Ecology
In This Ancient Garden, Plants Can Cure or Kill You
Apothecaries founded this famous garden—one of the most ancient botanical gardens in Europe—to teach their students which plants poison and which plants cure.
Stories by Tulika Bose
Reproduction
Racism in Health: The Roots of the U.S. Black Maternal Mortality Crisis
What is behind the Black maternal mortality crisis, and what needs to change? In this podcast from Nature and Scientific American, leading academics unpack the racism at the heart of the system...
Climate Change
The Fungi Economy, Part 3: Can Climate Modeling from Space Save Our Forests?
Here’s how scientists are planning on getting underground fungi data from space using satellites.
Ecology
The Fungi Economy, Part 2: Here’s How Plants and Fungi Trade beneath Our Feet
Atmospheric carbon is a currency that plants use to “buy” nutrients from fungi in the soil. To find out where this economy will go next, the devil is in the details. And the details are in the dirt...
Ecology
The Fungi Economy, Part 1: Just like Us, Trees Are Experiencing Inflation
Like us, plants and fungi have complex economies. By burning fossil fuels, we’ve been devaluing their currency.
Drug Use
Could Weight-Loss Drugs Curb Addiction? Your Health, Quickly, Episode 12
Drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic might help people tackle substance abuse as well as shed pounds.
Robotics
How to Roll a Joint Perfectly, according to Science
Scientists used a smoking machine—complete with a 3-D-printed mouthpiece—to figure out how to get the most cannabinoid per puff.
Artificial Intelligence
Here’s Why Actors Are So Worried about AI
Here’s what’s behind the A.I technology that has worried so many actors—including something called “the orb.”
Black Holes
The Universe Is Abuzz with Giant Gravitational Waves, and Scientists Just Heard Them (Maybe)
Researchers, using the galaxy as a detector, believe they have detected gravitational waves from monster black holes for the first time.
Pollution
Poisons and Perils on the Salton Sea
Toxic dust plagues marginalized communities on the shores of this disappearing salt lake.
Mathematics
Cleo, the Mysterious Math Menace
In 2013 a new user named Cleo took an online math forum by storm with unproved answers. Today she’s an urban legend. But who was she?
Artificial Intelligence
Why We’re Worried about Generative AI
From the technology upsetting jobs and causing intellectual property issues to models making up fake answers to questions, here’s why we’re concerned about generative AI.
Astrophysics
Is Time Travel Even Possible?
Two SciAm editors duke it out to see if wormholes and multiverses could in fact exist.
Animals
Do We Need To Save the Whales Again?
A scientist who does whale necropsies — or in layman's terms, whale autopsies — tells us why so many dead whales are washing up on beaches.
History
The Surprising Backstory behind Witch Hunts and Reproductive Labor
Two of the foremost experts on witch hunts talk about the link between the formation of domestic labor and the rise of witch hunting.
Artificial Intelligence
What You Need to Know about GPT‑4
The AI GPT-4 has emergent abilities—but that’s not why it’s scary.
Dark Matter
Vera Rubin Lives On in Lives of the Women She Helped in Astronomy
The “mother of dark matter” was a force of nature—and a forceful advocate for other women who wanted to dedicate their career to the cosmos.
Astronomy
Cosmos, Quickly: Remembering the Genius of Vera Rubin
Vera Rubin went from a teenager with a cardboard telescope to the “mother of dark matter.” Some of her colleagues and mentees weigh in on her fascinating life and how she was a champion for women in astronomy...
Vaccines
RSV Vaccines Are Coming At Last: Your Health, Quickly, Episode 2
A vaccine pioneer tells us that shots to protect against RSV—a dangerous virus for babies and older people—are finally nearing approval.
Astronomy
How To Stop a (Potentially Killer) Asteroid
We slammed a $330-million spaceship the size of a dairy cow into an asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Here’s what we’re learning about how our first step in planetary defense could save us in the future...
