Videos

Curling at the highest level requires careful calculations and a little finesse with physics.

This tiny soft robot can tackle impressive obstacles, using magnets to walk, roll, jump and swim. This flexibility could be vital for medical applications.

In the race for survival, predators can achieve impressive strengths and speeds—but research reveals that when it comes to strategy, their prey may have the upper hand.

This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on January 24, 2018. It is a Nature Video production.

Suspended in midair like science fiction holograms, a new technology can create high-resolution 3-D light displays. Nature Video finds out how it works.

This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on January 24, 2018. It is a Nature Video production.

Researchers used autonomous and remotely operated underwater vehicles to survey the Havre volcano in the Pacific Ocean, leading to a new discovery about submarine volcano deposits.

A new study shows joining “jerks” provides unexpected benefits for bonobos.

Our editors recap some of the most notable science stories of 2017. Check out https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-top-10-science-stories-of-2017/

Become a dreidel “spinologist” and compete for the longest time of spin.

These mammals cannot eat a lot of food when they are on their own, and spend months integrating into new groups before gaining weight.

This year’s Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics was awarded to the team behind NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, or WMAP, a space telescope that launched in 2001 to map the cosmic microwave background—the earliest, oldest light we can detect from the universe’s infancy. The WMAP team will split the $3 million award, with its leaders receiving the largest shares. One of those leaders, WMAP’s chief theorist David Spergel, sat down to speak with Scientific American about WMAP’s science and its legacy. 

Axolotls are used to study cancer development and organ regeneration, but their numbers in the wild are dwindling. Conserving wild salamanders could be vital for research—and the future of this special species. 

This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on November 24, 2017. It is a Nature Video production.