Information Overload Helps Fake News Spread, and Social Media Knows It
Understanding how algorithm manipulators exploit our cognitive vulnerabilities empowers us to fight back
Latest Stories
Sharing the Human Side of Science
Exploding stars, Top 10 Emerging Technologies, hand transplants, and more in the December issue of Scientific American
Strange Supernovae Upend Expectations
Most stars die in fairly predictable ways, but astronomers have discovered a growing catalog of unusual stellar deaths that challenge the traditional picture
Distrust Authorities, Including Me
The presidential election and pandemic have highlighted the fallibility of experts, but that doesn’t mean we should dismiss them all
We Need a National Institute of Climate Change and Health
The NIH has a budget of over $40 billion—but spends a measly $9 million on this looming public health emergency
If It Smells like Dirt, Fire Ants Are Interested
For these swarming, stinging insects it’s the aroma of home sweet home
Clues to Puebloan History Drip Away in Melting Ice Caves
Charcoal dating back nearly 2,000 years show the ancestral Puebloans used the ice for drinking water during droughts
Arecibo Observatory to Close Its Giant Eye on the Sky
After suffering severe damage from broken cables that cannot be readily repaired, the observatory’s enormous radio telescope is now slated for “controlled decommissioning”...
See a Male Seahorse Give Birth
Unlike almost all other animal species, it is male seahorses who become pregnant and birth young
Doing the Touchy Math on Who Should Get a COVID Vaccine First
Mathematicians model pandemic scenarios by plugging thorny ethical and logistical issues into calculations
