Scientific American Content: Global

A small study of people with congenital anosmia found changes in breathing that suggest the condition may affect more than just the ability to smell

The Heiltsuk of British Columbia are using a mix of traditional principles and modern implementation to protect salmon and bears in their territory

People recovering from substance use disorders need homes, jobs and medication-centered, quality health care, not just a bed in a residential treatment center

A gigantic space rock that slammed into Earth more than three billion years ago grievously wounded the biosphere—and then helped it heal

What we think about when we think about “zilch” is surprisingly complex, neuroscientists find

Observations from a retrofitted spy plane hint at a connection between powerful gamma-ray flashes and a thunderstorm’s lightning

Oregon decriminalized hard drugs in 2021 and recriminalized them last month. A new analysis shows the laws likely had little effect on opioid deaths

People are pulling their kids out of traditional education to learn while they travel. Data on educational success are limited, but there are other reasons to consider worldschooling

Kick off the week by catching up on the latest science news.

A tree’s fall palette offers a glimpse at its health and the weather it has experienced in a given year

Phone apps can tell whether your kid is playing hooky. But remotely surveilling your child might not be great for navigating the trials of the teen years

Pediatric long COVID is more common than many thought, and we keep letting kids be reinfected with new variants

The rising moon looks huge on the horizon, but it’s all in your head

The next U.S. president will have to contend with regulations around AI—and the electorate is already facing AI-generated misinformation.

The Small Business Association has announced that loans to those affected by hurricanes and other disasters have been halted to wait for more money from Congress. But the House speaker says nothing will happen until after the presidential election

Science is filled with tools that once seemed revolutionary and are now just part of the research tool kit. That time may have come for artificial intelligence

In a health care system that assumes older adults have family caregivers to help them, those facing dementia alone often fall through the cracks

In her book Wonder Drug, Jennifer Vanderbes explores the history of thalidomide’s secret history—and harms—in the U.S.

Trump’s anti-immigrant good-gene-bad-gene screeds are nothing but factless eugenics for a new era

A vast, ancient slab of seafloor plunged beneath the Pacific Ocean and has hovered in Earth’s mantle for more than 120 million years, a new study suggests

Brain studies show that language is not essential for the cognitive processes that underlie thought

As tensions soar in the Middle East, the president’s lame duck status hinders efforts to manage the escalation of risks in the region

Hurricane Helene devastated a North Carolina facility that produces peritoneal dialysis fluid, which is used by about 80,000 people nationally

Despite high levels of innumeracy and math anxiety, people often appreciate numeric data

Inspired by a classic movie, conservationists are teaching endangered Northern Bald Ibises to fly south for the winter

Harris would continue the Biden administration’s landmark climate efforts; Trump would roll the country back to more oil and gas

How do you stop implicit bias from getting in the way of better health? This doctor wants to make learning how to manage bias as important as learning how to suture.

SpaceX’s fifth Starship flight test concluded with mechanical arms snatching the descending rocket booster out of the air

Increasingly intense hurricanes, wildfires and other climate disasters have forced these state-run backstop insurance groups into a role typically assumed by the private sector as the primary insurer within their borders

Implementing smart technologies such as demand-controlled ventilation could reduce the carbon footprint of office buildings, which contribute more than one third of fossil fuel emissions globally

We talk to Cristina Gonzalez, a physician at New York University, who runs a lab that uses simulations to help medical professionals check their implicit bias at the exam room door.

Play this crossword inspired by the November 2024 issue of Scientific American

Songs and speech across cultures suggest music developed similar features around the world

Estimates of how fast the universe is expanding disagree. Could a new form of dark energy resolve the problem?

Letters to the editors for the June 2024 issue of Scientific American

Lessons from the people making forest ecosystems more resilient

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

What works to improve health equity? And it might be time to end the leap second

Occam’s razor holds that the simplest explanation is closest to the truth. But the real world is quite complex

We have been adding “leap seconds” to time kept by our atomic clocks, but soon we may have to subtract one. Are the tiny adjustments worth the bother?

Fortunately, recognition and treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in grown-ups are getting better

Vince Beiser’s tour of the “Electro-Digital Age” puts resource extraction at the center

Computer chess champ; dental chloroform killer

Gentle nasal spray vaccines against COVID, the flu and RSV are coming. They may work better than shots in the arm

Science in meter and verse

Half a century after its discovery, this iconic fossil remains central to our understanding of human origins

A history of citrus fruits, from the Han Dynasty to the modern orange juice industry

In The Dispossessed, a physicist is caught between societies

Robin Wall Kimmerer changed our ideas of sustainability. Can she do the same for economics?

Can this house of cards be built?