A young loggerhead turtle in the Caribbean Sea near the Bahamas WaterFrame/Alamy Sea turtles may be better able to cope with climate change than we had thought. Biologists are concerned that the reptiles might face extinction because warmer conditions will encourage most turtle eggs to develop into females. But it turns out the animals have…
Scientists have described a novel, yet benign bone-covered growth’s characteristics for doctors, so patients don’t receive unnecessary chemotherapy.
January 23, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Dolphins with more close friends age more slowly A study of dolphins’ epigenetic ages found that animals with more high-quality friendships were biologically younger than their lonely peers By Hasmik Kirakosyan edited by Tanya Lewis Male bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Shark Bay, Western…
A long-exposure photograph in the northern hemisphere showing satellites in the night sky Alan Dyer/VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images A report filed by SpaceX with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in late December reveals some startling information – including that its Starlink satellites had to perform about 300,000 collision-avoidance manoeuvres in 2025. Starlink…
January 21, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm RFK, Jr.’s assertion that his voice condition is linked to the flu shot is not based in science, experts say The U.S. secretary of health and human services told USA Today that he believed the flu jab was a “potential culprit” for his spasmodic…
Many mushroom species produce the psychoactive compound psilocybin YARphotographer/Shutterstock Magic mushrooms have been giving humans mind-altering experiences for thousands of years, but the real reason fungi evolved these hallucinogenic chemicals may have been as a bioweapon against insects that feed on them. Psilocybin is the active ingredient in numerous species of magic mushrooms, which are…
January 22, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm NIH ends fetal tissue research The National Institutes of Health’s move to end support for research using fetal human tissue is “clearly a political decision, not a scientific one,” one expert says By Dan Vergano edited by Claire Cameron National Institutes of Health director…
Procoptodon goliah was 2 metres tall, but it might have hopped MICHAEL LONG/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Even the giant kangaroos that roamed Australia thousands of years ago might have been able to hop, according to a new analysis of bones. Some of the kangaroos living during the Pleistocene were more than twice as heavy as those…
Citations S.L. Winkler et al. Bonobos tend to behave optimistically after hearing laughter. Scientific Reports. Published online June 26, 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-02594-8. X.J. Nelson et al. Joyful by nature: approaches to investigate the evolution and function of joy in non-human animals. Biological Reviews. Vol. 98, May 1, 2023, p. 1548. doi: 10.1111/brv.12965. Ľ. Košťál ,…
Most types of cancer have become less deadly over time in adults younger than age 50 in the U.S. but colon and rectum cancers continue to cost lives at alarming rates, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society. The data show that colorectal cancer has officially become the number one cause of…
