The U.S. has been roiled this year by two crises that seem on the surface to be unrelated: the coronavirus pandemic and law-enforcement killings of black Americans—the latter leading to mass protests and police violence toward protesters. Although the immediate causes of these two tragedies seem distinct, both have their roots in structural racism. The […]
Originally published in August 1958 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “Subliminal stimulation has become a public issue since a commercial research firm announced that it can be used to sell popcorn and Coca-Cola to movie theater audiences. Last month three psychologists of the University of Michigan presented their views on the technology and ethics of subliminal […]
When U.S. scientists launch the first large-scale clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccines this summer, Antonio Cisneros wants to make sure people like him are included. Cisneros, who is 34 and Hispanic, is part of the first wave of an expected 1.5 million volunteers willing to get the shots to help determine whether leading vaccine candidates […]
It is no small task to predict which of the hundreds of thousands of unknown pathogens existing naturally in animals will spill over to people and cause the next pandemic. But one thing is clear: A major factor driving spillover events such as the current COVID-19 pandemic is the trade in live and fresh wildlife […]
A hairlike, translucent creature that builds colonies on hermit crab shells is strange enough in appearance and living arrangements, but hydractinia’s oddities do not stop there. Scientists have now pinpointed a key gene—one also found in humans—that triggers this ocean floor dweller’s rare ability to make an unlimited supply of sperm and eggs. It is […]
There’s a reason the term “physical distancing” hasn’t been used much during the coronavirus pandemic: Though it’s a more accurate description of what public health experts are trying to achieve than “social distancing,” it fails to capture the loss that many of us feel as a direct result of being separated from other people. Young […]
The SUV-sized Perseverance rover due to launch to Mars this week has a sidekick: a svelte four-pound helicopter with four-foot-long rotor blades that weigh as light as feathers. It will attempt to make the first powered flight on another planet, a potential game-changer for deep-space exploration. If all goes as planned, dispatching the helicopter from […]
UFOs have been back in the news because of videos initially leaked, and later confirmed, by the U.S. Navy and officially released by Pentagon that purportedly show “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP) in our skies. Speculations about their nature have run the gamut from mundane objects like birds or balloons to visitors from outer space. It’s […]
Hi, I’m Scientific American assistant news editor Sarah Lewin Frasier. And here’s a short piece from the July 2020 issue of the magazine, in the section called Advances: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Science, Technology and Medicine. The article is titled “Quick Hits,” and it’s a rundown of some noncoronavirus stories from around the globe. […]
Humans are a really noisy species. Hammering and digging, flying and driving, delivering heavy cargo all over the world. And that activity creates seismic noise, which masks delicate signals from faraway small earthquakes. Raphael De Plaen, a seismologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, compares listening for small earthquakes during normal times to sitting […]