The altered Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, without new data to justify a reassessment, will no longer recommend universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth. The committee voted 8–3 to limit vaccination of newborns to those whose mothers test positive for the virus. For mothers who test negative during pregnancy, ACIP now recommends waiting until their…
December 5, 2025 5 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm CDC Vaccine Panel Scraps Guidance for Universal Hepatitis B Shots at Birth New guidance from the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel would do away with a decades-old universal birth dose recommendation for hepatitis B that helped cut infections by 99 percent in the U.S. By…
Some researchers are concerned that tattooing brings health risks Olga Kolbakova / Alamy Tattoo ink collects in lymph nodes and interferes with the immune system, causing potentially lifelong changes to the body’s disease-fighting mechanisms. That is the conclusion of a study in mice, in which tattooed animals showed chronic inflammation in their lymph nodes –…
If there were to be a “best dad” award in the animal kingdom, seahorses would be a shoe-in. That’s because males, not females, of these peculiar fish carry their young to term. They fertilize and nourish eggs deposited on their bodies in specialized “brood pouches” that function much like a mother’s womb. By studying how…
The same optic fibers that pulse with the world’s Internet traffic are now listening to the pulse of the planet, picking up earthquake tremors in better detail than traditional seismic networks do. In a recent Science study, researchers used 15 kilometers of telecom fiber near Mendocino, Calif., to record the region’s biggest earthquake in five…
Michael Benson’s shot of a robber fly. The flower and fly together are slightly wider than 1 centimetre across © 2025 Michael Benson A butterfly net, tweezers and a drawstring bag brimming with small plastic vials: it is an unusual toolkit for a photographer, but not for Michael Benson. Over six years, he gathered…
There’s no easier way to explore far-off planets or find your one true love than by reading a great book. Scientific American’s staffers may spend their days embedded in real-world science discoveries, but their nights are often spent curled up with fiction that takes science to strange new places. Here are Scientific American’s picks for…
A shot from Human, about our ancient ancestors BBC/BBC Studios Human (BBC iPlayer/NOVA) Ella al-Shamahi is the perfect guide to our ancient ancestors. In Human, she takes us on a whistle-stop tour of our past over a span of 300,000 years, including our turbulent relations with other hominins. The palaeoanthropologist builds a complex story in…
Discovering nonfiction that reads like a story but keeps the scholarship front and center is the great white whale hunt for bookish adventurers. Countless authors attempt the feat, but it’s rare to find a book that showcases not only a fresh voice but also a new perspective. Scientific American staff read some truly exceptional nonfiction…
Where once they lived in our backyards, many pets – for better and for worse – have now transitioned to a pampered life as “fur baby” family members. The American Veterinary Medical Association recently highlighted that pet owners were projected to spend nearly $1 billion on costumes for their pets this year. Many see this…
