Celebrate Tau Day with an Extra Slice of Pi
To understand tau, you need to understand pi. Watch how mathematicians from Archimedes on have wrapped their heads around the math of circles.
Stories by Lydia Chain
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. The WMAP team will split the $3 million award, with its leaders receiving the largest shares. One of those leaders, WMAP’s chief theorist David Spergel, sat down to speak with Scientific American about WMAP’s science and its legacy.
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.
What Is a Skin Allergy?
Poison ivy or a new perfume making you break out and itch? Your skin normally works as if in harmony to protect you from infection, but sometimes the tune your killer T cells are playing is bad news for your skin cells. Produced with support from SC Johnson.
Perching Drone Clings to Walls
This fixed wing drone copies a bird to land on vertical surfaces and lift off again.
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.
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. Scientific American spoke with researchers, students and fact-loving activists at the New York City and D.C. marches.
4-D Printed Shapes Bloom in Heat
These plastic objects are designed to shape-shift when they warm up.