Scientific American

Teens on smartphones

Social MediaMarch 25, 2026

Jury finds Meta and YouTube negligent in landmark social media addiction case

A Los Angeles trial jury found that Meta and YouTube are offering products that are addictive and harmful to young users’ mental health

Claire Cameron

This image shows the moon as seen from the International Space Station.

Space ExplorationMarch 25, 2026

Earth’s magnetic field may be more powerful than we thought

K. R. Callaway

A truck that says “Antimatter in motion” on it.

Particle PhysicsMarch 25, 2026

Physicists just took a road trip with a load of antimatter. Here’s how it went

Emma Gometz

Kate Marvel standing at a podium in front of a large globe.

Society & PolicyMarch 25, 2026

‘Science under attack’: Top climate scientist Kate Marvel explains why she resigned from NASA

Andrea Thompson

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

GamesMarch 26, 2026

Today’s Spellements

Emma R. Hasson

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A view of Saturn from the Hubble Space Telescope highlights subtle cloud banding and color variations, while infrared vision from the James Webb Space Telescope probes different atmospheric layers, bringing out storms, waves, and glowing ring structures in striking detail.

Space & PhysicsMarch 25, 2026

NASA releases stunning new Saturn images—and the gas giant has never looked so good

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Mint leaves, ice cubes and splashing water on blue gradient background

PhysiologyMarch 25, 2026

That minty-fresh feeling? Scientists now know how our bodies feel cold

Jacek Krywko

Artificial IntelligenceMarch 25, 2026

Is AI solving proofs—or just dividing our opinions?

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Joseph Howlett, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

A man holds a microphone in front of a blue screen.

Space ExplorationMarch 24, 2026

NASA unveils ambitious new moon base plans

Dan Vergano

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April 2026 Issue

Sky Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Ecology

Why pristine mountain lakes are suddenly turning green

Cody Cottier

Kid playing on a smartphone.

Children

The kids are all right

Melinda Wenner Moyer

Conceptual illustration: split view of a spiral galaxy and a dark matter-less galaxy.

Astrophysics

Galaxies without dark matter mystify astronomers

Maria Luísa Buzzo

Visitors look at the Arum Titan.

Evolution

How the corpse flower came to be so weird

Jacob S. Suissa

Kidney disease "Innovations In" cover features a grid of kidneys.

Kidney Disease

New ways to save kidneys

Lauren Gravitz

Detail of an illustration of the anatomy of a kidney.

Kidney Disease

The number of kidney patients is going up

Now Medical Studios, Jen Christiansen

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Games

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

Spellements

Create as many words as you can!

Illustration of a hand and multiple numbers against a purple background.

Math Puzzles

Stretch your math muscles with these puzzles.

A robot hand unleashes a swirl of puzzle pieces, crosswords, and circles with numbers and letters

All Games

Science inspired games, puzzles and quizzes

Special Edition

A number of suns floating with Red Blood cells

Health

Can sunlight cure disease?

Rowan Jacobsen

Pile of peanuts

Public Health

Can peanut allergies be cured?

Maryn McKenna

Illustration of a Vitamin D pill bottle with yellow balloons flying out of it, then being popped by a pin in a hand.

Public Health

How much vitamin D do you need to stay healthy?

Christie Aschwanden

Illustration of a row of human figures (minimialist in style—just outlines, even stick figures), each in a different rainbow color, with a row of vaccines (eg needle plus vial) above the row of humans.

Medicine

Personalized mRNA vaccines will revolutionize cancer treatment—if funding cuts don’t doom them

Rowan Moore Gerety

Illustration of a face, with an enlarged nasal cavity. Inside the nasal cavity are three health care professionals with nasal spray bottles and colorful patterns

Pharmaceuticals

New nasal vaccines offer better protection from COVID and flu—no needle needed

Stephani Sutherland

Illustration of a doctor in a white lab coat, using a bow and arrow.

Pharmaceuticals

These cancers were beyond treatment—but might not be anymore

Jyoti Madhusoodanan

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Podcasts

Is AI solving proofs—or just dividing our opinions?

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Joseph Howlett, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Illustration of a woman shielding her face from intense heat outdoors

Public HealthMarch 23, 2026

Spring heat, a blow to RFK, Jr.’s vaccine policy, lead in kids’ clothes

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Andrea Thompson, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

An image of actor Ryan Gosling with his hand up at the World Premiere of Project Hail Mary

Space ExplorationMarch 20, 2026

Andy Weir on Ryan Gosling, alien contact and the wild science of Project Hail Mary

Brianne Kane, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura, Marta Hill, Kendra Pierre-Louis

Conceptual image of a GLP-1 pill under a magnifying glass

GLP-1 DrugsMarch 18, 2026

Weight loss was just the beginning: How the GLP-1 story is evolving

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Lauren J. Young, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

An image of smoke and flames at the site of airstrikes on an oil depot in Tehran.

Nuclear weaponsMarch 16, 2026

Oil reserves tapped as nuclear assertions face pushback, warming fuels hail, and microbiome affects the brain

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Dan Vergano, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Discussions

How likely would you be to say "yes" to being placed in a coma for a lengthy spaceflight to another planet?

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Are the kids really all right?

1View the Discussion

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Popular Stories

The planet Mars imaged from space

SpacecraftMarch 24, 2026

NASA announces nuclear-powered Mars mission by 2028

The U.S. space agency will aim to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars—a first—in a bid to show that nuclear propulsion can be used to send missions into deep space

Claire Cameron

Gold question marks and a blue number 1 against a light blur background

MathematicsMarch 24, 2026

Mathematicians can’t agree on whether 0.999... equals 1

Whether 0.999... equals 1 is the subject of bitter dispute in countless online forums

Manon Bischoff

This March 19, 2026, satellite view shows Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, which was targeted by Iranian missile strikes a day prior.

EnergyMarch 23, 2026

Why Iran is targeting Qatar’s liquid natural gas trains

Why the destruction of Qatar’s liquid natural gas “trains” by Iranian attacks will have global consequences

Stephanie Pappas

HealthMarch 19, 2026

Experimental GLP-3 weight-loss drug retatrutide shows promising results in clinical trial

Retatrutide is among a new class of weight-loss drugs that are being tested for effectiveness

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

A man wearing a spacesuit floats in a ship

AstrophysicsMarch 20, 2026

How accurate is the science in Project Hail Mary?

This science-fiction movie plays with quantum physics, space travel, astrobiology and mass-to-energy conversion

Emma Gometz

An Air Canada plane crashed at La Guardia airport surrounded by emergency services vehicles

EngineeringMarch 23, 2026

Why the LaGuardia plane crash was so destructive

Engineers explain how a collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck at one of New York’s busiest airports turned deadly

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

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