“We can model many situations using so-called game theory…” Shutterstock/Ann Kosolapova It is a dog-eat-dog world. Everyone for themselves, no matter the cost. If so, how would a behaviour like cooperation ever emerge? From evolutionary biology to international diplomacy, we can model many situations using so-called game theory. These games have actions or strategies available…
Coral reefs are being severely damaged by climate change WaterFrame/Alamy A recent surge in ocean temperatures has caused the widespread bleaching and death of warm-water corals around the world, officially triggering the first climate tipping point for one of Earth’s ecosystems, scientists have declared. The collapse of one of the world’s most diverse and fragile…
Earth has entered a grim new climate reality. The planet has officially passed its first climate tipping point. Relentlessly rising heat in the oceans has now pushed corals around the world past their limit, causing an unprecedented die-off of global reefs and threatening the livelihoods of nearly a billion people, scientists say in a new…
You have probably heard that loading up on vitamin C will ward off a cold, or perhaps TikTok has influenced you to take turmeric or some other supplement to supercharge your immune system. The problem is, these bold claims and quick fixes are nonsense. There are so many myths about immunity, says Daniel Davis, an…
This image seems to show a wrench on Mars, but it is just an ordinary rock Brian Cory Dobbs Productions Blue Planet RedDirected by Brian Cory Dobbs, Streaming on Amazon Prime Video Blue Planets Red purports to be a documentary about Mars. The world presented by director Brian Cory Dobbs isn’t the one you and I…
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. You might know Chris Hadfield as the International Space Station commander who famously sang David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” while orbiting Earth. But in recent years he’s added fiction writer to his list of jobs, publishing thrillers based on the real history of the space race….
They have been called “poison”, “addictive” and “junk”, but however you describe ultra-processed foods (UPFs), it is clear they are the nutritional bogeyman du jour. That fear is reasonable, given their consumption has been linked to a dizzying array of health effects, from obesity and type 2 diabetes, to anxiety and depression. Their dominance has…
October 10, 2025 4 min read Marilyn Monroe in Game of Thrones? AI Could Make It Happen Soon Despite early, and familiar, copyright growing pains, Sora may be the prelude to AI-generated on-demand TV and movies By Deni Ellis Béchard edited by Andrea Gawrylewski An image still that was taken from a video generated with…
The rocks of the Jurassic Coast in the UK span 185 million years James Osmond/Alamy The Whispers of RockAnjana Khatwa, The Bridge Street Press (UK); Basic Books (US, out 4 November) IT IS easy to take rocks for granted. How often do we think about the materials that make up the pavements we walk on, or…
October 11, 2025 5 min read The Math That Predicted the New Pope A decades-old technique from network science saw something in the papal conclave that AI missed By Jack Murtagh edited by Jeanna Bryner Cardinals attend the Holy Mass, which is the prelude to the papal conclave, in St. Peter’s Basilica, on May 7,…
