Scientific American

A human figure holds a lantern in a dark, panoramic landscape beneath a starry sky dominated by the arc of the Milky Way

The UniverseOctober 31, 2025

Do We Live in a Haunted Galaxy?

Huge eruptions from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole in the distant past may have sterilized much of the inner galaxy

Phil Plait

Close-up of the silver pipes on a vintage organ.

MusicOctober 31, 2025

How Composers Make Horror Movie Music Sound Terrifying

Allison Parshall

A black-outline illustration of a boy and an AI robot engaged in a programming activity.

Artificial IntelligenceOctober 31, 2025

How One Mom Built an AI Tutor for Her Dyslexic Son

Deni Ellis Béchard

A fuzzy comet with a fat tail extended behind it seen against a background of stars.

AstronomyOctober 31, 2025

The Race to Study an Interstellar Comet from Deep Space

Meghan Bartels

GamesOctober 31, 2025

Spellements: Friday, October 31, 2025

Emma R. Hasson

Special Offer: $1 for 90 Days

An illustration of a cartoonish stomach halved to expose the pile of halloween candy inside it with cartoon ghosts floating down and out of the gastrointestinal tracks leading into and out of the stomach.

FoodOctober 31, 2025

Gut Reactions to Your Favorite Halloween Candy

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura, Jeffery DelViscio

VideoOctober 30, 2025

How Are Annual Flu Vaccines Made?

Zachary Rubin

A chimpanzee, close to the camera, looks forward with striking brown eyes

AnimalsOctober 30, 2025

Chimps Can Weigh Evidence and Update Their Beliefs Like Humans Do

Cody Cottier

A series of four seismograms that show seismic wave lines becoming increasingly dense and pronounced

Natural DisastersOctober 30, 2025

Hurricane Melissa Was So Strong That It Shook the Earth Hundreds of Miles Away

Robin George Andrews

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Celebrating 180 Years of Scientific American

Various Covers from Scientific American

Neurotic Cats, One-Eyed Aliens and Hypnosis for Liars Are among the Historical Gems Reported in Scientific American

Mark Fischetti

Covers of three issues of Scientific American

CultureSeptember 22, 2025

Announcing the #SciAmInTheWild Photography Contest Short List

Sunya Bhutta, Isabella Bruni, Brianne Kane

A full-disk image of Neptune, featuring the bluish planet's dark spot and bright cloud bands.

The UniverseAugust 15, 2025

One Year after Scientific American’s First Issue, the Solar System Grew by a Planet

Phil Plait

Drawings of Mars showing its 'canals' and polar ice caps from 1907

HealthAugust 25, 2025

Scientific American Celebrates 180 Years with Stories of Scientific U-turns

Rachel Feltman, Jeffery DelViscio, Alex Sugiura

Group of suited scientists pose indoors; Einstein seated center front with Hans Bethe standing behind him.

OpinionAugust 1, 2025

U.S. Science and Scientific American Have Weathered Attacks Before and Won

Dan Vergano

Explore Collection

November 2025 Issue

Colorful depiction of organisms in the big bang

Evolution

Mysterious Rocks Could Rewrite Evolution of Complex Life

Asher Elbein

Illustration of a purple and yellow person with lightning strikes and sunshine in the background

Psychology

The Slippery Slope of Ethical Collapse—And How Courage Can Reverse It

Elizabeth Svoboda

Omega 3 Fish Oil capsules in a spoon against a yellow background

Health

Which Anti-Inflammatory Supplements Actually Work?

Lori Youmshajekian

Illustration of a meteorite as a ripped piece of paper shooting through space

Planetary Science

The Sordid Mystery of a Somalian Meteorite Smuggled into China

Dan Vergano

Illustration of a finger pointed up at a drop of blood

Diabetes

Type 1 Diabetes Science Is Having a Moment

Jeanna Bryner

Illustration of DNA structure with characters of people standing on the strands

Genetics

Diagnosing Type 1 Diabetes before Symptoms Strike

Rachel Nuwer

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Games

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

Spellements

Create as many words as you can!

Illustration of a hand and multiple numbers against a purple background.

Math Puzzles

Stretch your math muscles with these puzzles.

A robot hand unleashes a swirl of puzzle pieces, crosswords, and circles with numbers and letters

All Games

Science inspired games, puzzles and quizzes

Special Edition

Close up illustration of a human eye

Neuroscience

The Brain Science of Elusive ‘Aha! Moments’

John Kounios, Yvette Kounios

Design of a blue tech-like background with a brain in the center.

Artificial Intelligence

Building Intelligent Machines Helps Us Learn How Our Brain Works

George Musser

Illustration of a person on a hospital bed having an out of body experience within a hospital setting

Neuroscience

Lifting the Veil on Near-Death Experiences

Rachel Nuwer

Illustration of a cell, with the Earth at the center of it

Neuroscience

How the Brain ‘Constructs’ the Outside World

György Buzsáki

Human faces lots of eyes colorful waves

Psychiatry

New Treatments Are Rewriting Our Understanding of Schizophrenia

Diana Kwon

Illustration of a head covered in testing equipment, and a smaller figure of a woman reaching up to touch the head.

Sleep

The New Science of Controlling Lucid Dreams

Michelle Carr

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Podcasts

An illustration of a cartoonish stomach halved to expose the pile of halloween candy inside it with cartoon ghosts floating down and out of the gastrointestinal tracks leading into and out of the stomach.

October 31, 2025

Gut Reactions to Your Favorite Halloween Candy

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura, Jeffery DelViscio

An illustration of a figure standing on a raised column with representations of social media comments swirling around them in shades of pink and yellow.

Social MediaOctober 29, 2025

Will American Ownership Change What TikTok Shows You?

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

A view of a desolate looking arctic landscape in hues of gray with a lone figure in an orange parka standing in the foreground with composited clouds of mosquitoes around them.

Climate ChangeOctober 27, 2025

Mosquitoes Invade Iceland, Earth Darkens, and Bird Flu Returns

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Jeffery DelViscio, Alex Sugiura

A pregnant woman holds her belly.

MedicineOctober 24, 2025

Why Pregnant People Are Left Out of Drug Safety Studies

Rachel Feltman, Tanya Lewis, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

A man looking down in disappointment at a sports game.

PsychologyOctober 22, 2025

Why Some Apologies Feel Hollow—And Others Don’t

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Popular Stories

A vintage desktop computer from the 1990s on a table with the game DOOM seen on the display

MathematicsOctober 30, 2025

How an Error in Cult Classic Game Doom Sparked New Appreciation for Pi

What would the world look like if we changed the value of pi? Whether in the real world or a game environment, the answer is complex

Manon Bischoff

Several dinosaurs pose threateningly while roaring at each other

PaleontologyOctober 30, 2025

‘Dueling Dinosaurs’ Fossil Solves the Mystery of a ‘Mini T. rex’

An analysis suggests Nanotyrannus is a separate, smaller dinosaur that lived alongside T. rex, settling a 30-year debate

Anirban Mukhopadhyay

Detail of a chart shows data points labelled human on a bicycle, human on a velomobile, human, horse, automobile, pigeon, dog, salmon and others.

EngineeringOctober 14, 2025

A Classic Graphic Reveals Nature’s Most Efficient Traveler

A famous graphic, now updated, compares locomotion in the animal kingdom

Allison Parshall, DTAN Studio

Graphic shows the noperthedron, a convex polyhedron resembling an inflated cylinder with two large faces on the top and bottom and 150 smaller triangular faces making up the height.

MathematicsOctober 28, 2025

This New Shape Breaks an ‘Unbreakable’ 3D Geometry Rule

The noperthedron has a surprising property—which disproves a long-standing conjecture

Emma R. Hasson

Pastel illustration of dad holding his little daughter on floral background.

NeuroscienceOctober 29, 2025

The Neuroscience behind the ‘Parenting Paradox’ of Happiness

Separate brain processes cope with moment-to-moment versus big-picture experiences, which helps explain how parenting both increases and decreases aspects of well-being

Anthony Vaccaro

A chimpanzee, close to the camera, looks forward with striking brown eyes

AnimalsOctober 30, 2025

Chimps Can Weigh Evidence and Update Their Beliefs Like Humans Do

Are we the only rational thinkers? New research on our primate cousins suggests otherwise

Cody Cottier

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