trump, Kennedy say the data show that Tylenol use during pregnancy causes autism. It doesn't, but the PACER files show that the researcher whose data is fueling their conclusions was paid $150,000 to testify in a case against Tylenol. www.statnews.com/2025/09/23/r...

BREAKING: Trump goes on a wild and unhinged rant spouting misinformation and easily debunked lies about autism. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

To prepare you for today's wild ride in science news--here's what experts know and don't know about the causes of autism and the use of Tylenol during pregnancy: 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...

Scientists rarely proclaim absolutes. Yet autism researchers are all but certain that there is no simple cause of the condition. Here's why the idea of finding a "smoking gun" for autism is so absurd. www.scientificamerican.com/article/auti... 🧪

Our investigation into disappearance of Shiid-birood (“the iron rock”) reveals a journey of lies, smuggling and possibly death across the seamy world of black market collecting.

Does taking Tylenol during pregnancy increase risk of autism? The evidence is thin—and entirely correlational. Here's what to know. @sciam.bsky.social 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...

On this week's @sciam.bsky.social Science Quiz, we've got wild drinking and treasure hunting. Can you get 6/6? www.scientificamerican.com/game/science... 🧪

Confused by patchwork COVID vaccine guidelines across states? @sciam.bsky.social has a map with the latest info from the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations. We'll keep tracking updates. 📊 @unamandita.bsky.social ✏️ @jaimieseaton.bsky.social. www.scientificamerican.com/article/covi...

Oh this is very cool #MathNerds

A new study suggests that permanent standard time may reduce obesity and stroke

Mondays really do suck--even for retired people!! Here's what might be happening in our bodies: 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/mond...

Octopuses’ response to a human illusion suggests a sense of body ownership

Take my weekly science quiz for @sciam.bsky.social ! This week: psychedelics and sexual parasites www.scientificamerican.com/game/science... 🧪

Researchers tested 12 magic mushroom edibles purchased at Portland gas stations and convenience stores. None had psilocybin, but what some of them contained instead could be dangerous. My latest for @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/magi... 🧪

Scientists rarely proclaim absolutes. Yet autism researchers are all but certain that there is no simple cause of the condition. Here's why the idea of finding a "smoking gun" for autism is so absurd. www.scientificamerican.com/article/auti... 🧪

A machine-learning algorithm spotted signs of “covert consciousness” in coma patients—in some cases, days before doctors could do so

Happy birthday Scientific American! I am proud to have contributed, by coincidence, nearly 180 articles to the magazine. Here's the one I wrote honoring the anniversary. www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...

Do you fall for the Müller-Lyer optical illusion? Psychologists had long thought that it depends on your cultural background—the famous "carpentered-world" hypothesis. Now, that hypothesis is widely disputed. Here's why. 🧪 by @norabradford.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/does...

Reports of AI-induced psychosis are increasing. Researchers examined 17 cases and pulled out 3 main themes from people's delusions: romantic bonds with the AI, revelations of the "true nature" of reality, and AI as sentient or divine. by @conorfeehly.bsky.social , edited by me 🧪

In honor of SciAm’s 180th birthday, we’re spotlighting the biggest “wait, what?” moments in science history.