Scientific American

A woolly mammoth roams through a snowy environment, displaying its large size and distinct tusks. The icy surroundings highlight the ice age setting and the mammal's fur. This is a 3d render illustration

AnimalsJuly 10, 2026

Why the controversy over de-extinction risks missing the point

Efforts to revive the thylacine and woolly mammoth are forcing conservationists to face a long-overdue debate over what kind of natural world we want to build

Taylor Dotson, The MIT Press Reader

A Long March 10B rocket lifts off from a launchpad.

Space ExplorationJuly 10, 2026

China’s long march to reusable rocketry hits another milestone

Lee Billings

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.

Natural DisastersJuly 10, 2026

The odds of a Super El Niño just got higher

Adam Kovac

An artist's illustration of the interstellar object 'Oumuamua, showing the object as an oblong shard of material floating in space.

Planetary ScienceJuly 10, 2026

Astronomers catch a ‘dark’ comet by the tail

Darryl Z. Seligman

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

GamesJuly 10, 2026

Today’s Spellements

Emma R. Hasson

JOIN SCIAM IN YELLOWSTONE. LEARN MORE.

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

GamesJuly 10, 2026

Science Quiz: How many times have we nuked space?

Allison Parshall

A thermal infrared photo of a nuclear power plant, with the plant appearing in yellows and oranges and the surround sky and river in the foreground in deep purple

Nuclear energyJuly 10, 2026

How could loosened radiation exposure rules affect public health?

Stephanie Pappas

A silhouette of the Martian moon Phobos passes across the face of the Sun.

The UniverseJuly 10, 2026

Is Earth the only planet with total solar eclipses?

Phil Plait

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

Joseph Howlett

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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

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?

5View the Discussion

What role do you think government should play in science?

10View the Discussion

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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 German tank in the 1940s.

MathJuly 7, 2026

How math helped the Allies win World War II

During World War II, statistics helped the Allies estimate the number of enemy tanks, which proved essential in the decisive move against Nazi Germany

Manon Bischoff

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

A graphic of the earth with clocks over it

EarthJuly 8, 2026

Exclusive: International timekeepers to vote on changing the leap second to a leap hour

To align Coordinated Universal Time with Earth’s rotation, a second occasionally gets added to the year. That may change in 2027

Emma Gometz

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

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