Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography in Marseille, France, have discovered something surprising in the Mediterranean Sea: giant chains of phytoplankton.
They spotted the first mat of Sargassum seaweed several miles out in Biscayne Bay. The captain of the 37-foot (11-meter) Yellowfin brought the vessel to a full stop, allowing the scientists on board to get a closer look at the brown macroalgae that has been washing ashore by
A team of researchers reports that they may have found rock containing some of the earliest forms of microbial life on Earth. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the biosignatures found in this 3.5-billion-year-old,
The recent announcement of novel, viable viruses created by artificial intelligence (AI) was celebrated as a major advance in the fight against antibiotic resistance. But it also raised urgent concerns about regulation.
New research led by University College Dublin has rewritten a key chapter in Irish prehistory, revealing that bones long thought to mark the beginning of farming in Ireland belong to bear and wild boar, not cattle.
When a destroyed section of the Amazon rainforest begins to recover, nature deploys only a few tree species that can withstand poor soil conditions and blazing sun and grow rapidly, a Brazilian study has shown.
In recent years, the Alps have experienced devastating glacier collapses: In September 2023, a section of the Marmolada glacier in the Dolomites collapsed, resulting in the deaths of seven mountaineers. Just over a year and a half later, in May 2025, the Birch Glacier above
Young people who have lived in public housing for at least 10 years are significantly less likely to commit crimes or become victims of crime than their peers in the general population, a study by researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington—Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke
Between 29,000 and 19,000 years ago, the planet experienced some of its coldest temperatures and drastic landscape changes at the peak of the Ice Age, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the period of most extensive global ice cover. Humans, despite being unaccustomed to
A practitioner article published in the SMS Explorer, "AI Will Help Formulate Strategy, But Should Never Finish It," by Michael Olenick challenges a growing assumption in the business world: that generative AI can take strategy off executives' plates. As AI tools grow more
Sophie Adenot became the first French woman astronaut to venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk Tuesday, accompanied by American astronaut Anil Menon.
Copper sulfide (CuS) catalysts continuously reconstruct their surface during electrochemical CO2 reduction, reports a study from the Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan. By uncovering the mechanism behind the dynamic surface changes that occur during potential-step electrolysis,
Following another series of alleged killings of women across Australia, the country has once again found itself asking familiar questions: How many more women have to die before we act? What more should governments do? Why does this violence keep happening?
High-tech imaging reveals the structure of the unique spiral architecture The post How the Narwhal Got Its Twisted Tusk appeared first on Nautilus .
Looksmaxxing, fibermaxxing, proteinmaxxing, T-maxxing. There are so many TikTok trends that promise to optimize our lives.
The narwhal's impressive tusk has long been the subject of myths. In the Middle Ages, they were sold as unicorn horns believed to possess magical powers. Now, an international team of researchers led by Aarhus University has solved the mystery of how the tusk acquires its
In Korean, the term "aegyo" denotes a playful cuteness put on by adults to win someone's affection, typically in romantic contexts. This is usually accomplished with bashful expressions or a childlike manner of speaking sometimes known as "baby talk" in Western cultures.
Anyone who has had to share a room—or worse, a bed—with a loud snorer knows the effect unchecked snoring can have on sleep, sanity and emotional stability. An entire industry of products, technologies and treatments claims to cure or prevent loud snoring, with varying degrees
The unicorn of the sea’s spiral tooth has long been a scientific enigma
For dolphins, the ocean is a world of sound. Their whistles carry social information, helping them communicate and stay connected, while echolocation—rapid-fire clicks—functions like underwater sonar, helping them navigate their surroundings and detect potential prey.
A major push is underway to catch and vaccinate more than 5,000 little penguins in Victoria to protect them against the virulent H5N1 bird flu.
From wall-mounted smartphone docks to old-fashioned coiled-phone handsets, a growing trend for retro phone accessories may be a sign that many people are looking for ways to create distance from their smartphones.
Close to a phase transition, very different materials can follow the same mathematical rules. The concept of universality, which groups seemingly distinct systems based on their common properties, was developed to describe this phenomenon.
The same people affected by extreme weather are also likely to worry that they will face a future disaster, according to a new poll
Simultaneous belief in logically incompatible claims is linked to conspiratorial thinking, according to a study that models belief using a Bayesian framework.
Scientists at VIB and Ghent University have produced the first high-resolution, cell-by-cell map of how tomato roots respond to colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These ancient fungal partners help plants absorb nutrients from the soil.
In 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day,' Peter Parker devises a superpower inhibitor based on a real therapy using RNA.
Ashes to ashes, stardust to stardust The post A Dazzling Image of a Dying Star, Featuring the Great Recycling System of the Cosmos appeared first on Nautilus .
Superconductors are materials in which electrical current flows with a resistance of zero, typically below specific temperatures. In conventional superconductors, this state of matter emerges when two electrons bind together at low temperatures, forming so-called Cooper pairs.
The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged NGC 2392 (also known as the Lion Nebula), named for its distinctive appearance, which resembles a lion's face seen head-on.
The mantle, a rocky layer accounting for more than 80% of Earth's volume, circulates at rates of only a few centimeters per year. This circulation drives plate tectonics and influences major geological phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanic activity. Despite its fundamental
The summers of recent years have been hot, but not unusual from a meteorological perspective. According to researchers at Leipzig University, though, the next extreme summer would far exceed anything we have experienced so far.
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have developed a new tool that estimates a cell's biological age by analyzing its gene activity. In an article published in the journal Advanced Science, they also demonstrate how the tool can be used to identify
Massive storms like Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which caused more than $100 billion in damage, were once considered lifetime events. Increasingly, however, they are becoming the norm: a direct result of climate change, which has made large storms more frequent, intense and
Mice use almost completely distinct sets of neurons for their two different types of vocalizations—the squeaks they produce when in distress or fighting and the whistle-like ultrasonic vocalizations they use when communicating socially, Cornell neuroscientists have found. The
So far, most of the minerals found on Mars tell a story of lava poured out by ancient volcanoes, followed by long stretches in which water trickled through and slowly reshaped the rock. However, some rocks scattered across the Martian surface seem to hint at a different
A baby sits on the floor and reaches toward a red ball on the floor and grunts. The mother responds, "Do you see the ball?" She picks it up, holds it in front of the baby and says, "Do you want to hold the ball?" The baby shrieks in excitement as the mother hands the ball to
Readers of a certain age will remember a golden era of asteroid films, capped by two with very different endings. "Deep Impact" drove home the devastating consequences of letting a large piece of rock hit our planet, whereas "Armageddon," though arguably the kitschier of the
Quantum sensors, devices that collect measurements by exploiting quantum-mechanical phenomena, could potentially detect extremely weak magnetic, gravitational and electromagnetic signals with greater sensitivity than classical sensors. Some quantum sensors leverage
Two new missions are revealing how robotic repair and assembly could become routine on the final frontier
Nature has answered the same way for 3.5 billion years The post Is Immortality Possible? appeared first on Nautilus .
An air pollution monitoring network has provided one of the most detailed long-term views yet of the role of black carbon, or soot produced by fires, diesel vehicles and other combustion sources, in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. The detailed measurements show how pollution
Going back to school can be an exciting time for students from elementary school through college, whether it's finding the perfect outfit to wear on the first day, returning to campus or filling a chalkboard with career dreams.
A study examining how feral water buffalo interact with landscapes has uncovered the pest's disastrous impacts on northern long-necked turtles in the Top End's tropical wetlands.
Biologists, zoologists and psychologists have been trying to trace the origins of human language for centuries. One well-known theory, known as the social brain hypothesis, suggests that increasingly complex social lives prompted primates to evolve increasingly larger brains,
A recent change in ownership is an opportunity for SciAm to be even better and have some fun
Letters to the editors for the April 2026 issue of Scientific American
Zipline’s tethered delivery system lowers packages from the sky. Now it has to show that people want the service