Scientific American.com
Scientists make AI play Battleship to help it do science better
AI models and people played “collaborative” Battleship to test strategies for efficiently solving problems
Is Pluto a planet? That’s asking the wrong question
The problem with Pluto isn’t its planetary or nonplanetary status—it’s our insistence on declaring the world must be one or the other
The science behind social media’s peptide obsession
As peptide “stacking” takes over social media feeds, we separate the science from the hype of the Internet’s latest wellness obsession
David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday
David Attenborough once directed programming at the BBC and has hosted numerous award-winning nature documentaries, but he’s always stayed down-to-earth, colleagues say
Trump administration cut funding to study hantavirus, the virus behind deadly cruise ship outbreak
The Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases were designed to study viruses that could jump from animals to people, including hantavirus, but in 2025 the National Institutes of Health said the work wouldn’t continue
Slower biological aging may tied to getting the same amount of rest each day
Stable rhythms of rest and activity are associated with healthier biological age markers, a new study suggests
Math and statistics help explain the FBI's ‘missing scientists’ cases
Statistical principles show you don’t need a nefarious plot to explain clusters of missing scientists and lab workers
Shake it off—NASA’s Curiosity rover gets its robotic arm stuck inside a rock on Mars
Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, but the Mars rover Curiosity just keeps on groovin’—even if its handlers had to spend several days freeing its drill from a rock
Poop, stomach oil and ostrich eggshells keep records of Earth’s ancient climate
Earth's ancient climate is written in... ostrich eggshells and stomach oil?
Skeletons of four doomed Franklin Expedition sailors identified with DNA
The latest studies bring the number of remains identified from this doomed 1845 expedition to six of the 129 who set out to the Arctic
The hantavirus cruise ship outbreak is a dangerous experiment
The tragic and fatal outbreak of hantavirus onboard a luxury cruise ship highlights the gaps in research and treatments for the rare and mysterious infection—including how the virus spreads among people
MAHA voters support lower health care costs above vaccine safety and limitation of pesticides, poll finds
A new KFF poll found that voters aligned with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement consider the cost of health care as their top policy priority
Could this fungus live on Mars? Maybe it already does
An almost unkillable fungal strain isolated from NASA’s ultrasterile clean rooms hints at “critical gaps” in interplanetary quarantine
The return of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award likely won’t improve children’s health, experts say
Researchers say that President Donald Trump’s resurrection of widely maligned fitness testing in schools is “half-baked” and unlikely to move the needle on youth physical activity alone
Gas prices are spiking. So why aren’t U.S. oil companies drilling more?
As the U.S. and Iran fight for dominance in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. gas prices are continuing to rise—and production might not keep up
The brain processes overheard words under anesthesia, but it may not remember them
A study of people who underwent surgery to treat epilepsy suggests the hippocampus may process words and speech when people are under general anesthesia, even though the study participants didn’t remember them
The Trump administration is bringing back flavored vapes. Advocates and lawmakers say the risks outweigh the benefits
The president had vowed to “save vaping” on the campaign trail in 2024, but the decision is already drawing fire from antinicotine advocates and a bipartisan group of lawmakers
A 1,500-foot tsunami took scientists by surprise. Now we know why it happened
By chance a tour boat avoided a deadly tsunami set off by the retreat of Alaska's coastal glaciers. Scientists are working to spot landslides like the one that caused the massive wave to warn people in harm's way
‘Touchy-feely’ dark matter is having a moment
Models giving dark matter more complex behavior could help solve multiple cosmic mysteries
What are AI agents? Inside a real experiment where AI ran a start‑up
Journalist Evan Ratliff explores what happens when AI agents are given real autonomy to build and run a start‑up from scratch
