Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. We’ve all heard apologies that ring hollow and others that sound genuine, but what makes the difference? New research suggests that the words we choose when we apologize can signal how much effort we’re putting into making amends, and that perceived effort has a big…
This view of the night sky is a composite of images taken over a period of just 30 minutes – showing just how many satellites are now in orbit ALAN DYER/VW PICS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Think of pollution and your mind’s eye might conjure up images of smoke-spewing chimneys, car exhausts and those sewer outflows you…
Different people may benefit from some antidepressants over others, depending on their side effects Mariia Veklenko/Getty Images Antidepressants vary greatly in the side effects they cause – from weight gain to weight loss and blood pressure changes. This may need to be taken into account when doctors decide which of the many drug options, which…
Australia’s First Peoples were more early paleontologists than extinction-driving butchers, a group of scientists argue. For decades, the debate over whether the first humans to inhabit present-day Australia contributed to the extinction of the country’s ancient megafauna has raged and smoldered. Humans arrived at the landmass known as Sahul around 65,000 years ago, during the…
Solar geoengineering would see us attempt to block out some of the sun’s rays PA Images/Alamy Humanity will attempt large-scale efforts to block radiation from the sun before the end of the century, according to leading climate scientists surveyed by New Scientist, in a last-ditch bid to shield Earth’s inhabitants from the worsening impacts of…
At an effective temperature of 13 million kelvins, the jiggling glass sphere could help scientists understand physics at the microscale.
Scientists have used an eye implant to improve the vision of dozens of people left functionally blind by age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The implant, which measures 2 millimetres by 2 millimetres, and is just 30 micrometres thick, is surgically inserted beneath the retina to replace the light-sensitive cells that have been lost to the disease….
Spinning ultracold atoms could help us reveal the limits of relativity Shutterstock / Dmitriy Rybin Tiny “Ferris wheels” made from light and extremely cold particles could allow researchers to test a facet of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity on unprecedentedly small scales. Theories of special and general relativity, which Einstein formulated in the early 1900s,…
Using a scratch-and-sniff test, researchers discovered that smell loss after COVID-19 may linger for more than two years.
How to Stay Safe during RSV Season Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can be life-threatening, but there are new treatments to prevent and treat the disease. By Zachary Rubin edited by Kelso Harper This video is part of “Innovations In: RSV,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from MSD, Sanofi and…
