People taking popular new weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Zepbound often celebrate the number of pounds they shed and the related health benefits, but many doctors at weight-loss clinics are noticing a puzzling response in certain individuals. Andres J. Acosta, a gastroenterologist at the Mayo Clinic, says some of his patients have expressed frustration…
The Bakhshali manuscript includes the first instance of zero in the written record PA Images/Alamy What is the most important number in the entirety of mathematics? Ok, that’s a pretty silly question – out of infinite possibilities, how could you possibly choose? I suppose a big hitter like 2 or 10 has a better claim…
Australia’s tropical forests are the world’s first to flip a worrisome switch. The forests are now putting more carbon into the atmosphere than they are taking out, researchers report in the Oct. 16 Nature. That switch is a clanging alarm bell for the planet’s tropical forests, sounding as world leaders prepare to gather in the…
Despite the Trump administration’s insistence that the U.S. must win a race back to the moon with China, NASA looks increasingly unlikely to succeed, experts say. Meanwhile China insists it isn’t in a race at all yet looks poised to win the 21st century’s lunar scramble. The first Trump administration unveiled its Artemis lunar landing…
Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss displayed on an iPhone (left), on which a small e-paper display with the same image (right) is placed Kingston Frameworks; Kunli Xiong et al. (2025) A new kind of colour e-paper can present bright, high-resolution and full-colour images and video while using minimal energy, pointing to a possible future for display…
This Is What Actually Helps When Sick with a Cold or Flu Should you take vitamin C or zinc when you are sick with a common cold or influenza? Immunologist Zachary Rubin explains which at-home remedies actually help. By Zachary Rubin edited by Kelso Harper This video is part of “Innovations In: RSV,” an editorially…
President George H. W. Bush, left, with his pro-green advisor Bill Reilly Netflix The White House EffectDirected by Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk, streaming on Netflix from 31 October The opening sequence of The White House Effect, a harrowing new climate documentary, transports you to the great drought of 1988. Picture the scene: a…
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. The president of the United States recently claimed that the use of acetaminophen, commonly known by the brand name Tylenol, during pregnancy and early childhood could be linked to autism in kids. But these claims aren’t supported by the scientific evidence, and they highlight a…
Gene-edited pigs resistant to classical swine fever Simon Lillico A tiny genetic tweak can make pigs completely resistant to classical swine fever, a major problem for farmers around the world. The same gene edit should also make cattle and sheep resistant to related viruses that plague livestock. The widespread use of gene-edited pigs resistant to…
October 24, 2025 2 min read Ancient Vulture Nests Reveal 600 Years of Human History—Including 25 Shoes Cliff-rappelling scientists uncovered a crossbow bolt, part of a slingshot and 25 shoes in ancient vulture nesting sites By Elizabeth Anne Brown edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier A shoe, more than 670 years old, was one of 25…
