Scientific American Content: Global

The 24 alien books Scientific American recommends

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 14:30:00 +0000

The 24 alien books the Scientific American staff love, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to Contact and beyond

SpaceX’s historic IPO ignites the new space race

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:30:00 +0000

SpaceX’s IPO—the largest in history—has out-of-this-world implications for AI, space commerce and extraterrestrial exploration

Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day gets one major thing wrong about the search for aliens

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:00:00 +0000

The new movie Disclosure Day is all about a big, alien secret. But SETI researchers behind the updated postdetection protocol say they aren’t in the business of secrets

SpaceX IPO valuation depends on Starship and orbital AI data centers

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Reusable rockets and Starlink made Elon Musk’s company dominant in spaceflight. Its record valuation leans on making Starship flights routine and orbital AI data centers real

Crowdsourcing could discover new meteor showers and more

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Meteor camera networks can reveal the hidden history of the solar system, and you can assist from your own backyard

Can black holes send information back in time?

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Extremely curved spacetime can warp cause and effect, creating channels for backward communication

Disclosure Day and interspecies communication—alien language isn’t just weird noises

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A linguist lays out what communicating with aliens could actually involve—and what that tells us about human language

Obstetricians oppose CDC to recommend more shots for moms

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 20:15:00 +0000

In a first, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists released its own vaccine schedule

The U.S. stockpiles oil in huge underground salt caverns. Here’s why

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:31:00 +0000

Salt, with its ability to seal liquid in, is uniquely suited to storing the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Meet LEV-2, a baseball-sized and absurdly cute moon robot

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:13:00 +0000

This tiny robot might look like a high-tech hamster ball, but it could hasten lunar exploration

See the hidden fungal network so big it could stretch to Proxima Centauri and back

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Researchers have created the first high-resolution global map of the extent of one of Earth’s largest—and least visible—living networks

Children’s zip codes change their brains, new study finds

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Children living in areas with low socioeconomic opportunities have more tired and stressed brains, a new study finds

Humans and AI race to ‘blow up’ math’s toughest equations

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:30:00 +0000

New results challenge AI’s promise for solving how fluids swirl—and suggest a more human path forward

Tilly Edinger: The paleoneurologist saved by her science

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0000

Johanna Gabriela Ottilie “Tilly” Edinger dedicated her career to studying ancient brains. It saved her life

China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft arrives at one of Earth’s mysterious ‘quasi-moons’

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:30:00 +0000

The Tianwen-2 spacecraft is slowly closing in on the near-Earth asteroid Kamo‘oalewa, on a mission that would bring China’s first asteroid samples back to Earth in 2027

El Niño is here and could tip Earth to a new record hot year

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 13:10:00 +0000

Scientists have been expecting El Niño to set in for quite a while now—and it’s finally official

What AI-herding scientists can learn from watching ‘sheepdog YouTube’

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:45:00 +0000

Controlling a small group of “noisy” sheep holds hints for computer algorithms

The 2026 World Cup will bring the heat. Here's how to keep cool

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

Extreme heat poses a risk to players, spectators and workers—find out where the danger is and how to keep cool

The U.S. is getting hit with severe stormy weather—here’s what’s stewing in the atmosphere

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 20:04:00 +0000

Cold fronts colliding with warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico could cause dangerous weather conditions, forecasters say

Report of gene-edited human embryos sparks worries about the technology’s future uses

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:00:00 +0000

Eight years after a Chinese scientist's report of gene-edited babies shocked the world, U.S. scientists reported editing embryos not meant for pregnancies using a more precise technique

AI scores a ‘C–’ on its hardest math test yet

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 17:00:00 +0000

The second batch of “First Proof” problems is meant to evaluate AI’s usefulness for research-level math. The best model got six or seven of the 10 questions basically right

How to build kids’ ‘cognitive endurance’ in an age of distraction

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:15:00 +0000

The ability to run “mental marathons” is a skill children can learn through simple, but dedicated, practice

How to tell if your dog is left-pawed or right-pawed, according to science

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:56:00 +0000

A step-by-step guide to the “Doginburgh Inventory,” a new pawedness test developed by dog behavior researchers

Largest whale ‘graveyard’ discovered, with skeletons spanning 5 million years

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0000

The fossilized remains of more than 450 whales have amassed along a 750-mile-long stretch of the Indian Ocean floor

How FIFA is engineering natural grass for the 2026 World Cup

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000

FIFA is building temporary natural-grass fields meant to play consistently across 16 stadiums in three countries

Cats, unlike dogs and toddlers, help you only when it helps them

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 13:20:00 +0000

Dogs spontaneously aid struggling humans the way young children do—whereas cats wait until they stand to benefit

How Canadian rock duo Angine de Poitrine play with neurobiology and physics to make viral music

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Angine de Poitrine don't abide by the usual rules of Western music, using their own custom-built guitar to strike notes that shouldn't exist

The World Cup could be a petri dish for disease. Wastewater could sound the alarm

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 10:30:00 +0000

As millions of soccer fans pack FIFA World Cup venues, public health scientists created a wastewater monitoring network to forecast potential disease threats—from measles to Ebola

The surprising science behind the 2026 World Cup grass

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000

How scientists are engineering the perfect World Cup pitch—one so flawless that players never notice it

How the new FDA-approved ingredient bemotrizinol enhances sunscreen protection

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 20:55:00 +0000

Dermatologists and skincare aficionados are excited for the U.S. to finally get a new, more protective sunscreen filter after more than 20 years of regulatory roadblocks. Here’s how bemotrizinol works

How math’s ‘hairy ball theorem’ could explain bad hair days

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 18:00:00 +0000

An idea from topology explains why you can never get rid of your cowlicks—and, oddly enough, it’s critical in nuclear fusion

Americans’ trust in the CDC has plummeted since 2025, new poll finds

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:22:00 +0000

A mere 12 percent of Americans say they trust the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations “a great deal”

NASA reveals astronauts who will fly Artemis III, its next step toward a moon landing

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

NASA’s Artemis III crew includes three NASA astronauts and one European Space Agency astronaut

Inside the new Siri AI and the privacy paradox of Apple Intelligence

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:00:00 +0000

To run errands across apps, Apple’s upgraded assistant needs deep access to personal data that the company has walled off for years

Resistance training may boost longevity. But how much do you need?

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:34:00 +0000

Weight lifting and other forms of resistance training can increase bone density, lower diabetes risk and boost mental health

Rare meteorite might be a relic from a ‘lost world’

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Hints of high-pressure chemistry within a rare meteorite suggest this fallen space rock comes from a planet gone wrong in the solar system’s early history

Genital herpes tests are notoriously unreliable, but better ones are in the works

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The best blood test for herpes is only available at a single lab. What would it take for that to change?

Spotted lanternflies’ love of cities may be the secret to their invasion success

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:45:00 +0000

These eye-catching insects offer a prime opportunity for scientists to dig deep into invasion ecology and evolutionary biology

The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs may have sparked millions of years of hydrothermal life

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 09:00:00 +0000

When asteroids slam into Earth, they can create hydrothermal vent systems

‘Odd’ Gulf of Mexico earthquake rattles Florida and Cuba

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:00:00 +0000

This earthquake may be among the biggest in the Gulf of Mexico’s history

The Philippines earthquake is the largest this year, but it could’ve been bigger—here’s why

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 16:24:00 +0000

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that hit the Philippines happened at a subduction zone. Such places are capable of producing the largest earthquakes possible

NASA’s astronauts will wear a Prada-designed onesie to keep cool on the moon

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 15:30:00 +0000

On Sunday Axiom Space and Prada unveiled the cooling inner garment that NASA’s Artemis astronauts will wear under their space suits on the moon

Increase in wildfire-driven ozone pollution linked to premature deaths across the U.S.

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Smog from wildfires is getting worse across much of the U.S., according to a NASA-funded study

Why GLP-1 drugs might reduce cancer risk

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A new wave of research links GLP-1 drugs to reduced cancer spread and better survival, and the mechanism may go beyond just weight loss

World Cup begins under health watch as new AI rules spark debate and ancient Rome’s road network expands

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0000

World Cup crowds spark outbreak tracking as AI tensions rise and ancient Rome’s roads get a stunning reboot

Can AI detect smuggled sea cucumbers?

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 23:05:00 +0000

In a new study, an AI tool identified images of seahorse, shark fin and sea cucumber samples in luggage

How math can help you decide what to order for dinner

Sun, 07 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

An experiment with 2,520 participants backs Richard Feynman’s answer to every diner’s dilemma: Do I want to try something new?

NASA’s X-59 plane goes supersonic for the first time

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 16:50:00 +0000

This experimental plane, which reached supersonic speeds yesterday, is designed to travel faster than the speed of sound without creating bothersome sonic booms

How prediction markets could forecast the future of science

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Online prediction markets are taking bets on everything from climate change to quantum computing. But researchers question their accuracy

Aquanauts experience awe-inspiring ‘underview effect’

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Like astronauts’ “overview effect,” a dramatic feeling of awe takes hold on extended seafloor stays