Scientific American.com
A lamp flickering on and off inspires the math mystery of Thomson’s lamp
If you switch a lamp on and off an infinite number of times, will the light end up on or off? Somehow math says both
Ebola outbreak triggers U.S. ban on travelers from three African nations
At least six Americans are believed to have been exposed to the Ebola virus, and one person who appears to have contracted the virus has been evacuated to Germany
How scientists developed a hantavirus PCR test in a weekend
Researchers at the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory worked round the clock to develop a test for the Andes virus at the center of the deadly cruise ship outbreak
Hidden copy of the oldest known poem in the English language leaves researchers ‘speechless’
Researchers discovered the copy of the 1,300-year-old poem lurking inside a historical text in an Italian library
The world is less prepared for a pandemic than before COVID. Here’s why
As world health leaders face deadly outbreaks of hantavirus and Ebola, a major pandemic preparedness report finds we are less safe from viral outbreaks than before COVID
See a Lincoln Memorial-sized asteroid pass within just 56,000 miles of Earth today
The asteroid will swing by Earth on Monday and be close enough to be visible using an amateur telescope
Trump administration ousts top NIH infectious disease leaders
Eight of the top 10 officials at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have now been pushed out since President Donald Trump took office
The programmer whose code underpins the Internet
Sharla Boehm, a math teacher, spent her summers coding. She’d go on to build what would eventually evolve into the Internet
How marijuana rewires the teenage brain
A growing body of research suggests cannabis poses risks to the developing brain
Hantavirus cruise ship, PCOS name change, a fish that hides in another animal’s ‘butthole’
What you should know about hantavirus, why PCOS is getting a new name, and how some fish hide in an unusual spot
Did Homo erectus and Denisovans mate? Tooth proteins hint at ancient trysts
Genetic analysis suggests interbreeding between two groups of human relatives
This small rodent is at the center of theories about the hantavirus outbreak
The long-tailed pygmy rice rat is the primary host for Andes virus, the type of hantavirus responsible for sickening passengers on the MV Hondius cruise ship
These ants navigate with a compass tuned to the moon
A newfound nocturnal navigation system challenges what entomologists thought they knew about how ants find their way
NASA reveals new clues to 2027’s Artemis III, the final test mission before a moon landing
NASA is starting to paint in some of the details of its planned 2027 Artemis III mission, but key questions, such as who its astronauts will be, are yet to be answered
Scientists catalog the ‘fractal dimensions’ of more than 130,000 islands
The “coastline paradox” helped to define fractals, but coastlines themselves turn out to be less fractal than thought
Hantavirus can persist in semen for years, but that doesn’t mean it remains contagious
Researchers know very little about how long the Andes version of the hantavirus can remain in human hosts
A real Mr. Snuffleupagus? Meet the ocean’s strangest new fish species
A strange, tiny fish that resembles the famous Sesame Street character camouflages amid red algae thanks to its flamboyant reddish “hairs”
This startup wants to make drugs in orbit. If it succeeds, it could transform the space economy
Varda’s plan to develop medicines in microgravity has its advantages, but it requires a big up-front cost
How to arm yourself against hantavirus misinformation
Hantavirus misinformation is spreading fast. COVID trauma and social media algorithms may be to blame
Can plants have consciousness? The film Silent Friend reimagines the science
The filmmaker behind the newly released movie Silent Friend shares the scientific and historical inspiration for its story of botanical consciousness
