Culture

Growing up in a home filled with books enhances enhances intellectual capacity in later life, even if you don't read them all.

The residue of ancient urine can reveal the presence of early stationary herder-farmer communities.

They appear across times and cultures—and our fascination with them may have both evolutionary and paleontological origins

A new study suggests young dogs were frequently buried with humans in China some 3,000 years ago, but the precise reasons remain elusive

In his memoirs, the womanizing writer Giacomo Casanova described suffering several bouts of gonorrhea—but researchers found no trace of the microbe on his handwritten journals. Karen Hopkin reports.

The newly released film Avengers: Endgame can help us make sense of some real-world biotechnology

A first-year college student has rebooted the periodic table of the elements in a whimsical and compelling way

The agency’s chief historian discusses the film and what the moon missions can teach us about global challenges today 

Book recommendations from the editors of Scientific American

Scientific American's chief features editor Seth Fletcher talks about his book Einstein's Shadow, an account of the long effort to image a black hole that recently came to fruition.

Jazz composition and performance is the next frontier in creative AI

A deeper data dive calls into question a 2018 study that found a spike in fatal traffic accidents apparently related to marijuana consumption on this date.