Astronomy
"A sky-watching experience that will move your soul" — the best binoculars for magnification have now also hit the best price of the year in this Labor Day deal
Landsat 9 Sees Buccaneer Archipelago
Just one dose of psilocybin seems to be enough to rewire the brain
Just one dose of psilocybin seems to be enough to rewire the brain
56 million years ago, Earth underwent rapid global warming. Here’s what it did to pollinators
Galactic cannonballs: The mystery of hypervelocity white dwarfs may just have been solved
Hottest engine in the world reveals weirdness of microscopic physics
Hottest engine in the world reveals weirdness of microscopic physics
Week in images: 25-29 August 2025
Week in images: 25-29 August 2025
Discover our week through the lens
How Key Changes to the Pelvis Helped Humans Walk Upright
Genetic and anatomical data reveal how the human pelvis acquired its unique shape, enabling our ancestors to walk on two legs
Making babies beyond Earth? Mouse study suggests we can make it happen
It's not easy being green (-blooded). The latest 'Strange New Worlds' shows it's harder than you'd think to play a Vulcan
NASA puts asteroid Bennu under the microscope | Space photo of the day for Aug. 29, 2025
What 100 Years of Quantum Physics Has Taught Us about Reality—And Ourselves
A survey of Scientific American’s century of quantum coverage helps explain the enduring popularity of strange physics
The Mystery of the Vanishing Star
A star 3,000 light years away pulled off the ultimate disappearing act, dimming by 97% for eight months before mysteriously returning to full brightness. This unexpected vanishing trick has finally been solved by astronomers who discovered a massive dust disk and a hidden companion star orchestrating one of the rarest eclipsing events ever observed, a one in a million phenomenon that won't happen again until 2068.
High-Mass Stars Are Fed By Elongated Streamers Of Gas
Stars with eight or more stellar masses are termed high-mass stars. There are questions around how these stars can become so massive, since as they form they lose mass through stellar winds and radiation. New research shows that elongated streams of gas that feed these stars explains their high masses.
The Exposed Core Of This Supernova Is A Headscratcher
For the first time, astrophysicists have spotted a supernova right before it explodes. This is a rare glimpse inside a massive star before it meets its doom. The star was stripped down to its core, and the observations confirm theories that show stars have onion-like layers.
Why are weather forecasting apps so terrible?
Why are weather forecasting apps so terrible?
Subliminal Learning Lets Student AI Models Learn Unexpected (and Sometimes Misaligned) Traits from Their Teachers
AI can transfer strange qualities through seemingly unrelated training—from a love of owls to something more dangerous