
How we chose the 2026 Young American Scientists
Scientific American used expert recommendations and data analysis to identify 28 exceptional early-career researchers

How we chose the 2026 Young American Scientists
Scientific American used expert recommendations and data analysis to identify 28 exceptional early-career researchers

Kaiyi Jiang
Creating AI platforms to discover new therapeutics


Mikhail Kolmogorov
Developing software to reveal large genetic changes that lead to cancer

Tixiao Shan
Teaching robots how to recognize and interpret their surroundings

Alex L. Zhang
Making artificial-intelligence recursive language models more efficient

Max Hodak
The Science Corporation CEO and Neuralink co-founder on how artificial intelligence is the new industrial revolution

James Manyika
The Google senior vice president talks about the need to reset the relationship between the government and academic and industrial science

Bob Mumgaard
The energy entrepreneur talks about the state of science innovation in the U.S.

Farnam Jahanian
The university president on narrowing the time between discovery and societal impact

Ayanna Howard
The noted robotics expert discusses the need for better communication to the public on the value of basic science

Michael M. Crow
The higher education innovator shares thoughts on communicating science and connecting research to what the public values

Robert Metcalfe
The Internet pioneer talks about tenure and publications and shares what needs to change for U.S. science to forge ahead