Neanderthals may have used ochre crayons to draw on cave walls Gorodenkoff/Getty Images A remarkable yellow crayon unearthed in Crimea, still sharp after more than 40,000 years, indicates that painting lines on objects was part of Neanderthal culture. This discovery is the firmest evidence yet that some Neanderthal groups used coloured pigments in symbolic ways…
Some planets might produce their own water instead of relying on outside sources. In laboratory experiments, researchers simulated extreme conditions found within certain exoplanets by blasting olivine — a mineral abundant in planetary interiors — with high-energy lasers in the presence of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen strips the minerals of their oxygen atoms, which then react…
October 29, 2025 5 min read The Neuroscience behind the ‘Parenting Paradox’ of Happiness Separate brain processes cope with moment-to-moment versus big-picture experiences, which helps explain how parenting both increases and decreases aspects of well-being By Anthony Vaccaro edited by Daisy Yuhas Dusan Stankovic/Getty Images Deciding whether to have kids can be one of the…
Analogue computers use less energy than digital ones metamorworks/Getty Images Analogue computers that rapidly solve a key type of equation used in training artificial intelligence models could offer a potential solution to the growing energy consumption in data centres caused by the AI boom. Laptops, smartphones and other familiar devices are known as digital computers,…
Theoretical physicist Alex Lupsasca is pushing for a space telescope to glimpse the thin ring of light that is thought to surround every black hole.
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. TikTok’s algorithm, which shapes what more than a billion users see, has developed an almost mystical reputation for figuring out what people want to watch. Those powers aren’t actually magical, but they do matter. An algorithm as widely used as TikTok’s can have a huge…
Struggling to concentrate? Maybe your brain is having a wash Jenny Evans/Getty Images We all know it can be hard to concentrate when you are sleep-deprived, but why does this happen? It may be because your brain is trying to refresh itself, causing momentary lapses in attention. During sleep, the brain carries out a rinse…
October 27, 2025 3 min read Why Hurricane Melissa Could Be the Worst Storm to Ever Hit Jamaica Category 5 Hurricane Melissa’s exceptional strength and slow pace could make it more destructive than Hurricane Gilbert, which hit Jamaica in 1988 By Andrea Thompson A cyclist rides up to a store to seek shelter from Hurricane…
A satellite image of Hurricane Melissa taken on 28 October Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo Jamaica is being directly hit by what may be the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the Atlantic Ocean, forecast to produce up to a metre (40 inches) of rain over its mountains – and there is…
Scientists found thousands of patterned fish nests in Antarctica’s Weddell Sea, boosting calls for marine protected areas.
