Scientific American

Resident carrying belongings out of a building damaged by an earthquake

Natural DisastersMarch 28, 2025

Why Was the Earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand So Devastating?

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in Myanmar caused widespread shaking and likely considerable damage because of a lack of buildings built to withstand temblors

Robin George Andrews

A diagram showing "Hofstadter's butterfly," a quantum version of a fractal pattern

Quantum PhysicsMarch 28, 2025

Physicists Catch a Quantum Butterfly Spreading Its Wings

Gayoung Lee

PollutionMarch 28, 2025

Nearly Half of People in the U.S. Have Toxic PFAS in Their Drinking Water

Andrea Thompson

Two people in full clean room bunny suits sit on stools facing each other in a large yellow-colored room

TechnologyMarch 28, 2025

There’s Nothing Small about this Nanoscale Research

Rachel Feltman, Jeffery DelViscio, Kelso Harper, Carin Leong

GamesMarch 28, 2025

Spellements: Friday, March 28, 2025

Gayoung Lee

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A figure on a balcony looks out over an illustrated cityscape, contemplating a giant question mark in the sky

GamesMarch 28, 2025

Scientific American Curiosities: Finishing Touch

Sarah Lewin Frasier

Colorized scanning electron micrograph of an apoptotic cell (greenish brown) heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (pink), isolated from a patient sample

Public HealthMarch 28, 2025

COVID Research Funding to Be Slashed, NIH Documents Show

Max Kozlov, Nature magazine

A seal that reads "U.S. Public Health Service" adorns a building on the campus of the National Institutes of Health,

Climate ChangeMarch 28, 2025

Climate Researchers Wait for the Ax to Fall

Ariel Wittenberg, Chelsea Harvey, E&E News

Satellite streaks appear in a photograph taken above the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park, Western Australia.

AstronomyMarch 28, 2025

In a Sky Full of Satellites, Astronomers Find Creative Ways to Observe the Stars

Alexandra Witze, Nature magazine

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April 2025 Issue

Dark Matter

Dark Matter Might Lurk in Its Own Shadow World

Kathryn Zurek

Aerial view of flooded residential area Pajaro, California.

The Environment

The Nation’s Chief Engineers Turn to Nature to Improve Flood Protection

Erica Gies

Psychiatry

New Treatments Are Rewriting Our Understanding of Schizophrenia

Diana Kwon

Illustration of two Zuul engage in combat

Paleontology

The Horned and Armored Dinosaurs Were the Gladiators of the Mesozoic

Michael B. Habib

Neuroscience

After Hiding My Undiagnosed Neurological Condition for Decades, I Finally Found Answers

Paul Marino

Voyager spacecraft in front of the Milky Way galaxy and a bright red star in deep space

Space Exploration

NASA’s Beloved Voyager Probes Find Puzzles beyond the Solar System

Meghan Bartels

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Games

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

Spellements

Create as many words as you can!

Illustration of a hand and multiple numbers against a purple background.

Math Puzzles

Stretch your math muscles with these puzzles.

A robot hand unleashes a swirl of puzzle pieces, crosswords, and circles with numbers and letters

All Games

Science inspired games, puzzles and quizzes

Special Edition

Artificial Intelligence

Inside the AI Competition That Decoded an Ancient Herculaneum Scroll

Tomas Weber

Design of a blue tech-like background with a brain in the center.

Artificial Intelligence

Building Intelligent Machines Helps Us Learn How Our Brain Works

George Musser

Hands from "The Creation of Adam" painting by Michelangelo, with HTML coding above the hands.

Artificial Intelligence

God Chatbots Offer Spiritual Insights on Demand. What Could Go Wrong?

Webb Wright

A close-up, side-view view of the head of a Sperm Whale under water, with blue background.

Behavior

Artificial Intelligence Could Finally Let Us Talk with Animals

Lois Parshley

Illustration of a old-timey man with a mustache wearing a suit sitting, touching a ghost with a human face

Computing

Will Machines Ever Become Conscious?

Christof Koch

A man surrounded by multiple robot dogs.

Artificial Intelligence

Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

David Berreby

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Podcasts

March 28, 2025

There’s Nothing Small about this Nanoscale Research

Rachel Feltman, Jeffery DelViscio, Kelso Harper, Carin Leong

A small blue sphere orbits a larger green sphere on a black background, with "Science Quickly" written underneath.

PlantsMarch 26, 2025

Invasive Plants Are Not the Enemy

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Naeem Amarsy, Alex Sugiura

A small blue sphere orbits a larger blue sphere on a purple and blue background, with "Science Quickly" written below.

SpacecraftMarch 24, 2025

NASA Astronauts Finally Return, Seals Hold Their Breath, and Penguin Poop Stresses Out Krill

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

A small blue sphere orbits a larger green sphere against a purple background, with "Science Quickly" written underneath.

NeuroscienceMarch 21, 2025

The Neurosurgeon Who Advised Severance Breaks Down Its Science

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Naeem Amarsy, Alex Sugiura

CancerMarch 19, 2025

Debunking Colonoscopy Myths That Could Be Putting Your Health at Risk

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

More Podcasts

Abel Prize Goes to Pioneer Whose “Math Toolbox” Can Be Used to Describe the Natural World

Masaki Kashiwara, this year’s Abel Prize winner, co-founded a new field of mathematics called algebraic analysis

Manon Bischoff

MathematicsMarch 27, 2025

Mathematicians Find Proof to 122-Year-Old Triangle-to-Square Puzzle

A long-standing shape mystery has finally been solved

Lyndie Chiou

A photograph using a fish-eye lens shows the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector assembly in a tunnel of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

Particle PhysicsMarch 25, 2025

Supersymmetry Washes Out at the Large Hadron Collider

Supersymmetry, long considered the golden child of theoretical physics, has officially lost its luster at the world’s reigning particle accelerator

Eleni Petrakou

Large ivory-colored sponge surrounded by smaller pastel-colored anemones

EcologyMarch 21, 2025

Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks Away

A calving iceberg exposed a region that never before had been seen by human eyes, revealing a vibrant, thriving ecosystem

Ashley Balzer Vigil

On April 26, 2013, an infrared sensor onboard a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft captured footage of a UAP event over the Rafael Hernandez Airport near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The footage appears to depict a UAP moving at high speed, splitting into two objects, and entering and exiting the water before disappearing into the ocean off Puerto Rico's northwestern coast

Extraterrestrial LifeMarch 25, 2025

The U.S. Government’s Top UFO Scientist Has an Open Mind about Alien Visitation

Have you seen something inexplicable in the sky? Jon Kosloski, director of the U.S. Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, wants to hear from you

Leonard David

Photo of the tongue pulling behavior of mice

BehaviorMarch 20, 2025

Mouse-to-Mouse Resuscitation: Rodents Try to Revive Unconscious Buddies

Three studies show that a mouse will try to rouse an unconscious companion

Gennaro Tomma

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Scientific American

Why Was the Earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand So Devastating?

Physicists Catch a Quantum Butterfly Spreading Its Wings

Nearly Half of People in the U.S. Have Toxic PFAS in Their Drinking Water

There’s Nothing Small about this Nanoscale Research

Spellements: Friday, March 28, 2025

$0 for Digital Access

Scientific American Curiosities: Finishing Touch

COVID Research Funding to Be Slashed, NIH Documents Show

Climate Researchers Wait for the Ax to Fall

In a Sky Full of Satellites, Astronomers Find Creative Ways to Observe the Stars

April 2025 Issue

Dark Matter Might Lurk in Its Own Shadow World

The Nation’s Chief Engineers Turn to Nature to Improve Flood Protection

New Treatments Are Rewriting Our Understanding of Schizophrenia

The Horned and Armored Dinosaurs Were the Gladiators of the Mesozoic

After Hiding My Undiagnosed Neurological Condition for Decades, I Finally Found Answers

NASA’s Beloved Voyager Probes Find Puzzles beyond the Solar System

Games

Spellements

Math Puzzles

All Games

Special Edition

Inside the AI Competition That Decoded an Ancient Herculaneum Scroll

Building Intelligent Machines Helps Us Learn How Our Brain Works

God Chatbots Offer Spiritual Insights on Demand. What Could Go Wrong?

Artificial Intelligence Could Finally Let Us Talk with Animals

Will Machines Ever Become Conscious?

Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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Podcasts

There’s Nothing Small about this Nanoscale Research

Invasive Plants Are Not the Enemy

NASA Astronauts Finally Return, Seals Hold Their Breath, and Penguin Poop Stresses Out Krill

The Neurosurgeon Who Advised Severance Breaks Down Its Science

Debunking Colonoscopy Myths That Could Be Putting Your Health at Risk

Popular Stories

Abel Prize Goes to Pioneer Whose “Math Toolbox” Can Be Used to Describe the Natural World

Mathematicians Find Proof to 122-Year-Old Triangle-to-Square Puzzle

Supersymmetry Washes Out at the Large Hadron Collider

Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks Away

The U.S. Government’s Top UFO Scientist Has an Open Mind about Alien Visitation

Mouse-to-Mouse Resuscitation: Rodents Try to Revive Unconscious Buddies