Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. In recent weeks several prominent public health experts have resigned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing concerns about the agency’s shift away from science-based decision-making. Among them was Demetre Daskalakis, who until recently directed the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory…
Sci-fi writer Ursula K. Le Guin in 2001 Benjamin Brink/The Oregonian/AP/Alamy Like many of you, no doubt, Ursula K. Le Guin is one of my favourite sci-fi writers. So I am really excited about a collection out this month that brings together the maps she would draw when starting a story, and also celebrates her…
October 1, 2025 5 min read Meet the Microbes That Munch Mountains of Mining Waste Biomining uses engineered microbes to harvest critical minerals By Vanessa Bates Ramirez edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Escondida Mine, located in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The copper-bearing waste is poured into the impoundment area as a liquid (green region at image…
Fermented foods and beverages make up a large proportion of the human diet and come in a wide variety of forms, from bread to kimchi Shutterstock; Stockfood “It’s blue cheese, but not as you’ve ever known it before,” says Paul Dyer, as we peer into a fridge full of very special cheeses that he helped…
September 29, 2025 3 min read ‘Ghost Fire’ in Marshes Sparked by Strange Chemistry A phenomenon called microlightning may explain ghostly blue marsh lights By Rachel Nuwer edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier An illustration of an ignis fatuus, or will-o’-the-wisp, by Josiah Wood Whymper from the book Phenomena of Nature (1849). Science & Society Picture…
A life-sized camel engraving at Jebel Misma, Saudi Arabia Sahout Rock Art and Archaeology Project Ancient inhabitants of the Arabian desert created monumental works of rock art on cliff faces, including life-sized images of camels, perhaps as a way to mark sources of water. Michael Petraglia, at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, and his colleagues…
September 30, 2025 4 min read Rock Art Discovery Reveals Unknown Arabian Nomads from 12,000 Years Ago Camels in ancient Arabia may have led hunter-gatherers through deserts once thought uninhabitable By Martin J. Kernan edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Camel engravings indicate paths to ancient oases at four remote sites Sahout Rock Art and Archaeology…
The internet loves cat videos, but how do the cats feel? Westend61 GmbH/Alamy It turns out it is incredibly funny to scare the hell out of your cats and dogs. At least, that is the message we are getting from certain TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram videos. As a science writer who is focused a…
President Trump blasted followers on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday with this dire warning: “Don’t give Tylenol to your young child for virtually any reason.” This statement followed a highly publicized press conference last week in which he and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., suggested—in contradiction…
Why do most people have an “innie” belly button? Tatiana Gorbunova / Alamy The belly button, it turns out, is one of the least-studied parts of the human body. But one of its great mysteries may now have been solved – why most people have an innie, or concave belly button. This may be due…
