June offers plenty for skywatchers, including a close meeting between Venus and Jupiter, a rare event where the Moon passes in front of Venus, the arrival of astronomical summer, and the return of some favorite deep-sky targets. Skywatching Highlights June 9: Venus and Jupiter conjunction June 11-15: Mercury joins Venus and Jupiter after sunset June…
The focus of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image released on May 29, 2026, is an active spiral galaxy on a journey lasting hundreds of millions of years. The galaxy Messier 88 (M88), also known as NGC 4501, is located about 63 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice’s Hair). M88 is an active galaxy, which means that its center harbors…
Popular GLP-1 drugs including Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound have already transformed the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Now, new research suggests these medications may also help prevent and treat addiction across a broad range of substances. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that GLP-1 medications were associated…
A queen bee may be shaped by more than its famous royal diet. The wax of the peanut-shaped chamber where the queen develops has distinct physical and chemical properties that help steer its development, researchers report June 3 in Nature. By analyzing the chamber’s composition and the larvae it harbors, the team challenges the long-held…
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. If you love math, you’re probably already subscribed to Scientific American’s weekly newsletter Proof Positive. But if you’re under the impression that you don’t love math, Proof Positive may prove you wrong. Here to give us a taste of some of the surprising and delightful…
The keto diet is heavy on fat, with very little in the way of carbohydrates Panther Media Global / Alamy The ketogenic diet, best known as a fat-busting fad, holds promise for treating anorexia nervosa. Following the diet – which contains high amounts of fat, moderate amounts of protein and very few carbohydrates – caused…
A powerful but mostly unseen water system at work during rocket engine tests at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, underwent an upgrade in May. Crews brought the High Pressure Industrial Water Facility’s 66-million-gallon reservoir to its lowest level since construction in the 1960s by pumping out about 40 million gallons of…
As an Ebola outbreak grows in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, researchers are scrambling to learn more about the rare virus that has sickened hundreds. What they find may be crucial to help turn the tide on a virus that, for now, is outpacing efforts to contain it. The Bundibugyo virus has been behind…
On December 7, 1877, Thomas Edison walked into the offices of Scientific American in New York City and placed a metal device on a desk. With a turn of a crank, Edison astonished the dozen or so staffers who had gathered around the contraption. The machine spoke. “Good morning,” it said in Edison’s voice. “How…
President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at fast-tracking research into the medical use of psychedelics will almost certainly open the door to experimenting with psychedelic therapies for children and eventually prescribing them, experts say. Flanked by podcaster Joe Rogan and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Trump signed the order on…
