Scientific American 1 year ago

Ancient Snake and Centipede Carvings in South America Are among World’s Largest Rock Engravings Enormous engraved rock art of anacondas, rodents and other animals along the Orinoco River in Colombia and Venezuela may have been used to mark territory 2,000 years ago

Scientific American

Ancient Snake and Centipede Carvings Are among World’s Largest Rock Engravings

Enormous engraved rock art of anacondas, rodents and other animals along the Orinoco River in Colombia and Venezuela may have been used to mark ter...

Scientific American 1 year ago

World’s Largest Known Genome Discovered in Small, Unassuming Fern A small South Pacific fern boasts more than 50 times as many base pairs as the human genome

Scientific American

Tiny Fern Has World’s Largest Genome

A small South Pacific fern boasts more than 50 times as many base pairs as the human genome

Scientific American 1 year ago

Fauci Faces Congressional Committee over COVID E-mails Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases early in the COVID pandemic, is facing a congressional committee about questionable e-mails from agency officials

Scientific American

Fauci Faces Congressional Committee over COVID E-mails

Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases early in the COVID pandemic, is facing a congressional committee a...

Scientific American 1 year ago

How Tobacco Companies Use Chemistry To Get Around Menthol Bans Regulating chemicals one-by-one has allowed the tobacco industry to skirt menthol bans by creating new additives with similar effects but unclear safety profiles

Scientific American

How Tobacco Companies Use Chemistry to Get around Menthol Bans

Regulating chemicals one-by-one has allowed the tobacco industry to skirt menthol bans by creating new additives with similar effects but unclear s...

Scientific American 1 year ago

Auroras Are on the Horizon, and Bird Flu Is on the Menu Vaccine misinformation on social media, smartphone addiction in teens and more are discussed in this week’s news roundup.

Scientific American

Auroras Are on the Horizon, and Bird Flu Is on the Menu

Vaccine misinformation on social media, smartphone addiction in teens, and more are discussed in this week’s news roundup.

Scientific American 1 year ago

Wildfires Threaten Nearly One Third of U.S Residents and Buildings A new approach to calculating wildfire risk shows that more people and places in the U.S. are in harm’s way than previously thought

Scientific American

Wildfires Threaten Nearly One Third of U.S Residents and Buildings

A new approach to calculating wildfire risk shows that more people and places in the U.S. are in harm’s way than previously thought

Scientific American 1 year ago

Warfare’s Climate Emissions Are Huge but Uncounted Nations aren't required to report their military climate pollution under the Paris Agreement. Experts say that should change

Scientific American

Warfare’s Climate Emissions Are Huge but Uncounted

Nations aren

Scientific American 1 year ago

Scarlett Johansson’s OpenAI Dispute Raises Questions about 'Persona' Rights Emerging AI services present scenarios that could challenge the laws over rights to a persona

Scientific American

Who Owns Your Voice in the Age of AI?

Emerging AI services present scenarios that could challenge the laws over rights to a persona

Scientific American 1 year ago

How Many Holes Does the Universe Have? The shape of the cosmos could be much more complex than anyone had ever imagined

Scientific American

How Many Holes Does the Universe Have?

The shape of the cosmos could be much more complex than anyone had ever imagined

Scientific American 1 year ago

How Your Itch Can Make Others Scratch Just watching someone scratch themselves on social media switches on the brain network that initiates the physical sensation of itch

Scientific American

How Your Itch Can Make Others Scratch

Just watching someone scratch themselves on social media switches on the brain network that initiates the physical sensation of itch

Scientific American 1 year ago

During May’s Solar Superstorm, the Little-Known Science of Heliophysics Kept Us Safe NASA’s head of heliophysics explains how we weathered the worst solar storm of a generation—and discusses the challenges we face in preparing for the next one

Scientific American

Heliophysics Protected Us from the Great Solar Storm of 2024

NASA’s head of heliophysics explains how we weathered the worst solar storm of a generation—and discusses the challenges we face in preparing f...

Scientific American 1 year ago

Avocado Farms Aren’t Sustainable Now, but They Could Be Avocados are marketed as a superfood, but growing them for an expanding world market has turned a rural Mexican state into an unsustainable monoculture

Scientific American

Avocados Are ‘Green Gold,’ but They’re Harming Forests and Waters

Avocados are marketed as a superfood, but growing them for an expanding world market has turned a rural Mexican state into an unsustainable monocul...

Scientific American 1 year ago

The 5 Hurricane Categories Don’t Fully Capture a Storm’s Complex Dangers The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be disastrous. Experts warn that a storm’s Saffir-Simpson category misses many storm dangers

Scientific American

Hurricane Categories Don’t Capture All of a Storm’s True Dangers

The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be disastrous. Experts warn that a storm’s Saffir-Simpson category misses many storm dangers

Scientific American 1 year ago

Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Is Melting Even Faster Than Scientists Thought Warming waters are reaching several miles into Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier—nicknamed the “doomsday glacier” because of its potential impact on sea-level rise

Scientific American

Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Is Melting Even Faster Than Scientists Thought

Warming waters are reaching several miles into Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier—nicknamed the “doomsday glacier” because of its potential impa...

Scientific American 1 year ago

Depression, Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Are Linked with Ancient Viral DNA in Our Genome Retroviruses, some of which predate the human species, are tied to a genetic susceptibility to major psychiatric disorders

Scientific American

Depression, Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Are Linked with Ancient Viral DNA in Our Genome

Retroviruses, some of which predate the human species, are tied to a genetic susceptibility to major psychiatric disorders

Scientific American 1 year ago

Ozempic Cuts Risk of Kidney Disease Death in People with Diabetes Semaglutide, the same compound in obesity drug Wegovy, slashes risk of kidney failure and death for people with type 2 diabetes

Scientific American

Ozempic Cuts Risk of Kidney Disease Death in People with Diabetes

Semaglutide, the same compound in obesity drug Wegovy, slashes risk of kidney failure and death for people with type 2 diabetes

Scientific American 1 year ago

Extreme Heat Exacerbates Brain Conditions from Alzheimer's to Migraines to Strokes Extreme heat caused by climate change can exacerbate a variety of neurological ailments, from Alzheimer’s disease to migraines to epilepsy, new research shows

Scientific American

This Is Your Brain on Climate Change

Extreme heat caused by climate change can exacerbate a variety of neurological ailments, from Alzheimer’s disease to migraines to epilepsy, new r...

Scientific American 1 year ago

Lunar Dust Could ‘Sandblast’ Astronauts on the Moon, Studies Warn A new theory tested on Apollo-era data suggests that high-speed moon dust could pose engineering hazards—and diplomatic headaches

Scientific American

Lunar Landings Could ‘Sandblast’ Astronauts with Moon Dust

A new theory tested on Apollo-era data suggests that high-speed moon dust could pose engineering hazards—and diplomatic headaches

Scientific American 1 year ago

The First Big Black Holes May Have Formed without Stars Astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan predicted that black holes can form without the help of stars. New observations support her theory

Scientific American

How the Universe’s First Giant Black Holes Got So Big So Quickly

Astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan predicted that black holes can form without the help of stars. New observations support her theory

Scientific American 1 year ago

Optical Illusions Can Fool AI Chatbots, Too Experiments with optical illusions have revealed surprising similarities between human and AI perception

Scientific American

What Does an AI Do When It Sees an Optical Illusion?

Experiments with optical illusions have revealed surprising similarities between human and AI perception