Scientific American

A telescope on a hilltop against a starlit night sky with meteors ablaze

CosmologyJuly 9, 2026

Physicist says splashy new cosmology study made ‘elemental’ mistake

A recent study in the journal Nature carries cosmos-quaking implications for our understanding of the universe—except a new preprint says that it’s wrong

Joseph Howlett

An Andean leaf-eared mouse

Evolutionary BiologyJuly 9, 2026

How an absurdly cute mouse manages to live in environments no other mammal can

Mary Randolph

A photomicrograph of a fresh stool sample, which had been prepared using a 10 percent formalin solution and stained with a modified acid-fast stain, revealed the presence of four Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts in the field of view.

Public HealthJuly 9, 2026

Cases of an explosive diarrhea-causing parasite are rising fast in the U.S.

Adam Kovac

Lamp illuminating sleeping young woman at night

SleepJuly 9, 2026

Early bird, night owl or something else? Five patterns may define how we sleep

Kate Graham-Shaw

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

GamesJuly 9, 2026

Today’s Spellements

Emma R. Hasson

JOIN SCIAM IN YELLOWSTONE. LEARN MORE.

A colorized view of part of the globe of Earth showing South American, Africa and parts or North America and Europe. A jagged red line runs down the Atlantic Ocean basin showing where a mid-ocean ridge is

GeologyJuly 8, 2026

Scientists get clearest view yet of a spreading seafloor

Sam Macdonald

A view of the globe centered on the Eastern Pacific. The ocean is depicted in a swirl of oranges and reds, with an angry dark red streak crossing along the equator and then piling up against the coast of South America.

Climate ChangeJuly 8, 2026

Can we stop El Niño before it starts?

Cody Cottier

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. appears before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Public HealthJuly 8, 2026

RFK, Jr. is turning his attention to another vital health advisory group

Adam Kovac

seal on a beach

AnimalsJuly 8, 2026

Why ‘Neil the seal’ is unleashing chaos in Tasmania

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

View All Stories

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

View Full Issue Explore Archive

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

View Full Issue Explore Archive

Podcasts

Illustration of Brazilian soccer player Bruno Guimaraes pouring water on his head during a 2026 World Cup match

Ebola cases surge, the World Cup heats up, and fatherhood changes the brain

Rachel Feltman, Andrea Thompson, Tanya Lewis, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

An image of a woman sitting down in a lab.

HealthJune 19, 2026

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 16, 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

Discussions

What role should AI play in research?

3View the Discussion

What role do you think government should play in science?

10View the Discussion

View All Discussions

Popular Stories

A Manhattan skyscraper under construction and showing signs of damage

ArchitectureJuly 7, 2026

Why are the steel beams inside a Manhattan skyscraper buckling?

Steel support columns in the Midtown building, which is being converted from offices into apartments, may have been overloaded, experts say

Adam Kovac, Sanidhya Sharma

illustration of white powder on red and yellow background

NutritionJuly 7, 2026

Should you be taking creatine?

The sport supplement is popular among health influencers and athletes, who say creatine can help build stronger muscles and sharper brains—but is it legit?

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

A stone figure of a dog and a cat.

ArtsJuly 6, 2026

Wordle, but for art history—Anthropeum puts your artifact smarts to the test

Anthropeum is a daily game that uses the Met’s open-access data to showcase underrepresented art and artifacts

Emma Gometz

A pigeon curves its head to stare into the camera with a bright orange eye.

AnimalsJune 30, 2026

Chaotic pigeons are helping redefine what we know about learning

Pigeons seem to defy a century-old psychology law about how rewards and consequences help us learn

K. R. Callaway

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. appears before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Public HealthJuly 8, 2026

RFK, Jr. is turning his attention to another vital health advisory group

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is an independent group that offers guidance on what health screenings and medications health insurance should cover

Adam Kovac

Near-Earth asteroid Kamo'oalewa imaged by Tianwen-2

SpacecraftJuly 6, 2026

Chinese spacecraft beams back first image of Earth’s “mini moon”

China’s Tianwen-2 aims to collect samples from asteroid Kamo’oalewa and return them to Earth

Claire Cameron

View All Stories