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American Scientist

@americanscientist.org
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 29/09/2026
Read Denyce K. Wicht's Nightstand review of Ijeoma Uchegbu's book, "CHAIN REACTION: How Chemistry Shapes Us and Our World."
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Matter That Matters
Thank you for your patience
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 25/09/2026
🚨 LIVE NOW: How does exercise influence immune and cardiovascular health? Marc D. Cook of @ncat.edu studies the interactions between exercise, immunity, the gut microbiome, and vascular health, with a focus on African American populations.
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How Might the Gut Microbiome Control Blood Pressure | Science by the Slice
Marc Cook discusses new research on how physical movement works through the gastrointestinal system to improve cardiovascular health. Learn more:…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 24/09/2026
In 2024, @whysharksmatter.bsky.social authored an article about the rise in sharks eating fish caught by anglers before they could reel them ina phenomenon known as shark depredation.
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When Sharks Eat an Angler’s Haul
Tensions are rising as the ocean’s great predators nab fish on the line, inciting a major new challenge in human–wildlife conflict.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 24/09/2026
Scientists have long debated why the East Antarctic Ice Sheet formed during the relatively warm climate of the Eocene-Oligocene Transition 34 million years ago, predating the Northern Hemisphere glaciation by 20 to 25 million years.
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Briefings
In this roundup, associate editor Nicholas Gerbis summarizes notable recent developments in scientific research, selected from reports compiled in the free electronic newsletter Sigma Xi SmartBrief.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 23/09/2026
Congratulations to the American Scientist team for bringing home an award from Trade Association Business Publications International (TABPI) for John Raul Somoza's feature article on the HIV medication Lenacapavir.
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Nicholas Gerbis @ngerbis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
@americanscientist.org has won an award from Trade Association Business Publications International for our feature about Lenacapavir. Immensely proud of our small but feisty team, and of the work of author John Somoza. www.tabpi.org/news/tabbies...
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American Scientist (Bronze) – Welcome to TABPI
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Last week, President Trump issued an executive order that mentioned depredation (sharks biting hooked fish before an angler can reel it in). I wrote about this issue a few years ago for American Scientist magazine: www.americanscientist.org/article/when...
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 22/09/2026
The accelerating AI age is driving a push to increase the involvement of AI in every stage of research, creating so-called end-to-end science systems.
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Self-Driving Science
End-to-end AI-automated science undercuts trust, obscures responsibility, and restricts adaptivity.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 17/09/2026
The mutual relationship between humans and forests is captured in both historical knowledge and in modern research about forest ecological services.
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In the Service of Forests
Forestry contributes to human and sylvan mutual flourishing.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 15/09/2026
Trillions of insects are farmed as livestock each year, but much remains unknown about their experiences.
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The Welfare of Insects
Thank you for your patience
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 10/09/2026
Whenever Ella Fitzgerald sang, you knew it. The voice of this “Queen of Jazz” was instantly recognizable when she crooned solos like “Love Is Here to Stay” or “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” or when she sang duets (most commonly with Louis Armstrong) like “Cheek to Cheek.”
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Cultivating Vibrations
Quartz’s oscillations have shaped society, from warfare to timekeeping.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 08/09/2026
A new book explores the ups, downs, and detours inherent in scientific research. Read more of Sarah Hewitt's review of "LOST IN CURIOSITY: Field Notes From Scientists’ Adventures into the Unknown" by Roberta Kwok here:
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The Messy Middle of Science
Thank you for your patience
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fsaundersamsci.bsky.social @fsaundersamsci.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It's great to have an excerpt from Lee Dugatkin's latest book, "Nary a Horse Left Standing," in the current issue of @americanscientist.org. Lee really brings these forgotten, dramatic historical moments to life and connects them to the present day!
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 08/09/2026
Named after NASA's first chief astronomer, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is designed to answer fundamental questions about the universe.
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NASA's Giant New Eye on the Sky
Thank you for your patience
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 04/09/2026
🚨 LIVE NOW: Plastic pollution can affect more than our environment. In this 2024 Science Talk, analytical chemist Imari Walker-Franklin of RTI International explores how plastic breaks down into microplastics and releases potentially hazardous chemicals that may harm human health. Watch the talk:
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The Impact of Plastic Pollution to Human Health and the Environment | Science by the Slice
In this 2024 science talk, analytical chemist, Imari Walker-Franklin shares how plastic has become a global waste management issue with severe impacts to the environment and human health. Today,…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 03/09/2026
Imagine a hypothetical strain of influenza that infects cars, vans, trucks, and trains rather than people.
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A Lack of Horsepower
The Great Epizootic ground cities to a halt, revealing the degree to which 19th-century urban life relied on equine labor.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 01/09/2026
It is not surprising that systems trained on biased source material would result in biased outputs, regardless of whether or not the original biases were intentional.
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Bias Optimizers
AI tools such as ChatGPT appear to magnify some of humanity’s worst qualities, and fixing those tendencies will be no easy task.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 01/09/2026
Warmer air is fueling heavier downpours across the country, but the systems used to measure flood risk are outdated and unevenly distributed.
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Climate Change Is Outpacing America’s Flood Data
Warmer air is fueling heavier downpours across the country, but the systems used to measure flood risk are outdated and unevenly distributed.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 31/08/2026
When physician-scientist Samantha Meltzer-Brody began collaborating with a small biotech startup, Sage Pharmaceuticals, it was with modest expectations. She was curious if the pharmaceutical the biotech company was developing would have any effect at all on perinatal depression.
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Perinatal Depression and Precision Psychiatry
A new pharmaceutical specifically for postpartum depression is approved and a large, ongoing study may yield insight into depression generally.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 28/08/2026
🚨LIVE NOW: 🦠 Drug-resistant pathogens are a growing global threat—and they can move between people, animals, food, and the environment.
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Understanding the Complex Dynamics of Antimicrobial Resistance | Science by the Slice
Drug-defying bugs create new challenges for global health. Siddhartha “Sid” Thakur is leading several national and global surveillance programs to monitor resistant pathogens that come into contact…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 27/08/2026
In 2019, a photograph of Yayoi Kusama's installation "Gleaming Lights of the Soul," taken by Colin McPherson, graced the cover of our July-August 2019 issue. Kusama used colored lights and a multitude of reflective surfaces to create elaborate patterns and optical illusions that captivated viewers.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 27/08/2026
Silver nanoparticles are powerful antimicrobial agents that attack bacteria in multiple ways, enabling the particles to vanquish microbes that resist conventional drug treatments.
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Nanoparticles Versus Superbugs
Minuscule specks of silver and gold could offer new weapons in the fight against antibiotic-resistant microbes.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 25/08/2026
Insights about aging could guide medical research and aid in the design of treatments for age-related diseases that affect humans and other animals.
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On the Aging of Species
Research into comparative aging in humans and other primates is offering clues about diseases, development, and evolution.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 21/08/2026
🚨LIVE NOW: 🌱 How will we feed a global population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050? From plant-based proteins to microbial fermentation and cultivated animal cells, emerging protein technologies could transform how we produce food.
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Beyond the Burger: The Future of Protein in an Evolving Food System | Science by the Slice
The global population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050. Feeding them will require transformative changes in how we produce food. Rohan A. Shirwaiker is the James T. Ryan Distinguished…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 21/08/2026
In the fourth episode of our "Wired for This" series, Jason Lodge shares what makes information stick.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 20/08/2026
While DNA has largely been the star of biology, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist illustrates how RNA plays a central part in the development of life and in disease processes.
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Unveiling A Molecular Superstar
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 20/08/2026
Invented in 1947, transistors were a breakthrough in controlling electricity in devices, but they initially lacked a civilian commercial product market that would reduce their cost.
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How the Transistor Shaped Music
The improvement of the radio as an early application of this technological advance ended up influencing youth culture.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 18/08/2026
A“gold rush” is an apt analogy for the current landscape of AI deployment. Seemingly every new version of consumer computer software now includes an AI agent set by default to “assist” you—whether you want it to or not (and good luck figuring out how to turn it off).
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 13/08/2026
We tend to think of genetic disease as something we inherit, written uniformly into every cell—but many genetic diseases begin with mutations that emerge in only a subset of our cells.
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The Dynamics of Mutation
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 11/08/2026
Though eclipses are most famous for the lack of light present in the sky, some physicists have used eclipses to study the nature of the light that remains.
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Studying the Light of the Eclipse
Solar eclipses offer rare opportunities to better understand both the Sun's corona and the Earth's atmosphere.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 11/08/2026
Colonizing Mars replays the same dynamic of dispossession that structured the conquest of the Americas. Read more of Keivan G Stassun's review of Mexico in Space: From la Raza Cósmica to the Space Race by Anne W. Johnson.
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Whose Cosmos Is It, Anyway?
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 07/08/2026
🚨LIVE NOW: In this week's replay of Science by the Slice, we'll be joined by Ryan Emanuel. He's a hydrologist and community-engaged scholar from North Carolina whose studies aim to amplify the voices of Indigenous peoples and marginalized groups that shoulder heavy environmental burdens.
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Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice | Science by the Slice
Ryan Emanuel is a hydrologist and community-engaged scholar from North Carolina. He studies hydrology, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights at Duke University, where he is an associate…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 06/08/2026
The snapshot of colors that Kory Stamper provides in True Color tells an engaging history: of meaning, of dictionary crafting, and of the unique imprint left by those whose task it was to bring the language of color into this specific edition of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.
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Shades of Meaning
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 04/08/2026
A museum exhibition about the legacy of U.S. science exposed conflicting priorities.
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Competing Histories
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Nwabata Nnani @nnani.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I always discover a new piece of information during the live replays of Science by the Slice. Join us every Friday for live replays and engage your curiosity.
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Visualizing Science With Your Audience In Mind | Science by the Slice
YouTube video by American Scientist
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 31/07/2026
🚨 LIVE NOW: Science by the Slice replay! A basic operation in science is the production and refinement of an image of the thing we are studying.
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Visualizing Science With Your Audience In Mind | Science by the Slice
A basic operation in science is the production and refinement of an image of the thing we are studying. This presentation places visualization center stage, at the heart of communication research -…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 30/07/2026
A scientific mindset provided grounding for the American experiment.
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Revolutions and Revolutionaries
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fsaundersamsci.bsky.social @fsaundersamsci.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Now seems like a good time to repost @americanscientist.org American Scientist's "Safer Salads" article, which is from 2007 but still offers good advice. www.americanscientist.org/article/safe... (Illustration by the incomparable Tom Dunne)
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 28/07/2026
For 60 years, a federal program has built a network of vital basic research.
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The Case for Sea Grant
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 24/07/2026
🚨LIVE NOW: In this week's live replay of Science by the Slice, we have Kofi Boone. Boone works in the overlap between landscape architecture and environmental justice, with specializations in democratic design and interpreting cultural landscapes.
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Equity in Design and Planning | Science by the Slice
Science by the Slice is made possible through the generous support of a grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, in collaboration with the Science Communicators of North Carolina and Sigma…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 23/07/2026
Contaminated fruits and vegetables are more common than ever. Why? And what can consumers do to protect themselves?
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Safer Salads
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Sigma Xi @sigmaxi.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
IFoRE Virtual Student Research Competition Students—Open to high school, undergrad, and grad students, IFoRE presents awards in all scientific disciplines. ow.ly/UGrC50ZrlCN Professionals—Volunteer to judge student research in your area(s) of expertise. ow.ly/EZsk50ZrlCM
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Linde Center for Science, Society, & Policy at Caltech @caltechlcssp.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
🔊Read the newest issue of @americanscientist.org including article from @caltechlcssp.bsky.social Co-Director @rmichaelalvarez.bsky.social, @caltech.edu, "Elections in the Age of AI." 🗳️🤖 www.americanscientist.org/article/elec...
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 23/07/2026
To be scientific, or philosophical, in the 18th century was to be equipped with a method for logically organizing facts to support a conclusion.
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Salt of the Earth
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 21/07/2026
An autumn flower might have nipped rebellion in the bud.
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When Inflammation Met Insurrection
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 17/07/2026
🚨LIVE NOW: For this week's live replay of Science by the Slice, we have entomologist Dr. Matt Bertone. Bertone will discuss his role as an identifier of insects, other arthropods, and other organisms submitted to a state diagnostic lab by clients from various walks of life.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 14/07/2026
How a national initiative will advance innovation
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Spirit of American Discovery
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 10/07/2026
🚨 LIVE NOW: Sea level rise and increased flooding cause human mobility and shifts in development patterns. Geospatial modeling can help to assess the trade-offs between competing socio-environmental needs.
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Envisioning Transformations in Urban Futures | Science by the Slice
Sea level rise and increased flooding cause human mobility and shifts in development patterns. Geospatial modeling can help to assess the trade-offs between competing socio-environmental needs. In…
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 09/07/2026
Researchers consider behavioral markers to determine whether a creature or species is conscious. But they still dispute which behaviors, if any, are reliable indicators of consciousness.
americanscientist.org
Hallmarks of Consciousness
Since the 19th century, philosophers and scientists have failed to agree on reliable markers of sentience.
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American Scientist @americanscientist.org · 08/07/2026
If all the voting technology advances since the 2000 election are examined from a social perspective, one point remains clear: New technologies need to have public trust for elections to be seen as fair and valid.
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Elections in the Age of AI
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