Some pet foods contain potentially harmful PFAS chemicals Cris Cantón/Getty Images Many pet foods – especially those based on fish – have levels of so-called forever chemicals that exceed European health agency thresholds for humans. The findings point to an urgent need for increased monitoring of contaminants in pet products and a better understanding of…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reportedly mulling whether more prescription drugs should be sold over the counter (OTC) at pharmacies. In an interview on Wednesday, FDA commissioner Martin Makary told CNBC that “everything should be over the counter” except drugs that are deemed unsafe or addictive or that require clinical monitoring. Makary said…
The trigeminal nerve is implicated in migraine, so it represents a target for better treatments jitendra jadhav/Alamy We could be on the cusp of a new wave of migraine therapies. Revisiting a neurological pathway that has long been dismissed for treating the painful condition has yielded promising results. By understanding the various mechanisms behind migraine,…
Editor’s note: This story contains light spoilers for Project Hail Mary. I have long puzzled over something in Andy Weir’s 2021 book Project Hail Mary: Why did two of the three fictional astronauts die during an interstellar trip? It might be because Weir put his travelers into four-year-long medically induced comas, says Haig Aintablian, an…
February 20, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Trump administration slashes mercury regulations from coal plants Mercury pollution from coal plants has been tied to serious neurological problems, especially in children and babies By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron Mill Creek Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Louisville, Ky….
This image combines views from the Hubble and Keck II telescopes. A galaxy in the foreground, which appears as a diagonal line, is acting as a gravitational lens. The ring shape is a smeared image of the galaxy H1429-0028 in the background NASA/ESA/ESO/W. M. Keck Observatory Astronomers have spotted a laser-like beam of microwaves produced…
A study in mice and people with osteoarthritis suggests semaglutide can bulk up cartilage between bones, though bigger trials are needed to confirm.
February 20, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Listen to the oldest known recording of a whale Researchers have rediscovered a 77-year-old recording of a haunting song that now has been determined to have come from a humpback whale By Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea Thompson Marnie Griffiths/Getty Images On March 7,…
Illustration of the exoplanet K2-18b NASA The planet K2-18b, which drew intense speculation last year due to apparent signs of life, shows no signs of advanced civilisation after a comprehensive search for radio signals from it. In 2025, Nikku Madhusudhan at the University of Cambridge and his colleagues sensationally claimed that K2-18b, an apparent water…
[CLIP: Skates cut across the ice at an ice rink, and music plays in the background.] Kendra Pierre-Louis: So we’re out here today in lower Manhattan ice-skating. There are lots of kids skating around, dudes in hockey skates, and I’m here getting my inner Michelle Kwan on. [CLIP: Skates cut across the ice at an…
