News: Scientific American is the essential guide to the most awe-inspiring advances in science and technology, explaining how they change our understanding of the world and shape our lives.
Why do some people hear pitch better than others? Internal noise may be the key
The less internal noise you have, the more reliably you can tell similar sounds apart
Posted on 8 November 2026 | 2:00 pm
Acorns—not deer—can predict a rise in Lyme-spreading ticks
Despite deer’s essential role in tick reproduction, looking to acorn numbers instead can forecast Lyme disease booms almost two years in advance
Posted on 8 November 2026 | 1:00 pm
NASA reveals new lunar rover, PROMISE, to launch to moon in 2028
At a press event on Saturday, the agency’s officials stressed that rovers and other infrastructure will be critical to ensuring human survival on the moon
Posted on 7 November 2026 | 11:45 pm
The 'Great Unconformity' has puzzled scientists since its discovery in the 1870s
Posted on 7 November 2026 | 2:00 pm
The mathematical trick that explains how to find a needle in a haystack
We asked a statistics expert how difficult it would be to find a needle in a haystack—the answer is: just as hard as you think
Posted on 7 November 2026 | 1:00 pm
Nothing can be fully transparent, physicists discover
Quantum researchers show how materials inevitably absorb light
Posted on 7 November 2026 | 12:30 pm
Can you guess the puzzle writer’s secret formula?
Posted on 7 November 2026 | 6:00 am
This brain change can make foxes act like pet dogs
Using data from a 1950s Russian experiment, researchers are getting “to the heart of brain programming” in foxes
Posted on 6 November 2026 | 8:00 pm
Have astronomers spotted Planet Nine?
Archived observations appear to show a moving object in the far-distant outer solar system, but its reality is unclear
Posted on 6 November 2026 | 12:45 pm
Kevin Roose says the race to build superintelligence is accelerating
What happens when a technology becomes more powerful than its creators can fully understand?
Posted on 6 November 2026 | 12:00 pm
Ancient humans used cannabis in burial rituals 2,800 years ago
New findings from a Siberian tomb offer the earliest direct evidence for human marijuana use
Posted on 5 November 2026 | 8:00 pm
These are the doctors and scientists elected in the 2026 midterms
Learn more about the scientific community coming into office in January
Posted on 5 November 2026 | 6:32 pm
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is changing the color of the ocean
The ocean’s blue and green hues near the infamous zone of debris have gotten brighter over the past 20 years, satellite data show
Posted on 5 November 2026 | 6:15 pm
Hundreds of stunning ice age drawings discovered inside Spanish cave
The find includes 280 engravings, including 55 depictions of animals
Posted on 5 November 2026 | 2:30 pm
How George Clinton’s Mothership landed onstage in 1976
Fifty years after its spectacular debut, George Clinton’s smoke-spewing spaceship remains a marvel of live-music technology and Afrofuturist imagination
Posted on 5 November 2026 | 1:00 pm