It’s not normal for public health to be so partisan. The current administration has slashed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) programs that protect Americans from cancer, heart disease, stroke, birth defects and workplace harms. It has derailed lifesaving programs created by President George W. Bush that protect children from malaria and prevent the…
Illustration of Faraday’s experiment showing how light becomes polarised by a magnetic field ENRIQUE SAHAGÚN In 1845, physicist Michael Faraday provided the first direct evidence that electromagnetism and light are related. Now, it turns out that this connection is even stronger than Faraday imagined. In his experiment, Faraday shone light through a piece of glass which…
This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Michael Benson: So the snowflakes were a different story altogether. [Flips to a page in his book Nanocosmos.] So there’s the classic one. You know, I lived in Ottawa, Ontario, for six years. On supporting science…
The internal optics of Atom Computing’s AC1000 system Atom Computing Quantum computers made from qubits based on extremely cold atoms have been getting larger at an impressive rate, which may soon make them computationally powerful – but errors arise at a rate that limits their usefulness. Now, researchers have worked out how to replenish and…
I do so love an ostentatious comet. As I wrote in a recent “The Universe” column, when these dusty ice balls are billions of kilometers from the sun, they’re frozen solid. But as they near our star on their orbit, they warm up. The ice thaws and turns directly to gas, which expands around a…
Gemini 3 is Google’s latest AI model VCG via Getty Images Google’s latest chatbot, Gemini 3, has made significant leaps on a raft of benchmarks designed to measure AI progress, according to the company. These achievements may be enough to allay fears of an AI bubble bursting for the moment, but it is unclear how…
Before a car crash in 2008 left her paralysed from the neck down, Nancy Smith enjoyed playing the piano. Years later, Smith started making music again, thanks to an implant that recorded and analysed her brain activity. When she imagined playing an on-screen keyboard, her brain–computer interface (BCI) translated her thoughts into keystrokes — and…
Beatie Wolfe (left) and Brian Eno preparing to launch their new album Cecily Eno LiminalBrian Eno and Beatie Wolfe, Verve Records On a sunny day in October, I found myself standing in a field in New Jersey, craning my head up towards a massive metal cornucopia. I was at the Holmdel Horn Antenna for what…
November 22, 2025 4 min read 5 Charts Show Climate Progress as Paris Agreement Turns 10 The 2015 Paris Agreement forged a path for the world to stave off the worst climate change scenarios. Here’s where we stand 10 years later By Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea Thompson Ten years ago the world came together…
Scaffolds like these are used to give structure to 3D-printed organs Tristan Fewings/Getty Images Replaceable YouMary Roach, Oneworld Publications (UK); W. W. Norton (US) Our bodies are made of many squishy, hard and intricate parts. When these fail – or fall short of our expectations – what are we to do? Medicine offers some solutions,…
