Scientific American Content: Global

Most of the world’s population carries at least a little Neanderthal DNA

One in 7,000 people carry this gene mutation

Strange whirlpools of plasma seen in the sharpest images ever captured of our star help explain the deep origins of Earth-threatening space weather and more

Mountain lions (also known as cougars or pumas) make roads safer by scaring deer and elk that can cause collisions with cars into more remote areas

A solution to part of the Cohen-Lenstra conjecture helps resolve a long-standing mystery about quadratic forms

An active ingredient in magic mushrooms, psilocybin has shown early promise for treating eating disorders

The Swedish engineer influencer has spent over a decade on YouTube growing a loyal audience of over 2.5 million followers, but for her, the journey was all about living a less typical life in science.

This marks only the second ice age amphibian found in North America—and it gives researchers vital information about the ancient climate

Wormholes are one way that physicists have imagined traveling into the past. But if something gets there, is it physically possible to change anything?

Charles Darwin predicted in 1875 that some members of the Saxifraga genus could be carnivorous—now scientists have finally proven him right

This billionaire-backed fund is dedicating $200 million to preserve animals and even plants that are facing extinction around the world

Astronomers’ simulations predict what this lunar impact—and its aftermath—will look like

A rare fossil find shows a tooth embedded an ichthyosaur’s vertebra, where it was likely left when a giant pliosaurid chomped down on this dolphin-resembling reptile

A unique landform is vital for calibrating NASA’s satellites, but it’s likely sitting atop a vast deposit of this heavy metal, which is crucial for making munitions

The Arctic is heating faster than the rest of the planet. New data illustrate how dire that is

Dry conditions and climate change are putting forests across the country at risk for disaster

These deaths were reported by Michigan, which has seen more than 11,000 cases of cyclosporiasis emerge since late June

These proposed changes have seen significant bipartisan pushback and have been criticized by scientists across disciplines

The bright, red-orange stain on Antarctica’s ice-covered landscape may trace back to ancient oceans

Some female daddy longlegs will perform fellatio, perhaps to avoid potential violence from males, while males of another species entice females with a secretion on their penises

An outbreak of Cyclospora infections tied to produce spreads across multiple states as new research challenges the protein maxxing craze

A high-profile court case is calling attention to this rare and understudied condition

An M.I.T. Ph.D. student and two University of California system cryptographers used GPT-5.6 Sol Ultra in different ways, raising new questions about independent discovery and scientific credit

While “protein maxxing” is all the rage, reducing your protein intake could add years to your life

Lakes of liquid methane on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, could offer exhilarating—and terrifying—opportunities for otherworldly surfing

Frothy rock floating on the ocean near Papua New Guinea is the sign scientists needed that, hidden from view, an underwater volcano was erupting

Historian Craig Fehrman unpacks the science, politics and human stories behind one of America’s most famous expeditions

David Haskell brings readers through millions of years of botanical history for his latest book, How Flowers Made Our World

Centuries-old DNA that was found in these mummies belongs to an extinct viral lineage of smallpox that was brought across the Atlantic during European colonization of the Americas

Scientists analyzing modern genomes may have found a long-lost branch of the human family tree

The U.S. has been pummeled with heat waves this summer. Here’s how hot overnight temperatures can get in the way of a good night’s rest—in three charts

Space agencies around the globe are coordinating missions to visit the asteroid Apophis during a close encounter with Earth in 2029

The extreme conditions of atomic bomb explosions create “uncontrolled microexperiments” that, in Hiroshima, forged a never-before-seen metallic alloy

Many of these structures date to around C.E. 100–300, during the time of the Aquiry civilization, and may have been used for ceremonial purposes

A newly discovered change in ribosomal RNA makes protein production more precise, potentially safeguarding these cephalopods’ complex nervous systems

Giant black holes adrift in deep space are normally invisible—unless they’re dining on stars

A private spacecraft launched to boost the decaying orbit of NASA’s Swift Observatory is now suffering from potentially mission-ending malfunctions

Smell can bring back vivid childhood memories—the so-called Proust’s madeleine phenomenon—and neuroscientists now think they know why

New work explains how avocado trees coordinate a complex reproductive strategy, switching every day between male and female

SciAm books editor Bri Kane shares her favorite science books for every summer mood

Discovered by an amateur mathematician in 2022, this strange construct can tile an infinite surface without repeating. But can it be useful in the real world?

Physicists, mathematicians and philosophers have been exploring the possibility of going forward to the future or back to the past

Neuroscientists show how the brain weighs effort against reward when we're mentally fatigued

This quake, which has caused damage to several roads and buildings, occurred along a strike-slip fault

After decades of hints and speculation, scientists have at last unveiled the hidden companion to the iconic star Betelgeuse

In searches for past and present Martian life, some scientists say we’ve been too cautious to see what’s right in front of us

Magnetoreception is one of the most controversial animal senses. And several bee species might have it

From ecohorror to science-inspired poetry, discover the books Scientific American staffers are recommending this summer

Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli painted Simonetta Vespucci as Venus rising from the waves. Now scientists think they’ve solved how she died

When the roads get crowded, many drivers start changing lanes. Mathematics suggests this intuition is typically wrong