Artist’s depiction of a white dwarf orbiting the supermassive black hole 1ES 1927+654Aurore Simonnet/Sonoma State University Strange vibrations emanating from a supermassive black hole appear to be growing more frequent and they could be caused by a white dwarf star...
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....
January 13, 20254 min readExotic ‘Paraparticles’ That Defy Categorization May Exist in Many DimensionsTheoretical physicists predict the existence of exotic “paraparticles” that defy classification and could have quantum computing applicationsBy Davide Castelvecchi & Nature magazine Particles known as fermions (shown...
Preparing cancer patients for difficult decisions is an oncologist’s job. They don’t always remember to do it, however. At the University of Pennsylvania Health System, doctors are nudged to talk about a patient’s treatment and end-of-life preferences by an artificially...
An exhibit at the Oracles, Omens and Answers showIan Wallman Oracles, Omens and AnswersST Lee Gallery, Oxford, UKUntil 27 April 2025 There can be few happier disciplines than the history of science: the study of how people did the best...
Can banana peel really help your houseplants?Shutterstock/ThamKC Back in the 1990s, the kids in my high school were convinced that banana peels contained a mysterious psychoactive substance that could apparently induce vivid hallucinations when smoked. I suppose it’s the tragic...
Laser beams in a physics laboratoryCallum Fraser / Alamy Stock Photo A new way to gauge distance using lasers can measure lengths of more than 100 kilometres to within a thousandth of the width of a human hair, and could...
The uncovered whitebark pine treesGregory Pederson A 5900-year-old whitebark pine forest has been discovered due to the melting of alpine ice in the Rocky mountains. Scientists found more than 30 trees approximately 3100 metres above sea level – 180 metres...
Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Welcome to our first science news roundup of 2025. Here are a few of the stories you may have missed last week.There’s a bunch of public health...
January 13, 20254 min readWhy Does Greenland Interest Trump? Climate Change Is Only Part of the StoryArctic shipping routes and burgeoning mining opportunities may be part of Greenland’s appeal to President-elect Donald Trump, but each comes with challenges as wellBy...
