A cannabis extract was tested as a treatment for chronic pain Cappi Thompson/Getty Images A drug derived from cannabis eases chronic lower back pain without serious side effects or signs of addiction, making it a potentially powerful alternative to existing pain medications. There are currently few treatment options for patients experiencing chronic pain, with many…
Some things in cosmology may simply be unknowable. Why is there something rather than nothing? What lies outside the universe? What is inside a black hole? That last one has been niggling at astrophysicists for more than a century, but they may finally be on the brink of figuring it out. The traditional answer is…
Being a punk rocker means being perpetually misunderstood. So perhaps it’s vindication that that some seafloor fossils, once considered just piles of decomposing gunk, may now be reclassified as animals — and fittingly named after punk rocker John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, of the Sex Pistols. The newly named Lydonia jiggamintia was once thought to…
An 1849 engraving depicting a will-o’-the-wisp SSPL/Getty Images Bubbles merging in water can spontaneously generate electric sparks powerful enough to ignite methane, which could explain mysterious flashes of light known as will-o’-the-wisps. In bogs, swamps and marshes, people occasionally see mysterious blue-tinged flashes of light above water, which have commonly been associated with ghosts or…
Under a midnight moon, Luigi Garlaschelli peered out over graves. He was scouting for glowing balls of light known as will-o’-the-wisps. Like a ghostbuster, Garlaschelli, a chemist formerly at the University of Pavia in Italy, wore a device to vacuum up the wisp for study — should one appear. Sadly, one didn’t. But for hundreds…
September 29, 2025 3 min read How Hurricane Humberto Is Pulling Tropical Storm Imelda Away from the U.S. In a version of the Fujiwhara effect, Hurricane Humberto is pulling Tropical Storm Imelda eastward and away from the U.S. By Andrea Thompson edited by Jeanna Bryner The U.S. Southeast will likely avoid the worst effects from…
We can’t physically pivot our ears towards sounds, but our brain still hones in on them Experienced Skins/Getty Images Dogs do it, cats do it, deer do it – in fact, many species of mammals can swivel their ears to direct their hearing. Humans lost this ability about 25 million years ago, but according to…
Cancer cells transfer mitochondria through nanotubes to healthy neighboring cells, turning them into tumor-supporting accomplices, a new study shows.
Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. You’re listening to our weekly science news roundup. First, we’re bringing in one of our regular contributors from the SciAm newsroom for an update on one of last week’s biggest stories. [CLIP: Donald Trump speaking at a White House press conference: “Effective…
What is the quantum nature of time? We may be about to find out Quality Stock / Alamy What does the passage of time look like for a truly quantum object? The world’s best clocks may soon be able to answer this question, testing how time can stretch and shift in the quantum realm and…
