Scientific American.com
Bumblebees use tools to solve complex problems—despite not being trained to do so
Bumblebees appear to be capable of coming up with creative solutions to new problems to get a sugary reward—and their strategies include cheating
The Laetoli Footprints—the oldest hominin footprints ever found—are at risk of destruction
A new investigation alleges that official organizations in Tanzania have imperiled the country's artifacts and remains at four critical human heritage sites they were supposed to protect
A flesh-eating New World screwworm was just found in a Texas cow—here’s what to know
This marks the first case of the New World screwworm in U.S. livestock since the parasite was eliminated in the country in the 1960s
Astronomers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about the Milky Way’s black hole
A breeze is emanating from Sagittarius A* at the heart of our galaxy
Did we just see a primordial black hole at the Milky Way’s edge?
A blip of light in the outer reaches of the Milky Way might be a bizarre black hole born at the beginning of time itself—and the long-sought solution to the mystery of dark matter. Astronomers are calling it “Phoebe”
Humans conquered the planet 300 times faster than genetic evolution can explain
Culture is humanity’s secret for world domination. This calculation shows just how powerful it is
Search for alien technology on interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS comes up empty
Even though astronomers didn’t detect alien tech signals from a rare interstellar visitor, the results are worthwhile, they say
White House reclassifies federal epidemiologists and other scientists from civil servants to ‘at-will’ hires
The long-anticipated “Schedule F” order strips job protections meant to safeguard federal employees from political interference
Scientists just built a powerful AI computer worm that learns as it spreads
This prototype could help the world prepare for AI malware threats, according to the researchers who made it
Landmark pancreatic cancer treatment paves way for targeting other tricky tumors
Unprecedented results against a stubbornly hard-to-treat cancer are boosting optimism that other challenging tumors will be next
NASA’s Mars mission MAVEN is lost forever
MAVEN was the first successful mission designed to study the atmosphere of Mars. It also became a vital node of NASA’s communications network at the Red Planet
Edison may not have been the first to record the human voice, new evidence suggests
Could a predecessor to the phonograph have appeared a century earlier?
The reason why elevators feel slow—and the surprising math behind everyday life
From slow elevators to perfectly split pizza, math quietly explains the quirks of everyday life
Ötzi the murdered Iceman’s microbiome is still active
More than 5,300 years after Ötzi’s death, researchers identified yeasts in his gut microbiome that continue to be active—and they used it to make bread
U.S. science must innovate or die, National Academy of Sciences president says
The past year has been “filled with turmoil” for science, National Academy of Sciences president Marcia McNutt said during her State of the Science address
In a first, scientists transplanted both a pig liver and kidneys into a person who was brain-dead
The transplanted pig organs functioned for 36 hours before showing signs of rejection
Microsoft’s upgraded Majorana quantum computing chip fizzles with physicists
Microsoft’s announcement of a new quantum computing breakthrough with its Majorana 2 chip continues a trend of bold claims followed by scant evidence
Sturgeon fish sex sounds like ‘thunder’
These sounds could be used to track the health of populations of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon
Trump’s new AI executive order drastically shifts the administration’s stance on the tech
This order asks artificial intelligence companies to give the U.S. government up to 30 days to assess frontier models before they are released
Trump administration takes aim at crucial ocean monitoring network
The Ocean Observatories Initiative has been collecting data on physical, chemical, geological and biological conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the past decade
