Scientific American

Kid playing on a smartphone.

ChildrenMarch 17, 2026

The kids are all right

Surprising studies show young people are doing better than previous generations in many ways

Melinda Wenner Moyer

MathematicsMarch 19, 2026

The math of March Madness brackets

Emma R. Hasson

A man sitting with hands folded on a bench outside a wooden shed.

MathematicsMarch 19, 2026

Gerd Faltings, mathematician who proved the Mordell conjecture, wins the Abel Prize at age 71

Joseph Howlett

An aerial view of a crater on Mars, with artistic addition of color on the right half

Planetary ScienceMarch 18, 2026

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover discovers even older lost rivers at Jezero Crater

Joseph Howlett

An illustrated robot holds out a luminescent orb with a Sudoku number grid inside

GamesMarch 19, 2026

Today’s Expert Sudoku

SAVE $19 ON PRINT & DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS!

Colorful speech bubbles with different patterns sit as cutouts on a solid background

LanguageMarch 19, 2026

Can you solve these language puzzles? Test your skills with these problems from North America’s biggest linguistics competition

Emma R. Hasson

Two panels showing before and during a collision between two galaxies.

AstronomyMarch 19, 2026

Something extremely weird is happening to our galactic neighbor. Scientists think they know why

Joseph Howlett

A black-and-white photograph of a man standing in front of a blackboard holding a piece of chalk; a diagram of the Earth and moon is drawn on the blackboard.

Space ExplorationMarch 18, 2026

Modern rocketry turns 100—and NASA says the best is yet to come

Lee Billings

This is earthrise over the lunar south pole as recorded by a wide angle camera.

Space ExplorationMarch 18, 2026

There might be less water on the moon than we’d hoped

K. R. Callaway

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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

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

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

Illustration of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US Secretary of Health and Human Services

Public HealthMarch 13, 2026

The dark roots of RFK, Jr.’s public health ideology

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Dan Vergano, Sushmita Pathak, Jeffery DelViscio, Alex Sugiura

An image of a man standing outside of a castle with his arms on his waist

PsychologyMarch 11, 2026

How The Traitors reveals the psychology behind lying

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Conceptual image of an infectious disease spreading

Public HealthMarch 9, 2026

U.S. measles cases surge, AI powers wars, global warming is in a hurry

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Sushmita Pathak, Joseph Howlett, Alex Sugiura

Discussions

Are the kids really all right?

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What fun fact or other tidbit have you learned about beavers?

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Popular Stories

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

Kidney DiseaseMarch 17, 2026

New ways to save kidneys

A series of novel treatments and medical insights is helping chronic kidney disease patients

Lauren Gravitz

A bright fireball meteor entering Earth's atmosphere

Space & PhysicsMarch 17, 2026

An asteroid just exploded above Ohio with the force of 250 tons of TNT

Eyewitness accounts and videos taken from across the Midwest reveal the streak of a large fireball across the daytime sky

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

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

“Imitation” drugs, unexpected benefits, serious pitfalls—here’s what comes next as GLP-1 medications continue to rise in popularity

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

A host of small white flags arrayed on the lawn in front of D.C.'s Washington Monument.

COVIDMarch 18, 2026

COVID probably killed 150,000 more people in its first two years than official U.S. tolls show

We have severely undercounted the number of COVID deaths, scientists say

Meghan Bartels

Anatomy of human organs in x-ray view

HealthMarch 18, 2026

This overlooked organ may be more vital for longevity than scientists realized

The role of the thymus in our long-term immunity and health is poorly understood. Two new studies suggest we need to pay attention

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Engraving of Patrick blessing the Irish and banishes snakes.

EcologyMarch 17, 2026

The real reason there are no snakes in Ireland

It wasn’t Saint Patrick but a long history of chilly weather and geographic isolation that kept the Emerald Isle snake-free

K. R. Callaway

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