Kendra Pierre-Louis: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Kendra Pierre-Louis, in for Rachel Feltman. Over the past couple of weeks oil—specifically, Venezuelan oil—has been all over the headlines. It started late on January 2, when President Donald Trump ordered U.S. military forces to enter Venezuela and capture the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, which they did…
It isn’t always easy to detect cheating in chess SimpleImages/Getty Just three judiciously deployed cheats can turn an otherwise equal chess game into a near-certain victory, a new analysis shows – and systems designed to crack down on cheating might not notice the foul play. Daniel Keren at the University of Haifa in Israel simulated…
Hallucigenia, one of the strangest animals of all time Alamy One of the weirdest animals that ever lived may have been a scavenger. A re-examination of fossils first described in the 1970s seems to show a swarm of Hallucigenia feeding on the corpse of a comb jelly. Hallucigenia was a small animal, up to 5…
January 14, 2026 4 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm How CDC’s Vaccine Rollback Will Affect Winter Respiratory Virus Season Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has slashed childhood vaccine recommendations in the middle of respiratory virus season By Meghan Bartels edited by Lauren J. Young Fajrul Islam/Getty Images Cases…
Too much body fat isn’t healthy, but some kinds can be beneficial DR RAY CLARK & MERVYN GOFF/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY If you thought body fat was just a passive storage depot for calories, think again. Research increasingly suggests that it plays an important role in our overall health, with two studies shedding new light on…
The fastest land animal on the planet lies frozen in time beneath blistering desert sands. Researchers have discovered dozens of ancient cheetah skeletons and dehydrated bodies preserved in caves on the Arabian Peninsula, where the species hasn’t been spotted for decades. The cats’ DNA may help humans reintroduce them to the region in the future….
January 13, 2026 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm T. rex Bones Reveal These Dinosaurs May Have Lived Far Longer Than We Thought New clues hidden inside T. rex bones suggest that the carnivore lived longer lives than we thought By Cody Cottier edited by Claire Cameron Artist’s rendering of a Tyrannosaurus rex….
Lithium-ion batteries could eventually last longer Shutterstock/Bokeh Art Photo It may be possible to extend the life of lithium-ion batteries using standard, low-cost chemistry. Lithium-ion batteries consist of a negative anode and a positive cathode with a porous separator between the two. This is immersed in an electrolyte that enables lithium ions to shuttle between…
Citations C. Neto et al. Impact of behavioral differences on white-lipped peccary reintroduction success in the Atlantic forest. Scientific Reports. Vol. 15, March 5, 2025. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-90853-z A. Sih, A. Bell and J. Chadwick Johnson. Behavioral syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. Vol. 19, July 1, 2004, p. 372-378. doi:…
NASA’s medical evacuation of four astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) is officially underway. On Wednesday at 5:20 P.M. EST, a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the members of Crew-11 undocked from the station to begin the 10.5-hour-long journey back to Earth. The capsule is carrying NASA astronauts Mike Fincke and Zena Cardman, Japan…
