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Scientific American

@sciam.bsky.social
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A legacy of discovery. A future of innovation.

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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 5h
Mathematicians saw a simple string hooking a painting onto two nails and thought, “We can make it worse.”
scientificamerican.com
Mathematicians discover the worst way to hang a painting
New solutions found to picture-hanging problems
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 6h
"We had to solve a lot of problems, had to take a lot of risks," Karl Deisseroth told Scientific American in the hours just after his Nobel Prize was announced this morning. Watch the full interview on our site. www.scientificamerican.com/article/2026...
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 8h
2026 has been a record hot year for the U.S. If it stays that way, 2026 could set a sobering new record.
scientificamerican.com
2026 has been a record hot year for the U.S.—it can only get worse
So far this year has been ridiculously hot. If it stays that way, 2026 could set a sobering new record
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 9h
AI companion apps are becoming increasingly popular, but what kind of relationship do they offer? An attachment theory expert explains.
scientificamerican.com
How attachment theory can help us understand AI relationships
Attachment is the term psychologists use for the most significant relationships that hold people’s lives together
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 10h
Feeling stuck or in a mental rut? Going for a walk or doing some stretching may be the key to unlocking your creative juices—here's how it works.
scientificamerican.com
Why the creative brain feeds on movement
Movement and creativity go hand in hand. Scientists are working to discover why
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 15h
BREAKING: The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Georg Nagel and Peter Hegemann for their discovery of rhodopsin and optogenetics, the ability to control cells using light and genetics
scientificamerican.com
2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to scientists behind optogenetics
Karl Deisseroth, George Nagel and Peter Hegemann developed optogenetics, which uses light and genetics to control individual cells
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The ancient pre-Roman society of Etruria in Italy embedded sound throughout its culture. Now, researchers are harnessing AI and acoustic technology to bring some of that sound to life.
scientificamerican.com
How AI helped bring an ancient tomb dating to before the Roman empire back to life
Pairing artificial intelligence with acoustic technology helped reveal an Erturian tomb in new light
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In Tom Cruise’s new movie Digger a giant iceberg named Judy breaks off and imperils Europe. But is that a likely scenario? We asked the experts.
scientificamerican.com
How accurate is the climate disaster in Tom Cruise’s new movie Digger?
In the movie, a giant iceberg from Greenland floats into the sea, imperiling millions—but is that even possible?
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
In order to turn Mars green, one non-profit start-up company has bioengineered a bacterium that can pump out bioplastic in Martian conditions—the first of several steps for terraforming the Red Planet.
scientificamerican.com
Could this bioengineered bacterium turn the Red Planet green?
The nonprofit start-up Pioneer Labs claims to have made the first-ever “microbe for Mars.” Other experts aren’t so sure
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Scientists are still struggling to explain a bizarre neutrino that crashed to Earth in February 2023—and one explanation is as bizarre as the event itself, invoking primordial black holes, extra “dark” dimensions, and strange cosmic strings.
scientificamerican.com
Scientists saw a very weird particle. Some say it came from an exploding, five-dimensional black hole
An unexplained high-energy neutrino detected three years ago could be linked to a primordial black hole, perhaps one more even unusual than previously thought
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Astronomers hunting life in the cosmos could use a rainbow connection. Future space telescopes should be able to glimpse rainbows and other atmospheric phenomena on small rocky exoplanets, learning more about those worlds’ habitability in the process.
scientificamerican.com
Can we see rainbows on faraway exoplanets?
A future NASA telescope could spot atmospheric phenomena on planets orbiting other stars
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Mathematicians have come up with a new list of the 50 most pressing problems in their field. Here are some of the quandaries.
scientificamerican.com
Mathematicians Name 50 of the Highest-Stakes Problems in Math
Mathematicians have a new bucket list of open questions to chase
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Smile, Earth! You're being photographed by, er, Smile. That's the name of a European and Chinese mission to study space weather, and its first images are here—capturing spectacular auroral substorm raging above the North Pole.
scientificamerican.com
Satellite images reveal ethereal auroral storm raging above the North Pole
The satellite, Smile, is a joint European and Chinese mission to study space weather and geomagnetic storms above Earth
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
An Anthropic AI solved a problem considered a “holy grail” of percolation theory—the math of how water passes through a porous solid, like coffee grounds. The landmark proof came just days after a Fields medalist predicted it.
scientificamerican.com
AI has racked up a new math breakthrough, solving a problem of probability theory that one mathematician said would earn a human a Field Medal.
Just days after a Fields Medalist predicted that an AI would solve the puzzle, Anthropic succeeded
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A medieval mystery solved: Historians unearthed a hidden early Christian monastery in Scotland dating to the sixth century C.E.
scientificamerican.com
Archaeologists unearth a ‘major’ early Christian monastery in Scotland
The site, located on the island of Lismore, may have been established by Saint Mo Luóc in the sixth century C.E.
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
After it rains, go outside and breathe in deeply. That wonderful earthy smell in the air? It’s called petrichor. And climate change could alter when and where it happens.
scientificamerican.com
How climate change is altering petrichor, the glorious smell after it rains
As the planet changes, so will this nostalgia-triggering scent
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Several times since the age of dinosaurs, the solid part of our planet has rolled over, drowning some continents and lifting others out of the sea. Incredibly, a new study finds this massive upheaval is still happening.
scientificamerican.com
Scientists discover that Earth’s crust has repeatedly rolled over—and it’s still happening
An analysis of ancient sea-level changes reveals that the whole solid Earth has shifted multiple times
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Elephants don’t just trumpet—they rumble, too. Scientists are decoding six of these low calls, including rumbles that seem to act as greetings and to soothe calves. Hear them yourself...
scientificamerican.com
Scientists are decoding elephant rumble calls, including ‘greetings’ and ‘coos’—hear them
Scientists are piecing together why elephants make these low calls and what they might mean
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Today, Project Suncatcher is sending four AI processors into orbit on a SpaceX rocket to see whether the building blocks of a data center can survive space.
scientificamerican.com
Google tests its plan for AI data centers in space with Project Suncatcher
Today Project Suncatcher is sending four AI processors into orbit on a SpaceX rocket to see whether the building blocks of a data center can survive space
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Abdul El-Sayed is running in one of the closest-watched races in the midterms. In an interview, the Senate candidate explains how his science background informs his policies, why he sometimes agrees with MAHA and how he would implement Medicare for All.
scientificamerican.com
Abdul El-Sayed explains how science influences his politics
Scientific American spoke to the Michigan Senate candidate about how his background in medicine has shaped his outlook
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Given how little we still know about possible life on Mars, relaxing biological contamination constraints now is "idiocy," say Cassie Conley, a former (and longest-serving) NASA Planetary Protection Officer.
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
How careful should NASA be about possibly importing Earth life to Mars? A new directive from NASA chief Jared Isaacman calls for cutting back on decades of “planetary protection” regulations to facilitate and modernize future missions to the Red Planet.
scientificamerican.com
NASA directive might increase the odds of contaminating Mars
The new push loosens U.S. regulations for sterilizing spacecraft bound for the Red Planet and calls for modernizing the science of “planetary protection”
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We’ve never had an Atlantic hurricane season without a single hurricane through the end of September—until now.
scientificamerican.com
The Atlantic hurricane season has been so quiet it’s unprecedented
El Niño has stymied storm formation even more than forecasters expected
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The experimental GLP-3 weight-loss drug retatrutide just set a new milestone for these medications.
scientificamerican.com
Blockbuster retatrutide trial signals a ‘new high-water mark’ for weight-loss drugs
The experimental weight-loss drug is a triple agonist and the first of its kind to reach a phase 3 clinical trial
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
IVF “add-ons” can offer hope—and peace of mind—for would-be parents keen to do anything to increase their chances of a baby. But researchers say there’s little to no evidence backing up some of them. Here’s what to know.
scientificamerican.com
How IVF ‘add-on’ treatments put patients in an impossible position
There’s little evidence that many IVF “add-on” treatments work. Should they even be offered?
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
An estimated one in eight cancer cases worldwide may be caused by infections—but there's an easy way to protect yourself.
scientificamerican.com
One in eight new cancers are likely caused by infections—there’s an easy way to protect yourself
Many cancers associated with infection are preventable
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This tiny implant sends faint electrical pulses through tissue and could be a major step toward a digital nervous system.
scientificamerican.com
Tiny implants use the body as a communication network
A new system sends faint electrical pulses through tissue instead of over Bluetooth. In rats, it made the animals flex one of their hind legs on cue when one of their front paws moved
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A homemade elixer touted by TikTokers could be a breeding ground for deadly botulism.
scientificamerican.com
TikTok influencers are promoting a home remedy to boost the immune system that could cause botulism
No, fermenting garlic in honey is not a replacement for antibiotic or antiviral meds
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The history of the game Tetris goes back to the Cold War.
scientificamerican.com
The secret Cold War history of Tetris
The beloved game arose out of the opposing forces of the U.S. and the Soviet Union
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Antibodies made by the immune system can sometimes attack the brain, producing psychiatric symptoms like hallucinations.
scientificamerican.com
How the body’s own immune system can attack the brain
Antibodies made by the immune system can sometimes target human brain cells, producing psychiatric symptoms. Researchers aim to better identify such rare cases as well as fine-tune treatments.
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Trump administration has announced plans to roll back fuel regulations.
scientificamerican.com
Trump rolls back fuel economy standards for cars, breaking with 50 years of policy
Environmental advocates have decried the move
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Transplanted hearts in both mice and humans show that they take on the age of their new bodies.
scientificamerican.com
Transplanted hearts may take on the age of their new bodies
After transplant, young hearts in both mice and humans showed signs of accelerated aging in older bodies, while older hearts in younger bodies seemed rejuvenated
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Physicists have found a surprising signal in primordial matter that mimics the universe just after the big bang.
scientificamerican.com
Surprising result seen in primordial matter inside atom smasher
Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider on Long Island have seen hints of a phase transition from the early universe
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
And Starship is in orbit. Keep up to date on the test flight on Scientific American!
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
After minutes of debate, SpaceX is a "go" for attempting orbital insertion with Starship.
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Breaking: SpaceX’s Starship just launched on its most ambitious test yet—a trip to orbit. If SpaceX can pull off the flight, it may put Starship on track for use in future NASA moon missions www.scientificamerican.com/article/spac...
scientificamerican.com
SpaceX’s Starship lifts off in make-or-break orbital test flight
The world’s largest rocket is on a 10-hour mission to to prove its mettle
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Mathematicians (amateur and professional) used AI to find all 25,000 cases of one “inverse Galois problem,” solving a decades-old conundrum.
scientificamerican.com
Mathematicians use AI to find mysterious symmetries, solving decades-old problem
In parallel, a race by amateurs and mathematicians has found all 25,000 cases of one “inverse Galois problem”
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The year 2025 was brutal for budget cuts and workforce attrition at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Will Goddard still be still able to build multibillion-dollar space telescopes?
scientificamerican.com
NASA Goddard built the Roman Space Telescope. Workers there worry it couldn’t happen again
2025 was a brutal year of budget cuts and workforce attrition at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the home base for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Experts worry Goddard—and NASA’s space…
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
American AI companies are urging governments to establish stronger safeguards, but China's developers have embraced open-source models. The two philosophies are at odds.
scientificamerican.com
China’s open AI models are testing America’s approach to AI safety
With Donald Trump and Xi Jinping set to discuss AI safety, the growing popularity of Chinese open-weight models highlights the limits of developer-controlled safeguards
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Scientists just discovered the largest ever new impact crater found—and it's on a surprisingly familiar (and heavily pock-marked) world.
scientificamerican.com
Scientists discover largest new impact crater in the solar system ever—on our moon
The crater, named after geologist and lunar surface expert Tom McGetchin, spans more than two football fields wide
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Fermi Explorer—a plan to send a probe on an 80,000-year trip to Alpha Centauri—is meant to show the feasibility of interstellar voyages. The trouble is we’ve already been sending spacecraft to the stars for nearly 50 years. Is this new effort worthwhile?
scientificamerican.com
NASA has launched five interstellar missions. Should this private venture launch a sixth?
Fermi Explorer, a proposed low-cost private mission to Alpha Centauri, seeks to address a question that’s already been answered
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Australia revealed that an OpenAI agent broke into a government healthcare site—Australia only found out some three months after the fact.
scientificamerican.com
OpenAI’s agent hacking Australia is a warning for governments everywhere
In what appears to be a first, an OpenAI agent secretly accessed Australian government health care records during an internal test
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
For the first time, scientists recorded bacteria in the act of transferring functional proteins to neighboring bacteria in order to evade antibiotics.
scientificamerican.com
Scientists catch bacteria sharing proteins to survive antibiotics
Bacteria send protein packages to dormant neighbors to endure antibiotic attack
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Can a six-dimensional sphere be described using imaginary numbers? For decades, experts puzzled over this question. Now an AI has apparently answered it.
scientificamerican.com
AI solves 79-year-old math mystery of six-dimensional spheres
Can a six-dimensional sphere be described using imaginary numbers? For decades, experts puzzled over this question. Now an AI has apparently answered it
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, Heidi Overton, told lawmakers at a confirmation hearing on Thursday that the MMR vaccine is safe and effective—Overton was present with the president when he falsely claimed the shot can be “lethal.”
scientificamerican.com
Trump’s FDA nominee Heidi Overton affirms MMR vaccine and mifepristone are safe at crucial Senate hearing
Heidi Overton also said at the hearing on Thursday that Tylenol does not cause autism
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Diesel prices are soaring, dramatically outpacing gasoline prices. But why is the fuel so much more expensive? The answer is a matter of economics and war, but also chemistry.
scientificamerican.com
Diesel fuel prices are rising—chemistry can help explain why
Diesel prices have almost doubled over the past year, spelling trouble for farmers, truckers and the entire U.S. economy
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
To get to the outer solar system, Juice needs an assist from Earth’s gravity. It’s passing over the planet on Monday before it gets flung out to Jupiter—and it’s going to be taking pictures along the way.
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Jupiter-bound spacecraft Juice to fly by Earth Monday
To get to the outer solar system, the Juice spacecraft needs an assist from Earth’s gravity—and it’s going to be taking pictures along the way
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Hurricane Nolo is set to bring more devastating rain and mudslides to Hawaii’s Big Island. Here's why Hawaii is facing an unprecedented hurricane season.
scientificamerican.com
Why Hawaii is facing an unprecedented hurricane season
Hawaii has never had three hurricanes come within 50 miles in the same year
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
As the world stares down the possibility of blowing past 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, former vice president Al Gore thinks 2026 could actually be the year we turn the tide on climate change.
scientificamerican.com
2026 could be the turning point on climate action, Al Gore says
The former vice president thinks this year is when we’ll get serious about climate change
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Apple "detectives" wanted to identify a gnarly old tree growing on a remote plot of land in Maine. What they discovered was the key to a centuries-old apple mystery.
scientificamerican.com
How apple detectives solved the mystery of an ancient tree—and rewrote the history of fruit
And how they might have helped save the future of American apples
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