News

Methane Leaks Erase Some of the Climate Benefits of Natural Gas

America’s carbon dioxide emissions have fallen consistently over the last 15 years in large part because power companies have swapped…

5 years ago

North Pole’s Largest-ever Ozone Hole Finally Closes

After looming above the Arctic for nearly a month, the single largest ozone hole ever detected over the North Pole has finally…

5 years ago

Galileo’s Fight against Science Denial

This is Scientific American’s Science Talk, posted on May 5, 2020. I’m Steve Mirsky. On this episode: LIVIO CLIP That’s…

5 years ago

Grief on the Front Line–and Beyond

In their own voices, health care workers from across the country reflect on coping with the coronavirus -- Read more…

5 years ago

Planet Nine Could Be a Mirage

Some four years ago, when Ann-Marie Madigan first encountered the idea that there might be an undetected massive planet lurking…

5 years ago

A swimming dinosaur: The tail of Spinosaurus

New bones suggest Spinosaurus is the only known aquatic dinosaur. A new fossil of one of the most unusual dinosaurs,…

5 years ago

What COVID-19 Antibody Tests Can and Cannot Tell Us

Dozens of antibody tests for the novel coronavirus have become available in recent weeks. And early results from studies of…

5 years ago

Should You Immerse Yourself in Bad News These Days, or Ignore It Completely?

How can we possibly grapple with the onslaught of information about virus spread, stock market nosedives, canceled plans and uncertainty…

5 years ago

Warming Caused a Glacier in Alaska to Collapse

Global warming isn't just causing glaciers to melt—it's making some collapse suddenly. That's what scientists believe happened at Alaska's Flat…

5 years ago

Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread

Globe-trotting humans were the culprits  Credit: Martin KrzywinskiAdvertisement The world struggled to understand how COVID-19 spread during the pandemic’s first…

5 years ago