Scientific American

The case for not filling up every minute of your day

And how they might have helped save the future of American apples

After months of headaches and visual hallucinations, a woman was finally revealed to have brain cysts filled with tapeworm larvae

Pancreatic cancer is typically caught in its latest stages, when it is hardest to treat

Physicists are searching for what lies underneath the particles we know

A new declaration from winners of the Fields Medal reflects many mathematicians’ growing alarm over a “severe misalignment” between the tech industry and their field a week after AI toppled one of math’s biggest open problems

Rachel Feltman joins Vox’s Unexplainable to discuss the enduring mysteries that continue to challenge science

After an OpenAI model presented a possible solution to the Navier-Stokes problem, mathematicians are speculating about which major unsolved question could be resolved next

An Anthropic researcher quit over fears of runaway AI. His colleague who still works there agreed. Security experts argue that the incidents that are already on record call for tighter oversight, not panic

Climate change, driven by humans, is making extreme weather more commonplace

A high-ranking official announced yesterday that the U.S. military has deployed weapons into orbit to counter threats from Russia and China

What happens when machines surpass the most brilliant human minds? Mathematicians are finding out

Amid renewed calls to slow frontier AI, experts are considering what an emergency stop would entail—and who would decide when to use it

Could the hunt for the universe’s missing matter be the biggest wild goose chase in scientific history?

Moser’s circle problem can be used to divide a pizza into one, two, four, eight, 16 or 31 slices. It’s a perfect example of how the numbers in a sequence aren’t as clear-cut as they may first appear

Experts say free lunch for every child improves academic performance. Whether it does is murky, according to a Scientific American analysis, but there are definite financial and social benefits

The latest gravitational-wave discoveries include record-breaking cataclysms

Hang a painting poorly in this math puzzle

The biggest questions in science inspire us even when we lack answers

After decades of hype, directed-energy weapons may offer the U.S. military a cheaper answer to the expensive problem of stopping drones

Scientists disagree on how biology got started and on whether we can ever know for sure

Some questions may never be answered, but maybe that’s not the point

Scientists are pursuing the limits of longevity

Play this crossword inspired by the October 2026 issue of Scientific American

Smallpox eradication; skyscraper excavations; research on the racetrack

As new 9/11 documents emerge, AI transforms math and fuels debates over pollution, power and progress

Science in meter and verse

Will some of the biggest mysteries in science remain forever unsolved?

A quarter of a century after the Twin Towers fell, those who lived through the attacks are still seeking care for myriad illnesses, including cancers, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more

Deep-orange yolks could have a slight health benefit, but it’s easy for producers to fake it

The company’s push into physical AI is putting Gemini inside humanoids—and testing whether its intelligence can survive in the real world

The Atlantic Ocean has never seen a year without a hurricane since reliable records began

Letters to the editors for the May 2026 issue of Scientific American

The planet’s “wrinkles” give scientists a clue into how the world is contracting in size

NASA’s satellites captured the aftermath of the eruption, which lasted for more than a day