History of Science

For the first time, we are sending a spacecraft to explore an alien ocean world—a moon that might host life today

Joint Nobel laureates aren’t necessarily direct scientific collaborators, and the prize money isn’t always split evenly

A famous prediction that microchips improve exponentially over time can be applicable in unrelated developments, such as the technology used to discover colliding black holes

A new explanation for the Wow! signal suggests it was a chance detection of a furious flare crashing into a hydrogen cloud. But some researchers doubt that this idea has truly cracked the case

A play celebrates the agreement that opened nations worldwide to accepting the science of climate change

New research suggests the Great Red Spot we see on Jupiter today is an entirely different giant storm from the one astronomers observed more than three centuries ago

The withdrawal after 22 years of a controversial stem cell paper highlights how perverse incentives can distort scientific progress

Cosmic happenstance and biological evolution come together to create a road map to the stars

Puzzling Havana Syndrome injuries that have afflicted U.S. diplomats may have a more complicated explanation than solely pulsed microwaves or mass psychology

A rare geomagnetic storm lit up skies, eerie AI demonstrations and a cautionary word about raw milk.

Inspiration, creativity, discovery—all of these things start from a place of not knowing, and these researchers know how to navigate those uncertainties.​

Does the word "uncertainty" make you nervous? Would you say it kinda describes the state of the world these days? Enter Uncertain, a new limited podcast series from Scientific American that will change the way you think about that word.