Scientific American Content: Global

Nicknamed the “bone collector,” this newly confirmed caterpillar in Hawaii secretly scrounges off a spider landlord by covering itself with dead insect body parts

The world is experiencing the most intense global coral bleaching event on record, with 84 percent of reefs experiencing heat stress from warming oceans

Author Dava Sobel discusses how she discovered the many forgotten female scientists who were mentored by Marie Curie in early 20th-century Paris

The Trump administration’s plans to cut NASA’s science missions will destroy the U.S. space legacy

Happy anniversary to the Hubble Space Telescope, which launched on April 24, 1990

A forest fire that erupted in New Jersey and spread overnight highlights the major wildfire risk faced by the state and other urban areas

The first physical evidence of Roman gladiators fighting animals has been found in skeletal remains from England

Elon Musk funded an XPrize for carbon removal, but his actions in the Trump administration have cut funding for climate research

From public health to space exploration, advisory panels have helped U.S. agencies make smarter decisions. The Trump administration wants to kill them

 In a new book called Slither, Stephen S. Hall takes a deep dive into the biology and history of one of the most reviled animals.

This week the secretary of health and human services announced plans to remove eight more food dyes from the U.S.’s food system

The popular fantasy card game Magic: The Gathering has a new card related to prime numbers. Now fans are trying to use it to tackle one of the biggest problems in mathematics

Much of the U.S. uses single-stream recycling, where plastic, glass and paper go into one bin. Here’s what happens to that material and ways engineering is trying to improve the process

Baby warty birch caterpillars vibrate when threatened—before swinging away like Spider-Man

President Trump has ordered agencies to act “urgently” to curb asthma—a goal at odds with moves to roll back air pollution limits and with RFK, Jr., cutting CDC experts

Many children choose to follow peers with more narcissistic tendencies—and self-esteem may be part of the complex power dynamics involved

More tornadoes than usual have already struck the U.S. in 2025—and many of them have been touching down farther east than they had in the past

The Trump administration has proposed gutting NOAA’s cooperative institutes, which study everything from improving lifesaving weather forecasts to monitoring fish stocks

The late Pope Francis supported global climate agreements, advocated for Indigenous people and inspired activism

Lowering blood pressure through medication can reduce someone's risk of developing dementia

Quantinuum’s 56-bit trapped-ion computer has succeeded in demonstrating randomness in quantum circuits to establish secure, private connections

Some experts say oral versions of popular weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy could offer people more flexibility and accessibility. What’s keeping the pills from taking off?

As children get older, their understanding of science and being a scientist changes. The words adults use are a critical part of keeping them engaged in discovery

This week’s news roundup covers measles and whooping cough cases, evidence of a carbon cycle on Mars and the first glimpse at a colossal squid in its natural habitat.

Most people know weed gets you high—but do you know how THC actually does it?

The Trump administration is freezing, delaying and revoking funding for dementia research, setting back discoveries of potential future treatments

Researchers discover a new color outside the range of human color vision, but you have to laser your retinas to see it

Liberty Energy, founded by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, reports falling profits, and the industry cites tariffs as a driver

The National Science Foundation, which funds key science and engineering research, is the latest U.S. agency to be disrupted by Elon Musk’s DOGE

New evidence shows plant leaves absorb airborne microplastics, a previously overlooked route for the particles to enter crops that has implications for ecology and human health

Scientists discovered two genes involved in hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition that can cause extreme nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. Now they’re looking into treatments

Amid harsh cuts, the Trump administration has proposed canceling the nearly ready-to-launch Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

ORCs—odd radio circles—are one of the weirdest recent discoveries in the heavens above

Hear takeaways from 35 years at Scientific American from Gary Stix, our recently retired mind and brain editor.

Dimethyl sulfide is in the news after NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have detected relatively high levels of it in the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18 b

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope detected an intriguing compound in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18 b, but scientists are divided about what the chemical means

I was fired from my job as a scientist at the only federal agency dedicated to the science of workplace safety. The Trump administration’s cuts put the U.S. workforce in danger

New European Union regulations will require products that last longer and are easier to recycle

In general, crowds like to form lanes to get across—until too many people go in too many different directions

Autism rates are rising, but RFK, Jr., is wrong about the reasons. Here’s what the science says

Similar to other professions, science has organizations that represent scientists and the research they do. Too many are staying silent as Trump dismantles research

A long-lost slab of Earth’s crust may be pulling away the bottom of the oldest part of North America, scientists say

President Trump’s efforts to dismantle climate policies won’t stop renewables from rising or fossil fuels from slowing, according to outlooks from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and BloombergNEF

Leaked budget documents indicate that key NASA and NOAA research projects, such as crucial climate research and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, are at risk of being defunded in 2026

The world-famous mathematician Alan Turing found a possible mechanism for iconic animal patterns thanks to differential equations

Rather than resurrect extinct species, cloning technology could save those at risk of dying out, like the red wolf, but only with solid conservation efforts and habitat protections

Spillover from the politicization of the COVID pandemic has eroded vaccine confidence, but everyday people can play a role in building it back up

Discarded authors Sarah Gabbott and Jan Zalasiewicz, observers of the geological past, look into the future

Hypochlorous acid has a lot of buzz in the beauty industry, but this nontoxic disinfectant has many possible uses.

A colossal squid was filmed for the first time in its natural habitat near the South Sandwich Islands during a recent expedition, and it turned out to be a baby