Imaginary numbers—the square roots of negative numbers—are an inescapable part of quantum theory, a study shows
Open-office designs create productivity and health problems. New insights from Deaf and autistic communities could fix them
How do giant filter-feeding whales find their tiny prey? The answer could be key to saving endangered species
The causes of long COVID, which disables millions, may come together in the brain and nervous system
New experiments can re-create the young cosmos, when it was a mash of fundamental particles, more precisely than ever before
Plato was right: newborns do math
Scientists are abandoning conventional thinking to search for extraterrestrial creatures that bear little resemblance to Earthlings
Growing swarms of spacecraft in orbit are outshining the stars, and scientists fear no one will do anything to stop it
New techniques and novel ingredients can greatly reduce the immense carbon emissions from cement and concrete production
Metabolism studies reveal surprising insights into how we burn calories—and how cooperative food production helped Homo sapiens flourish
Scientists have new evidence about how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum and other heavy members of the periodic table
A mourning ritual of dialogues with the dead speaks to the fragility of theological diversity
The James Webb Space Telescope has sparked a new era in astronomy
The James Webb Space Telescope’s first images of the distant universe shocked astronomers. Is the discovery of unimaginably distant galaxies a mirage or a revolution?
Deep-field images of “empty” regions of the sky from JWST and other space telescopes are revealing more of the universe than we ever thought possible
Two expeditions to the Thwaites Ice Shelf have revealed that it could splinter apart in less than a decade, hastening sea-level rise worldwide
Advanced materials can modify waves, creating optical illusions and useful technologies
For most of human evolution, multiple species with different ways of walking upright coexisted
These fun stories show progress from the scale of quantum effects to that of snakes and from Earth to the edge of the universe
Bizarre sea creatures, a new view of the ocean, the race to the moon, and more
We humans may think of ourselves, or possibly beetles, as typical Earthlings, but to a first approximation, life on Earth exists in the sea. And what spectacular life! Our special package on the oceans is teeming with images of eerie, delicate, elaborate, glowing and occasionally kind of frightening creatures that have rarely been seen by terrestrial species. The in-depth report was guided by sustainability senior editor Mark Fischetti along three main themes: mystery, discovery and surprise.
Decades of work, $10 billion in spending and nearly 14 billion years of cosmic history have brought us to this moment. The first science from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful observatory ever built. What questions will it answer? What new mysteries will discover? What will this new eye on the cosmos reveal? The telescope’s first science images will be out VERY soon. Here’s a quick look at what you can expect when they drop. For complete cover of the Webb, hit up: http://sciam.com/jwst
The pioneering probes are still running after nearly 45 years in space, but they will soon lose some of their instruments
By Tim Folger
Oil and gas representatives influence the standards for courses and textbooks, from kindergarten to 12th grade
By Katie Worth
Adverse experiences can change future generations through epigenetic pathways
By Rachel Yehuda
Global warming fueled rampant overgrowth of microbes at the end of the Permian period. Such lethal blooms may be on the rise again
By Chris Mays, Vivi Vajda and Stephen McLoughlin
A debate over conflicting measurements of key cosmological properties is set to shape the next decade of astronomy and astrophysics
By Anil Ananthaswamy
Overheating is a major problem for today’s computers, but those of tomorrow might stay cool by circumventing a canonical boundary on information processing
By Philip Ball
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