Browsing: Science

The sense of smell, it turns out, is highly individual—a scent that is enticingly floral to one person may be off-putting and chemical to another. Researchers…

August 19, 20253 min read180 Years of Standing Up for ScienceOur anniversary celebration begins with an outstanding collection of stories about times that science itself has…

Good morning, class. Today is the introduction to our next unit, entitled, “A Never-Ending List of the Obscene and Excruciating Ways that Sexual Activity will Kill…

August 19, 20253 min readSeptember 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years AgoHuge fish; spiritualist rebukeBy Mark Fischetti 1975, Sun Loops: “Loops on the…

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www.springernature.com/us).…

August 12, 20254 min readTrump Order Gives Political Appointees Vast Powers over Research GrantsResearchers are alarmed that an expansive executive order issued by President Donald Trump…

Well, the coding-equals-prosperity promise has officially collapsed. Fresh computer science graduates are facing unemployment rates of 6.1% to 7.5% — more than double what biology and…

This Mushroom’s Incredibly Bitter Taste Is New to ScienceThe first analysis of mushroom bitterness reveals ultrapotent compoundsBy K. R. Callaway edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Alexander…

Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman.Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois spent 22 years forecasting the weather on television before winning his congressional…

U.S. Science—and Scientific American—Have Weathered Attacks Before and WonFederal officials seized 3,000 copies of Scientific American in 1950 in a “red scare” era of attacks on…