Discussions

Avian enthusiasts around the world will identify and count birds from February 13 through February 16 as part of a massive community science project. SciAm editor Kate Wong will be! If you’re planning to join in, or just want to...

Cosmologists think the universe started out with a bang from a small, incredibly hot and dense point. But what caused it? And what happened before that? We don't know, and we may not ever know. What do you think may...

We’ve seen large language models improve rapidly at tasks many thought would never be possible, but despite the hype people with subject matter expertise seem to repeatedly find the models lacking. Do you think this type of AI is on...

Compared with some of the other winter Olympic sports, curling seems more nuanced and calm. But for those who play, and those who are enthusiastic spectators, the sport is riveting. If you're one of those people, or newly absorbed in...

SciAm reporter Jackie Flynn Mogensen recently wrote about an astonishing advance in transplant science: doctors kept a man alive with a pair of artificial lungs until he could get a lung transplant. The man had a life-threatening influenza infection and...

It was 10 degrees F and felt like -4 this morning in NYC where SciAm is headquartered. What's the weather like where you are? If you're experiencing the cold, how are you preparing?

As Joe Howlett points out, "the Schrödinger equation remains physicists’ foremost window into the quantum realm. It tells scientists how that strange world works; that is, how quantum objects interact with their surroundings. But in doing so, it sets the...

In this new world of deepfakes, what should be the default: skepticism unless something is cryptographically verified, or trust unless something is proven fake? And who should bear the burden and cost of verification—platforms, device makers, government, journalists, or everyday...

As SciAm writer Deni Béchard points out, AI tech has spread to almost every corner of our lives, except direct social interactions. That is, until now. Several tech companies like Apple and OpenAI are developing AI-powered wearable devices. Like all...

A huge storm is expected in the northeast, and we're all trying to prepare. It doesn't help that forecasts range widely. Why is it so difficult to accurately predict snow and winter weather? Staff editor Andrea Thompson explains more in...

In the article "Parents might age faster or slower based on how many kids they have," Scientific American intern K. R. Callaway describes research on how fast people age, depending on the size of their families. The findings are nuanced...

In her article "Can a severed brain remain conscious?" (1/20/26), associate mind and brain editor Allison Parshall explores the science behind a thought experiment in which half of the brain, surgically severed from the rest of the brain in a...

This cute discovery of multipurpose tool use by Veronika the cow got me and other editors here thinking about the bounds of animal intelligence. For instance, I often wonder what is happening inside my dog, Daisy’s brain - when she...

Do you have a good story about using Wikipedia for science or research? What are your favorite science pages on Wikipedia? And if there are any Wikipedians here, what do you like to focus on and how did you get...

Let’s swing for the fences with this one, shall we? Some questions are timeless because they’re so fundamental that everyone ponders them at some point in life (often—for me at least—in the shower). Others are timeless because, regardless of how many...

Whether we’re talking about Artemis II—the first crewed lunar mission since the early 1970s—or the launch of NASA’s latest “flagship” astrophysics mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, or nail-biting test flights of SpaceX’s revolutionary Starship mega-rocket, this year should...