Young American Scientists Features

Portrait photograph of Adam Bowman, Chee-Huat Linus Eng, Jenny Bergner, Kaiyi Jiang, Christina V. Theodoris, Lvmin Zhang, Steven Chavez and Dmitrii Kochkov.

The SciencesJune 16, 2026

How we chose the 2026 Young American Scientists

Scientific American used expert recommendations and data analysis to identify 28 exceptional early-career researchers

Ari Sen

Detail of a chart with dots and error range bars. A U.S. label is associated with a pair of dots that show a drop in value.

EducationJune 16, 2026

See how academic freedom is changing around the world

Some countries have seen a stark decline in academic freedom over the past decade

Jen Christiansen

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Cover of the July/August issue of Scientific American, featuring a colorful collage of people around the branding of The Young American Scientists, against an orange background.

CultureJune 16, 2026

Science’s rising stars

There are bright futures ahead for our first-ever Young American Scientist honorees

David M. Ewalt