December 18, 2025 4 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm The 10 Most Mind-Blowing Discoveries About the Brain in 2025 From glowing neurons to newborn memories, here are the most fascinating brain discoveries of 2025 By Allison Parshall edited by Andrea Thompson Getty Images/Andriy Onufriyenko The human brain has 86 billion neurons connected by…
SETI THE RECORD STRAIGHT In “We Probably Aren’t Alone,” Sarah Scoles describes how Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli’s 1877 observation of apparent “channels” or “grooves” on Mars had led to a widespread belief that the planet was “home to canal-digging civilizations” thanks to a mistranslation. Scoles notes that this idea “began to lose its sparkle in…
December 17, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Strange Cosmic Blast May Be First-Ever Superkilonova Observed The combination of a supernova and a kilonova may have produced a rare space explosion that astronomers have never seen before By Claire Cameron edited by Clara Moskowitz The final stage of a superkilonova. Caltech/K. Miller…
December 17, 2025 4 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm New Views of Solar System Moons Complicate Ocean Worlds Theory Oceans hiding within the crusts of distant moons are tantalizing targets for scientists looking for life beyond Earth By Meghan Bartels edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Titan (left) and Europa (right). Left: NASA/JPL/University of…
December 17, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm This Planet Is the Shape of a Lemon. That May Be the Least Weird Thing about It Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a bizarre-looking exoplanet that defies explanation By Claire Cameron edited by Jeanna Bryner Image courtesy of NASA/ESA/CSA/Ralf Crawford/STScI…
We perceive colour using input from the cone cells in our retinas Shutterstock/Kitreel In April, a team of researchers reported a device enabled them to witness an intense green-blue colour that had never been seen by humans before. After the announcement, they were bombarded by requests from the public to see the colour for themselves….
December 17, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Jared Isaacman Confirmed to Head NASA at Pivotal Moment for Space Science Billionaire Jared Isaacman is taking the reins at NASA at a challenging time for the space agency, as it faces budget cuts and technical hurdles that could scuttle its most ambitious missions…
Chronic fatigue syndrome doesn’t have a single cause, but the role of genetics is starting to come to light anusorn nakdee/Getty Images We’re starting to get a handle on the role that genetics plays in the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome, or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS). According to the largest study of its kind to date,…
On January 1, some hardy souls will greet the new year not by nursing a champagne hangover in bed, but by plunging into frigid water. In New York City, thousands of people participate in a seaside “polar plunge” held annually since 1903. Similarly bone-chilling swims take place across the country and overseas on New Year’s…
Kendra Pierre-Louis: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Kendra Pierre-Louis, in for Rachel Feltman. If you’re of a certain generation, you might be able to trace your affinity for orcas to repeated viewings of a certain movie: the seminal 1993 film Free Willy. That movie led to a herculean effort that would eventually rope in…
