January 29, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Doctors keep patient alive using ‘artificial lungs’ for two days Novel artificial lungs could help keep people whose lungs no longer function alive long enough to get an organ transplant By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron New lungs (left) that were transplanted…
Spotting cancer tumours in mammograms seems to be easier with AI AMELIE-BENOIST/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty People who are screened for breast cancer by AI-supported radiologists are less likely to develop aggressive cancers before their next screening round than those who are screened by radiologists alone, raising hopes that AI-assisted screening could save lives. “This…
Editor’s note: This story includes graphic video of the artificial lung system at the end. Hit play to uncensor the video. Surgeons removed a man’s irreparably damaged lungs and kept him alive for 48 hours with artificial lungs until he could get a transplant. Doctors crafted shunts, tubes and pumps into a system that oxygenated…
January 29, 2026 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Elon Musk’s SpaceX reportedly mulling a merger with xAI SpaceX and xAI could join forces ahead of Elon Musk’s plan to take the former public later this year, according to Reuters By Claire Cameron edited by Jeanna Bryner Elon Musk’s aerospace company SpaceX and…
Studying twins is key to understanding the heritability of lifespan Halfpoint/iStockphoto/Getty Images In wealthy, relatively safe countries, how long people live now probably depends just as much on the genetic variants they inherit from their parents as on their environment and lifestyles. That’s the implication of a study reanalysing data from research in twins in…
The length of your life may depend more upon your genes than scientists thought. Once you remove from consideration events that cut life short — such as infections and injury — genetics account for about half the factors that determine human life span, researchers report in the Jan. 29 Science. The findings challenge the prevalent…
Born to a family with a tragic past, Katharine Burr Blodgett defied the expectations of her upbringing as an upper-middle class girl to make chemistry and physics the center of her life. We trace Blodgett’s early years, as she picked up European languages, and her early scientific education at a progressive school for girls in…
Researchers tracked the body condition of polar bears in Svalbard Jon Aars, Norsk Polarinstitutt Polar bears have been getting fatter even as sea ice disappears in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, the fastest-warming place on Earth – but scientists don’t expect the good times to last. The northern Barents Sea, which stretches between Svalbard and Russia’s Novaya…
Rising temperatures and rapidly melting sea ice threaten polar bears across the Arctic. But the bears living 800 miles north of the Arctic Circle have stayed surprisingly fat, researchers report January 29 in Scientific Reports. The Arctic is home to 20 populations of polar bears. Each group faces its own set of struggles — climate…
January 29, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Heathrow dropped its 100-ml liquids rule. This scanner tech made it possible New CT scanners can build a 3D model of your carry-on, helping airport staff spot risks without making you unpack or decant liquids into tiny bottles By Eric Sullivan edited by Claire…
