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The Supernova That Sparked the Original Scientific Revolution

Centuries before we started debating the transformative effect of AI on science, a new light in the sky shone the way

The Science of Cities. 10 Books You Must Read

Nautilus ventures into the urban world to map the mysterious complexity of cities

Schrödinger’s Kittens Are All Grown Up

Offspring of the most famous thought experiment in physics are now testing the very fabric of the universe

Why Do More Women Than Men Develop Alzheimer’s?

A study in mice suggests loss of estrogen between brain cells as a possible cause

The Most Precarious Day in the Universe

On the same day the world descended into war, physicists saw reality itself unraveling

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Can Cells from a Sea Cucumber Live Forever?

​​What scientists are learning about immortality from a humble marine creature

Can a New Drug Combo Prevent Death by Suicide?

It may reduce suicidal intent for up to a month or more

When a Century-Long Rodent Invasion Ends

The invertebrates definitely come out to play

Read Stories from Our Newest Print Issue: Precarious

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Illustrating the Precarious

How our cover artist sees these quaking times

How to Predict an Earthquake

In the trenches with a paleoseismologist

The Earthquake Illusion

Why we think quakes are becoming more frequent

See the Stunning Images Psyche Beamed Back From Mars

The spacecraft took a much-need detour en route to the asteroid of the same name

A Look Back at Hubble’s Most Breathtaking Images

It’s been 36 years since it beamed back the first glimpses of our universe from space

The Ancient Roots of “Sewer Socialism”

Urban planning wasn’t so different 4,000 years ago

Is This Why Science Advances One Funeral at a Time?

As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work

Chernobyl, 40 Years Later

A lot has changed at the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster

The Impossible Strength of the Testosterone Myth

Scientists keep knocking it down but it keeps roaring back

What Your Dream Life Says About You

A conversation with a dream researcher about how dream content and recall may reflect personality and thinking style

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Nobody Could Save Timmy the Whale

Months of rescue efforts by influencers and millionaires may have just prolonged his death

Coral Reefs Are at a Tipping Point

My underwater dive to discover whether the beautiful ocean organisms are ever coming back

Stare Into the Heart of an Ancient Iceberg

The beauty of the blue ice belies a fragility exposed by human activity

The Bad Seed and the Problem of Blame

A conversation with behavioral geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden about the heritability of vice

A Light in the Dark: Finding the Good in the Natural World

Is it absurd to think that science can inform our values?

How ‘Tiny Shortcuts’ Are Poisoning Science

Seemingly harmless data tweaks are undermining the integrity of the entire field. We must define the problem to prevent it

Watch Immune System Cells Gobble Up Cancer Cells

It’s the first time the activity has been caught on video

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This Pope Weighed in on Modern Tech as Media Forever Changed

Pope Leo wasn’t the first Holy Father to opine about the promise and peril of an emerging technology

This Toothless, Beaked Crocodile Ancestor Walked on Two Legs

It came on the scene during a time of evolutionary experimentation

Poop Cruises Are No Laughing Matter

We should reflect on what cruise ships stricken with diseases mean for the way we inhabit the world today

How to Tame AI’s Voracious Appetite for Energy

Better algorithms, hardware and computing methods can lower AI’s power drain

Finally a Commencement Speech That Gets AI Right

Leave it to The Woz to hit the right note with freshly minted graduates

How Your Brain Decides What Matters

People with amygdala damage are shedding new light on why we trust or fear others

Using Brain Waves to Translate Thoughts into Pictures

Young scientists dream up a way to decipher the mind’s eye with EEG and AI

These Tiny Flies Survive, Even Thrive on Snow

Genomic adaptations power their extreme cold tolerance