One of the things I love most about science is that sometimes it gets things wrong. In other disciplines, errors are fatal; chefs don’t benefit from poisoning their patrons. But scientists learn early ...

Stress has always been an ugly word, and for good reason. In addition to causing people headaches and sleeplessness, ongoing stress can quietly damage the gut—the body’s complex doorway between food ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. Travel involves two main expenditures of energy: fighting gravity and propelling ...

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SpaceX has pulled off another successful test flight of Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket. If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by ...

Today, in a cabinet meeting, U.S. secretary of health and human services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., claimed that there is a link between autism and circumcision. “There’s two studies that show children ...

In 2006 immunologist and 2025 Nobel prize winner Shimon Sakaguchi co-wrote an article in Scientific American that now feels prophetic. In the story, entitled “Peacekeepers of the Immune System,” ...

Still, human data is more nuanced. “While the evidence that the gut microbiome affects mood is relatively strong, evidence ...

To improve the quality of life of people with cancer, oncologists have regularly recommended exercise. Staying fit can make patients feel and function better. But exercise itself was never considered ...

Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. You might know Chris Hadfield as the International Space Station commander who famously sang David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” ...

This article is part of “Innovations In: Type 1 Diabetes,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Vertex. A little more than a century ago a diagnosis ...

When a total solar eclipse plunged North America into darkness on the afternoon of April 8, 2024, the songbirds in Bloomington, Ind., suddenly fell silent. In the middle of the forest, the only sounds ...