Scientific American

Yellow Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2 particles on dark blue background

Public HealthJune 9, 2026

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

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

Lauren Schneider

A thin section of a meteorite dotted with rainbowlike, oddly shaped mineral flecks within a matrix of darker rock.

Planetary ScienceJune 9, 2026

This meteorite could be a relic from a ‘lost world’

Jenna Ahart

A spotted lanternfly standing on concrete is in the process of extending its red and white wings with black polka dots.

EcologyJune 9, 2026

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

Meghan Bartels

Vertical collage with athlete in center

ExerciseJune 9, 2026

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

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

GamesJune 9, 2026

Today’s 6x6 KenKen

KenKen Puzzle Co.

The Young American Scientists Event—Register Now

An image of an underwater hydrothermal vent.

GeologyJune 9, 2026

Dino-killing asteroid may have sparked millions of years of hydrothermal life

Meghan Bartels

Rings showing center of earthquake near Cuba.

EarthJune 8, 2026

‘Odd’ Gulf of Mexico earthquake rattles Florida and Cuba

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Several people on a motorcycle in front of a large building that has sunk down at a weird angle and shows lots of damage.

GeologyJune 8, 2026

The Philippines earthquake is massive, but it could’ve been bigger—here’s why

Andrea Thompson

Axiom Space and Prada partnered on the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment (LCVG), designed to be worn by astronauts inside the Axiom Extravehicular Mobility Unit (AxEMU) space suit.

Space ExplorationJune 8, 2026

This Prada-designed onesie will help keep NASA’s Artemis astronauts cool on the moon

Claire Cameron

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June 2026 Issue

A chandelier-shaped cooling system for the quantum computer IBM Quantum System Two.

Quantum Physics

Quantum computing is reaching its make-or-break moment

Adam Becker

An illustration of green computer chips and purple spheres representing quantum bits seem to fly out from a central point of light.

Quantum Computing

What’s a quantum computer good for, anyway?

Zeeya Merali

A stretch of the Via Appia showing the straight construction and stone paving associated with classic Roman roads

Archaeology

New map reveals lost roads of the Roman Empire

Tom Brughmans

An orange and red cross-hatched gradient forms a four-lobed shape over a vast coordinate plane. Along the “x-axis” at the center is a black blob, shaped like a horizontal tear-drop.

Mathematics

The million-dollar math problem hardly anyone is trying to solve

Joseph Howlett

NASA’s Space Launch System rocket launches on a fiery pillar of exhaust surrounded by billowing clouds, sending the Orion crew capsule of the space agency’s Artemis II lunar mission into orbit.

Space Exploration

NASA’s Artemis II launched on first crewed moon mission of the 21st century

Nadia Drake

A false-color view of the moon's Orientale Basin.

Planetary Science

NASA’s Artemis era may finally solve three major moon mysteries

Robin George Andrews

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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

An illustration of a galaxy.

Astronomy

The new story of the Milky Way’s surprisingly turbulent past

Ann Finkbeiner

Doark amorphous shape

Dark Matter

Dark matter might lurk in its own shadow world

Kathryn Zurek

Illustration of a woman at a desk and her dog living in a spacecraft.

Space Exploration

Why we'll never live in space

Sarah Scoles

Illustration of a black hole in a geometric-like universe

Black Holes

The puzzle of the first black holes

Priyamvada Natarajan

Illustration of a dragon-like creature coming to life out of a long roll of paper

Astrophysics

What if we never find dark matter?

Tracy R. Slatyer, Tim M. P. Tait

Conceptual image of the timeline of the cosmos

Cosmology

Astronomers’ epic quest to witness the cosmic dawn

Rebecca Boyle

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Podcasts

An image of an aerial view of FIFA World Cup 2026 match ball installation in Vancouver

World Cup kicks off amid outbreak tracking as Mars mission ends and AI fights heat up

Rachel Feltman, Lauren J. Young, Andrea Gawrylewski, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Wooden blocks with letters spell PCOS against a blurry white background

ReproductionJune 5, 2026

Inside the multiyear effort to rename PCOS

Rachel Feltman, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

An image of a woman waiting for an elevator in a building

MathJune 3, 2026

How elevators, pizza and card shuffles reveal the surprising math of everyday life

Rachel Feltman, Manon Bischoff, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

An image of a health worker wearing protective equipment crouching beside the coffin outside a home in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Public HealthJune 1, 2026

A new Ebola outbreak has killed hundreds—and the U.S. response is alarming experts

Rachel Feltman, Tanya Lewis, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

An illustration of a book cover with a hand print on a starry dark background.

BooksMay 29, 2026

What our phones, playlists and AI companions reveal about being human

Brianne Kane, Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Discussions

Should religious thinkers help shape AI?

26View the Discussion

Do you think the Riemann Hypothesis is true? Will anyone ever prove it?

11View the Discussion

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Popular Stories

Several people on a motorcycle in front of a large building that has sunk down at a weird angle and shows lots of damage.

GeologyJune 8, 2026

The Philippines earthquake is massive, but it could’ve been bigger—here’s why

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

Andrea Thompson

A soaring plane with an exceptionally pointy nose and X-59 written on the tail.

TechnologyJune 6, 2026

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

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

Meghan Bartels

Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman stands in front of a blackboard strewn with notation in his lab in Los Angeles, Californina.

MathematicsJune 7, 2026

How math can help you decide what to order for dinner

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

Davide Castelvecchi, Nature magazine

Rings showing center of earthquake near Cuba.

EarthJune 8, 2026

‘Odd’ Gulf of Mexico earthquake rattles Florida and Cuba

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

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Long shot of the White House with the Thomas Jefferson Memorial visible behind it.

Public HealthJune 4, 2026

White House reclassifies federal epidemiologists and other scientists from civil servants to ‘at-will’ hires

The long-anticipated “Schedule F” order strips job protections meant to safeguard federal employees from political interference

Dan Vergano

Overhead view of several houses with roofs covered in snow clustered around well-lit streets at night.

EvolutionJune 4, 2026

Humans conquered the planet 300 times faster than genetic evolution can explain

Culture is humanity’s secret for world domination. This calculation shows just how powerful it is

Cody Cottier

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