The Best of Scientific American
20+ most popular Scientific American articles, as voted by our community.
Awesome discoveries. Expert insights. Science that shapes the world.
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New this Week
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This Ancient Language Has the Only Grammar Based Entirely on the Human Body
An endangered language family suggests that early humans used their bodies as a model for reality
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Personality Can Change from One Hour to the Next
Studies show that people may experience enormous variability in personality traits throughout the course of the day
You Don’t Really Need 10,000 Daily Steps to Stay Healthy
New research points to different step counts based on age and fitness level
A Number System Invented by Inuit Schoolchildren Will Make Its Silicon Valley Debut
Math is called the “universal language,” but a unique dialect is being reborn
How Mathematics Can Predict—and Help Prevent—the Next Pandemic
Mathematician Abba Gumel uses calculations and models to prepare for future disease outbreaks
Laura Taalman's Favorite Theorem
The James Madison University mathematician raises a glass to a lavishly impractical theorem about knots
Scientific American on Brain
AI Designs Quantum Physics Experiments Beyond What Any Human Has Conceived
Originally built to speed up calculations, a machine-learning system is now making shocking progress at the frontiers of experimental quantum physics
Your Brain Does Something Amazing between Bouts of Intense Learning
New research shows that lightning-quick neural rehearsal can supercharge learning and memory.
«It’s during those intermittent breaks that the brain starts to sew together the individual movements that make up a seamless piece.»
Scientific American on Gaslighting
How Gaslighting Manipulates Reality
Gaslighting isn’t just between people in a relationship—it involves social power, too
George Floyd's Autopsy and the Structural Gaslighting of America
The weaponization of medical language emboldened white supremacy with the authority of the white coat. How will we stop it from happening again?
Scientific American on Meaning Of Life
A New Dimension to a Meaningful Life
Studies suggest that appreciating beauty in the everyday may be just as powerful as a sense of overarching purpose
«the more people indicated that they were “appreciating life” and its many experiences, the more they felt their existence was valuable.»
Can the Universe Provide Us with the Meaning of Life?
Astronomy and space exploration might offer a new perspective on our purpose in the cosmos
Scientific American on Microbiome
Some Sugar Substitutes Affect Blood Glucose and Gut Bacteria
In a new study, participants who consumed sugar substitutes showed an altered microbiome and spikes in blood glucose
Ancient “Chewing Gum” Reveals a 5,700-Year-Old Microbiome
Archaeologists reconstructed a Neolithic woman’s complete genome and oral microbiome from a piece of birch tar she chewed
Scientific American on Nature
How Zombifying Fungi Became Master Manipulators
The real-life fungi that inspired The Last of Us hijack the bodies of ants, wasps, cicadas, and more.
Do Trees Really Support Each Other through a Network of Fungi?
Trees communicate and cooperate through a fungal web, according to a widespread idea. But not everyone is convinced
Scientific American on Neuroscience
Why Your Brain Needs Exercise
The evolutionary history of humans explains why physical activity is important for brain health
Acting Out Dreams Predicts Parkinson’s and Other Brain Diseases
Enacted dreams could be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease
Scientific American on Physics
This Twist on Schrödinger’s Cat Paradox Has Major Implications for Quantum Theory
A laboratory demonstration of the classic “Wigner’s friend” thought experiment could overturn cherished assumptions about reality
My Quantum Experiment
An aging science journalist with a literature degree sets out to learn quantum mechanics, mathematics and all
Scientific American on Quantum Physics
Quantum Physics May Be Even Spookier Than You Think
A new experiment hints at surprising hidden mechanics of quantum superpositions
6 Times Quantum Physics Blew Our Minds in 2022
Quantum telepathy, laser-based time crystals, a glow from empty space and an “unreal” universe—these are the most awesome (and awfully hard to understand) results from the subatomic realm we…
Scientific American on Science
New Human Metabolism Research Upends Conventional Wisdom about How We Burn Calories
Metabolism studies reveal surprising insights into how we burn calories—and how cooperative food production helped Homo sapiens flourish
Life Evolves. Can Attempts to Create ‘Artificial Life’ Evolve, Too?
Do efforts to create life—by cooking up imitations in computers, robots and molecules—point toward a universal definition of biology?
Popular
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We Asked GPT-3 to Write an Academic Paper about Itself. Then We Tried to Get it Published
An artificially intelligent first author presents many ethical questions—and could upend the publishing process
Why You Can’t Remember Being Born: A Look at ‘Infantile Amnesia’
Infants can form memories, just not the kind that recalls specific experiences
How Parents’ Trauma Leaves Biological Traces in Children
Adverse experiences can change future generations through epigenetic pathways
We Learn Faster When We Aren’t Told What Choices to Make
The way we decide may even give insight into delusional thinking
«Choice tips the balance of learning: for the same action and outcome, the brain learns differently and more quickly from free choices than forced ones.»
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