Stories by Lydia Chain

When an Intellectual Disability Means Life or Death

This new guest podcast from Undark discusses the death penalty case of Pervis Payne and why it reveals the convoluted relationship between science and the courts

In Lagos, Vulnerable Communities Are Buried by Urbanization

A guest podcast from Undark: As Nigeria’s mangrove forests are covered with sand, dredging threatens the livelihoods of local people

Inflating the Universe with Prize-Winning Cosmologist David Spergel

This year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded to the team behind NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, a space telescope that launched in 2001 to map the cosmic microwave background—the earliest, oldest light we can detect from the universe’s infancy...

Cook the Perfect Turkey with Chemistry

Don’t settle for limp, soggy turkey skin—use science when you roast your bird to get that perfect, crackling bite.

New Frizzy-Haired Orangutan Species

An isolated group of orangutans in Sumatra is the first new great ape species described since the 1920s, and could be the most critically endangered. 

Neutron Star Collisions Create Gold

Astrophysicists searching for gravitational waves have finally learned what happens when you crash two neutron stars together--and it's very, very shiny.

Wild Dogs Sneeze to Vote

When an African wild dog is ready to stop lazing about, it votes to go hunting by sneezing.

Witness the Solar Eclipse without Frying Your Eyes or Your Camera

America is preparing for a sea-to-shining-sea solar eclipse. Here’s how you can watch the spectacular display, and maybe even snap a photo to commemorate the event, without burning your retinas or damaging your camera’s optics...

Soft Robot Moves by Mimicking Plants

A tough but flexible bot unfurls like a plant using a pressurized plastic tube to inch through rugged environments.

Watch a Wolf Pup Vet Visit

These eight-week-old Mexican gray wolf puppies got a clean bill of health at their first vet checkup this week.

A Close-Up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot

New photos were just released from Juno’s most recent flyover of the enormous storm raging on Jupiter.

Giant Model Mimics Damaged Dam Spillway

When the Oroville Dam spillway cracked and failed after a wet California winter, a team of scientists created a one fiftieth–scale model of the damaged concrete and eroded hillside to help guide the reconstruction...

Sex on the Beach, Grunion Style

Why Do Allergies Make You Sneeze?

Do you suffer from allergies? Follow the dendritic cell and the entire Scientific American Allergy Orchestra to discover how allergens from pollen to pet dander can change the body's tune...

Wing Windows Reveal Insect Origami

Ladybird beetle wings fold themselves into a tidy package after flight, and now scientists understand how it works.

Tackling China's Devastating Yellow River Floods

After learning how the waterway transports a billion tons of sediment into the sea each year, scientists built a tool that may help predict the inundations that impact some 80 million people...

Slime Houses of Pinky-Size Plankton Cycle Carbon

See how a giant Larvacean’s intricate mucus house, constructed for filter feeding, contributes to oceanic carbon cycling.

Scientists and Science Supporters Marched--Now What?

Thousands congregated in the nation's capital and other cities in the U.S. and around the world to support scientific research and protest Trump administration–proposed budget cuts...

Watch a Badger Bury a Cow

This badger built itself a “refrigerator” in the desert to stash its food windfall.

How Honeybees Brush Their Eye Hairs

Flitting among the flowers can be messy, sticky work.