Scientific American.com

Discover why some puzzles stump supersmart AIs but are easy for humans, what this reveals about the quest for true artificial general intelligence—and why video games are the next frontier

A 72 percent reduction in federal funding is devastating to math research. The American Mathematical Society is offering $1 million in backstop grants—but it’s likely not enough.

Why do computers only work with the numbers 0 and 1? There are machines that process three digits with more efficiency than you might expect

It’s certainly possible to consume water sourced from the icy rings of Saturn, but doing so safely may require extra steps

Dropout.tv’s Brennan Lee Mulligan talks about the emotional and cultural importance of Dungeons and Dragons.

After photographs showed President Donald Trump with swollen ankles and bruised hands, the White House revealed he has chronic venous insufficiency—a blood vessel disease that affects circulation in the legs

The park’s newest hydrothermal feature has an otherworldly milky texture from dissolved silica

Long-awaited results of a three-person IVF technique suggest that mitochondrial donation can prevent babies from inheriting diseases caused by mutant mitochondria

Neuroscientists have found that the brain can wake up in different ways, explaining why some mornings feel like a dream and some feel like a disaster

Scientists are racing to learn as much as possible about the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS before it fades from view forever

Household energy expenses will rise, as will greenhouse gas emissions, as a result of the Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act

New deep-brain-stimulation implants for Parkinson’s disease can listen in on brain waves and adapt to treat symptoms. Can this approach target other conditions?

Observations of a baby star may show the earliest stages of planet formation that astronomers have ever seen

The LHCb experiment has observed a new difference between matter and antimatter in particles called baryons

A neurologist explains why weather changes from heat waves to thunderstorms might bring on painful headaches

China is pulling ahead of the rest of the world in sinking data centers that power AI into the ocean as an alternate way to keep them cool

After 10 years of gravitational-wave research, the LIGO Lab team at MIT is getting ready for the next generation of detectors.

Social inequality and the decay of democratic institutions are linked to accelerated aging, but education seems to slow the process

The Trump administration wants to reduce the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s budget by $2.2 billion, eliminating research that might help advance AI weather models

A U.S. gravitational wave detector spotted a collision between fast-spinning “forbidden” black holes that challenge physics models