Scientific American.com

The telescope's studies could help end a long-standing disagreement over the rate of cosmic expansion. But scientists say more measurements are needed

Brain size in one Massachusetts community has steadily increased since the 1930s, possibly explaining why dementia is trending lower nationwide

Plants are just trying to reproduce; immune systems are just trying to keep us safe

Perspective and subtle motion allows us to peek over the moon’s edge and into its far side

Cows and at least one person in the U.S. have been sickened by avian influenza. We asked experts about the risk to humans.

Two medical devices that mechanically pump blood to the heart have caused hundreds of injuries and more than a dozen deaths

Scientists say extreme temperatures that reached 119 degrees Fahrenheit and killed at least 100 people in parts of West Africa would only occur every 200 years in the absence of climate change

Melba Phillips co-authored a paper with J. Robert Oppenheimer in 1935 that proved important in the development of nuclear physics. Later she became an outspoken critic of nuclear weapons

Fossilized vertebrae that were found in an Indian coal mine belonged to a gigantic and previously unknown snake species

Can you assign a size to every object? The surprising answer is no

A new report finds that AI matches or outperforms people at tasks such as competitive math and reading comprehension

Facing budgetary pressure for its Mars Sample Return program, NASA has turned to private industry for ideas—perhaps with one specific company in mind

Mental health recommendations for pilots and air traffic controllers bring new ideas to old problems; the FAA must decide what’s next

A philosopher who lived centuries before artificial intelligence might be able to help us understand the field's personhood questions

Movies and TV shows frequently depict physical and biological sciences well, but often depict psychological and brain sciences poorly. Here’s why, and what we can do about it

“A mass bleaching event is, by definition, a mass mortality event,” a leading coral reef expert says

At least 2.1 million cases of dengue fever have been reported in North and South America, and this year 1,800 people have died from the mosquito-borne disease

This eight-legged probe would scour Mars’s underground lava tubes for places where explorers might camp—or for signs of past life

A black hole weighing as much as 33 suns lurks a mere 2,000 light-years away from our solar system

How long can humanity’s artifacts endure on the lunar surface? A new installation from artist Jeff Koons is inadvertently putting this question to the test