December 17, 20243 min readApe Jokes, Vagus Nerve Hopes and a Mystery PlanetThe searches for Planet Nine, bat viruses, life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and lucid dreamsBy Laura Helmuth Scientific American, January 2025One of the things I enjoy most about...
Most astronomers would love to find a planet, but Mike Brown may be the only one proud of having killed one. Thanks to his research, Pluto, the solar system’s ninth planet, was removed from the pantheon—and the public cried foul....
The vagus nerve is a vine of nerve fibers with roots in nearly every organ and shoots in the brain. It helps us detect a racing heart, rising blood pressure, stomachache, discomfort, an overzealous immune system and even alarm calls...
December 17, 20242 min readHow Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinctions Stack UpEarth’s deadliest mass extinctions have important commonalities—and significant differencesBy Clara Moskowitz & Rick Simonson Life on our planet has experienced many mass extinctions over its 4.5 billion years. Scientists see...
French mathematician Édouard Lucas was born in Amiens in 1842 and died in Paris 49 years later. He wrote the four-volume work Recréations Mathématiques, which became a classic of recreational mathematics. In 1883, under the pseudonym “N. Claus de Siam”...
At 4:30 on a chilly morning in Australia, headlights burned through a dark forest in central Woodford, a small rural town 50 miles north of Brisbane, Queensland. Hundreds of flying foxes—magnificent fruit-eating bats with big eyes, fluffy coats, and a...
December 17, 20243 min readJanuary 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years AgoThe J particle; a nitroglycerin engineBy Mark Fischetti1925, Exercise in Motion: “Years before the motion picture was invented, Mr. Eadweard Muybridge, at the University of Pennsylvania,...
December 17, 20244 min readContributors to Scientific American’s January 2025 IssueWriters, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the storiesBy Allison Parshall Doug Gimesy The Next Viral PlaguePhotojournalist Doug Gimesy (above) is a font of knowledge about flying foxes....
December 17, 20244 min readDelicious Bacon Highlights Food That Enraptures Our Senses but Endangers Our HealthSome foods, no matter how simply prepared, contain many substances linked to diseaseBy Lydia Denworth My love of bacon is legendary in my family. When...
December 17, 20242 min readBook Review: In a Drowning New York City, Can All of Natural History Be Saved?In the often-gloomy genre of climate fiction, a new novel hits a high-water mark for its empathyBy Alan Scherstuhl All the Water...
