Science

October 4, 2024 5 min read I Wasn’t Prepared to Be a Climate Refugee A climate advocate learns firsthand on the price of climate change in our lives, and calls for voters to head off future disasters By Melissa Hanson A person inspects the Biltmore Village with bicycle in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on […]

October 3, 2024 5 min read In Floods like Hurricane Helene’s, Toxic Chemicals Are a Silent and Growing Threat People living near industrial facilities often have few details about the chemicals inside, which poses major risks when floods occur By James R. Elliott, Dominic Boyer, Phylicia Lee Brown & The Conversation US Flooded storage tanks

Climate change, global pandemics, bioterrorism, nuclear warfare, artificial intelligence run amok—today’s world offers no shortage of homegrown existential risks to worry about. But one of the most worrisome hazards doesn’t come from Earth at all. Rather, it’s from the astronomical numbers of asteroids and comets that come close to our planet as they orbit the

October 3, 2024 3 min read How ‘River Piracy’ Helped Give Mount Everest a Growth Spurt A model suggests a massive uplift caused by a phenomenon called “river piracy” partly explains Everest’s impressive height By Michael Marshall & Nature magazine Mount Everest is unusually high, even when compared with other mountains in the Himalayas. Daniel

October 3, 2024 5 min read The Next President Faces Tough Nuclear Weapons Deadlines Whoever wins the 2024 presidential election will face heightened nuclear geopolitics, deadlines on nuclear deals with Russia and Iran and decisions on a $2-trillion weapons-modernization effort By Daniel Vergano Amid the many dangers facing the world, questions about the direction of

October 2, 2024 3 min read Debate Linguistics Reveals the Politics at Play in the 2024 Election Linguist and sociophonetician Nicole Holliday analyzes the language used by candidates in the recent presidential and vice presidential debates By Kelso Harper In election debates, language matters. So Scientific American reached out to a linguist for a professional

October 2, 2024 4 min read Largest Brain Map Ever Reveals Fruit Fly’s Neurons in Exquisite Detail Wiring diagram lays out connections between nearly 140,000 neurons and reveals new types of nerve cell By Sara Reardon & Nature magazine 50 largest neurons of the fly brain connectome. Tyler Sloan and Amy Sterling for FlyWire, Princeton

October 2, 2024 4 min read Hurricanes Kill People for Years after the Initial Disaster The average tropical cyclone in the U.S. ultimately causes about 7,000 to 11,000 excess deaths, new research finds By Andrea Thompson The Rocky Broad River flows into Lake Lure and overflows the town with debris from Chimney Rock, N.C., after

October 2, 2024 5 min read Hidden Playgrounds of Elephants and Gorillas Revealed in Republic of Congo Rainforest In a dense Republic of Congo rainforest, scientists have mapped a network of strangely open clearings where wild beasts go to eat and hang out By Zhengyang Wang Elephants and others congregate at a bais playground in

Few issues this presidential election cycle have been as central and divisive as that of abortion and reproductive health care. And on these issues, the Republican and Democratic candidates couldn’t be more different. Former president Donald Trump would continue to roll back reproductive rights, whereas current vice president Kamala Harris would protect them. During his