The Ascent of Mammals

Recent fossil discoveries reveal that evolution began laying the groundwork for their rise to world domination long before the dinosaur-killing asteroid cleared the playing field

Strange Supernovae Reveal New Stellar Secrets

Every year thousands of exploding stars appear in a bizarre assortment of forms. Astronomers want to know what makes them go boom

Special Report on the Rise of AI

Artificial intelligence, once discarded as a has-been technology, is now undergoing a vigorous resurgence

Springtime for AI: The Rise of Deep Learning

After decades of disappointment, artificial intelligence is finally catching up to its early promise, thanks to a powerful technique called deep learning

What "Self-Driving" Cars Will Really Look Like

They are coming, but not the way you may have been led to think

Should We Fear Supersmart Robots?

If we're not careful, we could find ourselves at odds with determined, intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own

U.S. Military Develops Strategies to Prevent Climate Wars

The U.S. military is taking steps to limit the chance that worsening droughts, rising seas and melting Arctic ice will hasten uprisings that threaten national interests

Fishes Use Problem Solving and Invent Tools

New discoveries show that fishes are capable of complex mental calculus, reshaping our ideas about animal intelligence underwater

Is Agent Orange Still Causing Birth Defects?

Vietnam insists that children are suffering today from the lingering effects of the infamous defoliant sprayed by U.S. forces decades ago. Scientists are undecided

Semiautonomous Cars Are Here--but How Well Do They Perform?

Many self-driving features are already among us. But don't count on giving up all control just yet

Meet the Early Mammals

A flurry of fossil discoveries over the past 15 years is allowing researchers to piece together the rise of mammals

Want to Know about Deep Learning and AI?--Check This Out

One of the innovators who created the technique that is taking the tech world by storm tells how it works

Climate Change Hastened Syria's Civil War

Human-induced drying in many societies can push tensions over a threshold that provokes violent conflict
 

Rats Harmed by Great-Grandmothers' Exposure to Dioxin

Pregnant rats exposed to an industrial pollutant passed on a variety of diseases to three generations of descendants

How Archer Fish Gun Down Prey from a Distance

The fish control the range of their potent water pistols by adjusting their mouths

More Book Recommendations for June

Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Advances in Medical Care, 1916

Strange Supernovae are Driven by Magnetic Fields [Video]

Three animations model how strongly magnetized stars produce oddball stellar explosions

The Road to Self-Driving Cars

Steven Shladover explains how automated cars can solve transportation issues—but only if they are deployed safely