What the Measles Vaccine’s “97% Effective” Rating Means for Pittsburgh Parents
Demand for the MMR vaccine has risen in Pennsylvania as the state’s measles outbreak has grown
This Photo of the Night Sky Reveals 14,000 Satellite Trails
An image so striking, many people thought it was AI
A Look Back at the Most Breathtaking Photos of Saturn From Voyager 1
It visited the ringed planet 46 years ago this month
How A Bedroom Air Filter Could Keep Your Blood Sugar in Check
New research links clean air to tighter glucose control
Do We Think in Pictures, Words, or… Code?
A conversation with cognitive scientist Evelina Fedorenko about where thought and language overlap
Latest Stories
Common Food Additive Linked to Lower Risk of Cognitive Impairment
It’s found in mayonnaise, chocolate, and lean meats
A New Species Emerges From a 9.5 Million-Year-Old Whale Carcass
A beaked whale, surrounded by stars
“Medium Roast, Cream, No Plastic”: New Coffee Cup Coating Protects Against Microplastics
And makes recycling a breeze
Read Stories from Our Newest Print Issue: The Stupid Issue
See moreThe Elegance of a Stupid Question
Are computers in mathematics rewriting the definitions of stupid and smart?
The Resistance Is Here
They didn’t plan to be activists. But scientists have united to overturn Trump’s drastic cuts to science.
The Return of a Discredited Pseudoscience
Eugenics is rearing its ugly head again in today’s crucible of politics and culture
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Cutting-edge science, unraveled by the brightest living thinkers.
Astronomy
See more Astronomy7,500 Light-Years From Earth, A Cat’s Head Appears
A beautiful new NASA image of the Carina Nebula
A Collapsing Star Produced an Afterglow Brighter Than Its Galaxy
“The explosion packed roughly a billion years of the sun’s energy output into a pencil-thin beam”
“We Will Find a Graviton Before We Find Dark Matter”
A quantum information scientist on the hunt for the elemental mediator of gravity and why AI can’t solve physics problems creatively
History
See more HistoryInside King Tutankhamun’s Tomb, 104 Years After Its Discovery
An unprecedented find in the Valley of Kings
Oldest Evidence of Human Cannabis Use Has a Ghoulish Twist
Take a ride with the spectral cavalcade
The Iron Age Queen Who Helped Bring Britain to its Knees
New scholarship reveals an exiled Roman client king was a woman
Psychology
See more Psychology
What Can We Learn About Happiness From the People Who Study It?
Happiness pioneers recently gathered to discuss the good life
Inside the Mind of a Narcissist
Their brains don’t sync the same way when it comes to processing empathy
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Environment
See more Environment
Zoology
See more Zoology
Chimps Can Be Thieves, But They Hesitate to Rob Their Friends
And their friends were quicker to forgive them for their thievery
Philosophy
See more PhilosophyThe Quest for Wisdom in Turbulent Times
A conversation with three Harvard professors about the practice of wisdom in everyday living
Could AI Have Consciousness That Isn’t Human-Like?
Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith on AI consciousness and existential risk
What a Picture of a Dog Has to Do with Reason and Logic
People who can’t see images in their minds challenge an old philosophical standby
Essential Reading in an Era of AI Doomsaying
Want to make it out of the AI doom loop alive? Read these books
Read more
See all postsEarth’s Rocks Have a Missing Layer Spanning Up to a Billion Years
Now we finally know where it went
Could a Fiber Supplement Help Chronic Knee Pain?
Another investigation into the mysterious microbiome
We Attribute Personalities to Chatbots, Even When We Know Better
We can spot the bot, but we treat it like a person anyway
“Astonishing” Find: Fossilized Dinosaur Blood in a 115-Million-Year-Old Specimen
Molecular paleontology keeps getting better
A Neuropsychologist Explains the Importance of Exercise in Fighting Dementia
Adopting certain lifestyle habits, including physical exercise, could significantly reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia
Ancient DNA May Reveal the Surprising Roots of English and Other Germanic Languages
Iron Age people were on the move
Switching to This Healthier Version of Salt Could Save Around 3 Million Lives a Year
You can even make it at home
The Evolutionary Arc From Pigeon Brains to Machine Consciousness
A conversation with comparative cognition researcher Edward Wasserman about learning and the “edge of chaos”
