January 15, 20254 min readHow the Polar Vortex Can Bring Arctic Blasts to the U.S.Vast weather patterns can carry blasts of frigid air far from the polar regions—here’s how it worksBy Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea ThompsonA woman walks on...
January 15, 20253 min readMigrating Birds Sing to Team Up with Other SpeciesSongbirds may socialize across species during nighttime migrationsBy Gayoung Lee edited by Sarah Lewin FrasierA singing American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Brian Reinke/Getty ImagesTiny songbirds such as cardinals and...
On 19 May 2024, I arrive in the southern California sunshine for my first ever visit to Los Angeles’s Chinatown. As an east coaster, I half expect to find the familiar grittiness of New York’s Chinatown. I am surprised by...
As planets go, Mercury is a world of extremes – and one that doesn’t always make a great deal of sense. Its iron core is absurdly and inexplicably huge. Despite its searing temperature, it has ice trapped at its poles....
Artist’s impression of ASKAP J1839-0756, a neutron star emitting beams of radio waves from its magnetic polesJames Josephides A collapsed star around 13,000 light years away is so unusual that the researchers who have discovered it say it shouldn’t exist....
Golden oyster mushrooms growing on a fallen log in IowaKatie Flenker / Alamy Regularly eating golden oyster mushrooms protected heart health and promoted longevity in mice. Golden oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) – fungi native to parts of Russia, China and...
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. On January 6, the Louisiana Department of Health reported the first human death from H5N1 in the United States. While the general risk to human health is still considered low,...
January 15, 20255 min readTwo Simple Reforms Can Make H-1B Visas Great AgainAlthough warring MAGA factions seem locked in a foreign worker battle with no middle ground, two straightforward changes would provide global talent while minimizing domestic job lossesBy Hal...
In the classic country ballad “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” a cowboy receives a frightening vision: the devil’s herd of cows thundering through the clouds, chased by the souls of cowpokes who must “ride forever on that range up in...
Measuring body fat more carefully could help treat obesityHalfpoint/Getty Images Rethinking the way we define obesity could help millions of people worldwide, argue a team of researchers who want to introduce a new category of “preclinical” obesity. The current definition...
