Scientific American

Collage style illustration by Max-o-matic showing different areas of science.

Young American ScientistsJune 16, 2026

My childhood in science

The story of the author’s extremely early career

Alan Lightman

Digitally generated golden ratio diagrams

MathematicsJune 19, 2026

Why some irrational numbers are more irrational than others

Manon Bischoff

An image of a woman sitting down in a lab.

Young American ScientistsJune 19, 2026

How viruses may reshape the body’s ‘soil’ to promote cancer growth

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Close-up portrait photograph of J. Craig Venter, image provided by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune/Getty Images.

Young American ScientistsJune 16, 2026

Craig Venter

Jeanna Bryner

An astronaut with jetpack investigates a Sudoku grid nestled among planets in a retro illustration

GamesJune 19, 2026

Today’s Killer Sudoku

The Young American Scientists Event—Register Now

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

GamesJune 19, 2026

Science Quiz: What's a trillion?

Allison Parshall

Homo erectus skull found in Kenya.

ArchaeologyJune 19, 2026

Ancient human ancestors may have first used fire 1.79 million years ago

Sahas Mehra

A reddish-brown orb striped with bands of cloud drifts against a starry background.

The UniverseJune 19, 2026

JWST catches cosmic imposters spoofing faraway galaxies

Phil Plait

Reconstruction of summer solstice celebrations as they might have appeared at Bulford, England, 5,000 years ago.

ArchaeologyJune 18, 2026

Ancient worshipers gathered at a ‘prototype’ Stonehenge to celebrate the solstices, new analysis reveals

Adam Kovac

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July/August 2026 Issue

Conceptual art illustrating the state of American science. A large hand removes bricks from a Jenga-style tower supporting individuals and a microscope.

Social Sciences

U.S. science is in chaos

Adam Rogers

Collage style illustration by Max-o-matic showing different areas of science, government buildings, data samples and maps.

Science Education

On our radar

Megha Satyanarayana

Close-up portrait photograph of J. Craig Venter, image provided by K.C. Alfred/San Diego Union-Tribune/Getty Images.

Biology

Craig Venter

Jeanna Bryner

Collage style illustration by Max-o-matic showing different areas of science.

Space & Physics

My childhood in science

Alan Lightman

Illustration of an individual in a lab coat with a beaker containing a glowing liquid. The individual is ascending a DNA structure staircase. Using the glowing beaker as a guiding light, past newspaper clippings on a wall.

History of Science

When science is under siege, history offers a playbook

Deborah Blum

Portrait photograph of Atul Gawande provided by Priyanka Parashar/Mint/Getty Images.

Public Health

Atul Gawande

Tara Haelle

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The Young American Scientists

Portrait photograph of Adam Bowman, Chee-Huat Linus Eng, Jenny Bergner, Kaiyi Jiang, Christina V. Theodoris, Lvmin Zhang, Steven Chavez and Dmitrii Kochkov.

How we chose the 2026 Young American Scientists

Ari Sen

Stylized illustration by Olga Aleksandrova depicting scientists looks at world maps, photos of cities and stamps. Aiming to underscore the appeal of jobs outside of the United States.

Society & PolicyJune 16, 2026

Dozens of countries are trying to lure U.S. scientists abroad—and it’s working

Sarah Scoles

Vera C. Rubin Observatory in the foreground, against a rose-gold sky.

The SciencesJune 16, 2026

Inside U.S. labs at a moment of fear—and unexpected promise

Rebecca Boyle

Collage style illustration by Max-o-matic showing different areas of science.

CultureJune 16, 2026

What people get wrong about scientists

Dava Sobel

Explore Collection

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 a woman sitting down in a lab.

How viruses may reshape the body’s ‘soil’ to promote cancer growth

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Conceptual image of a human brain against a dark background

NeuroscienceJune 17, 2026

Learning from unexpected results: This neuroscientist is redefining how the brain learns

Rachel Feltman, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

Portrait photograph of Erini Lambrides taken by Jeffery DelViscio

AstrophysicsJune 15, 2026

How Erini Lambrides went from seeking theater stardom to studying the stars at NASA

Rachel Feltman, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

The director and cast of the movie Disclosure Day pose in front of a banner with the name of the movie for a promotional event

LanguageJune 12, 2026

Disclosure Day raises a big question: How do you talk to aliens?

Rachel Feltman, Sushmita Pathak, Brianne Kane, Alex Sugiura

An image of workers installing turf on the World Cup pitch at Los Angeles Stadium

SportsJune 10, 2026

Inside the high-stakes effort to bring natural grass to World Cup stadiums

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Discussions

What role do you think government should play in science?

6View the Discussion

Take me to your reader: Scientific American staff recommend their favorite alien books, but what’s your favorite?

2View the Discussion

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Popular Stories

Conceptual art illustrating the state of American science. A large hand removes bricks from a Jenga-style tower supporting individuals and a microscope.

Social SciencesJune 16, 2026

U.S. science is in chaos

How did we get here?

Adam Rogers

Optic nerve fibres in red.

CellsJune 13, 2026

World-first: therapy to make cells young again given to a person

The first participant has been treated in a landmark clinical trial of cellular reprogramming, which aims to rejuvenate aging cells

Heidi Ledford, Nature magazine

Portrait photo of a smiling, bearded man in a blue shirt.

MathematicsJune 15, 2026

Russia seeks mathematician’s extradition

Mikhail Verbitsky was detained at an Armenian airport last Thursday on charges of inciting terrorism

Joseph Howlett

Stylized illustration by Olga Aleksandrova depicting scientists looks at world maps, photos of cities and stamps. Aiming to underscore the appeal of jobs outside of the United States.

Society & PolicyJune 16, 2026

Dozens of countries are trying to lure U.S. scientists abroad—and it’s working

The great American brain drain could define science for a generation

Sarah Scoles

EarthJune 18, 2026

Japan’s 2011 earthquake was so powerful that it shifted the entire country’s location

This “extraordinary” event was likely caused by seismic waves bouncing off Earth’s core, researchers found

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Close-up of a housecat’s head gazing at the camera as the cat lies down.

CognitionJune 10, 2026

Science confirms: Cats help you only when there’s something in it for them

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

Anirban Mukhopadhyay

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