Science

There are countless stories that begin with a nuclear explosion, but none of them end the exact same way. A post-nuclear story can go incredibly grim in a project like…

In the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the murderous artificial intelligence HAL 9000 went into operation on January 12, 1992. In the early Terminator films, Skynet became “a new order…

The growing diversity and capability of China’s launch sector were on display last week. Four different Chinese orbital rockets lifted off in a 45-hour span from Tuesday (Sept. 15) to…

Supercomputers in the UK and US are joining forces to accelerate the race toward practical fusion energy. The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the US Department of Energy’s…

For 10 years, physicist Stephan Schlamminger had been chasing one of the most stubborn numbers in science. Now, after a decade of experiments, corrections, and painstaking analysis, the answer was…

On September 12 Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei posted an essay urging the industry to “slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models.” To make such a…

I think I might fall out of my seat. That’s not hyperbole — my seat is literally shaking so hard that I wonder if I should be wearing a seatbelt;…

When asked about the greatest innovation of humans, people will often say language or fire. A new paper suggests that these innovations may be more interlinked than we previously assumed….

It takes a certain amount of bravery to embark on a weight-loss journey. For most people, eating more healthily and doing more exercise is a radical change from their daily…

Mars’ innermost moon, Phobos, has puzzled planetary scientists for decades. One of the biggest unanswered questions is where it came from. Some researchers think Phobos is an asteroid that was…

nT-Tao, an Israeli company specializing in compact nuclear fusion, has developed and deployed a new 50-megawatt (MW) pulsed-power subsystem with real-time nonlinear control. The subsystem expands the company’s MEGA (Modular…

The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and the US Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have signed a Joint Declaration of Intent to explore linking their advanced…

Perfection may not always be the best recipe for stability, especially in complex systems such as electrical grids, ecosystems, and advanced materials. For years, researchers often worked from the assumption…

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Human memory is, at its core, an unreliable witness. More than 70 percent of all convictions of people who were exonerated with DNA evidence between 1989 and 2019 were cases…

“I don’t know if you’re a detective or a pervert.” The comment is directed at Kyle MacLachlan’s character in David Lynch’s first true masterpiece, 1986’s Blue Velvet. But the line…

A House vote targeting data center power costs sent Oklo and NuScale Power surging past the broader nuclear complex, but the way uranium miners sat out the rally tells a…

Scientists have built a DNA-powered computer that can perform calculations using billions of molecules in a tiny drop of water. The system taps into the laws of physics to create…

Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. This week we’re diving into what we like to call a Friday Fascination—a story that uses sound to transport you…

On Sept. 19, 1996, the space shuttle Atlantis rendezvoused with Russia’s Mir space station to deliver supplies and equipment. The mission also picked up NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid, who had…

China’s aim to achieve the commercial utilisation of fusion energy by 2050, and the benefits to be gained from international collaboration, have been set out at Fusion for the Future: Engineering…

In Bangladesh, hospitals and community health workers are facing an unrelenting battle against measles. Despite increased vaccination rates, cases have surged into the deadliest outbreak the South Asian country has…

For most of modern astronomy, rings were associated only with the Solar System’s giant planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. That picture changed in 2013, when astronomers discovered two dense…

There was no need or expectation for a movie based on transforming robot toys to be as absurdly hardcore as it was. Forty years ago, in 1986, Transformers, a moderately…

A routine check of NASA lunar data unexpectedly led to a major discovery. Robert Wagner, a scientist who works with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), was examining a large map…

Right now, your brain is recognizing the shapes of these letters, analysing their meaning, and holding a stream of thought together—all on about 20 watts of power. That’s roughly what…

Menopause is an experience roughly half of Earth’s population will go through at some point in their life. It’s the point where menstruation stops and marks the end of natural…

The race to develop the energy source of the future is gathering pace. Who will win? The US and China? Or Europe? German start-up Focused Energy, based in Darmstadt, aims…

Rocket Lab will launch a Japanese Earth-observing satellite to orbit tonight (Sept. 18), and you can watch the action live. An Electron rocket carrying a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft…