Scientific American.com

Purple may be a likely color for extraterrestrial organisms, research suggests

Fossils and stone tools show that a cave in Saudi Arabia has been used as shelter by humans for millennia, up to the present day

The state supreme courts in Florida and Arizona both recently ruled that strict abortion bans could go into effect. But ballot measures may give voters a chance to weigh in

Many researchers think that Wegovy and Ozempic should be taken for life, but myriad factors can force people off the drugs

Three types of misinformation are being used against transgender people: oversimplifying scientific knowledge, fabricating and misinterpreting research and promoting false equivalences

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