Science

An old but still-common method of encouraging honesty is the venerable “oath”: an explicit promise to be honest. People have used oaths since ancient times, says Janis Zickfeld, a social psychologist at Aarhus University in Denmark. “If you’re a witness in court, you have to swear an oath to tell the truth, for example,” he […]

A dark horse has entered the Trump administration’s backward-running race to botch humanity’s response to climate change: the Pentagon. And the agency might just win simply by decreeing climate change unreal and “woke.” This would almost be amusing if it weren’t so wrongheaded and dangerous to U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and other service members. In

NASA wants to get out of the space station business and put it in the hands of, well, businesses. The agency is planning to send the International Space Station (ISS) to a fiery death through Earth’s atmosphere in 2031 so it can focus on its longer-term, farther-out (literally) goals such as going back to the

[CLIP: Theme music] Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. You’ve probably heard of space telescopes like Hubble and the James Webb. They’re famous for giving us breathtaking images of the cosmos and providing countless people around the world with very pretty phone backgrounds. On supporting science journalism If you’re enjoying this

CLIMATEWIRE | The Trump administration’s abrupt retreat from global climate action is threatening to delay a pivotal scientific report that can be used by countries to shape their responses to rising temperatures. Delegates from more than 190 countries are meeting in Hangzhou, China, this week to make decisions related to the content and timing of

Interstate 45 is getting a $13-billion makeover in Houston. The project aims to reduce congestion by adding new lanes—a common story for the many highway expansions that are constantly happening across the U.S. In nearby Austin, Tex., I-35 is being widened as part of a $4.5-billion project, for example, and near Sacramento, Calif., an expansion

February 25, 2025 5 min read Transgender Youth Have Better Emotional Health After Taking Hormones, New Study Finds Hormone therapy improves transgender young people’s well-being and social relationships, but Trump’s recent executive order and state bans threaten to take it away By Tyler Santora edited by Tanya Lewis A demonstrator at the Rise Up for Trans Youth

Among the slew of actions that President Donald Trump has taken during his first weeks back in office has been a barrage of attacks on federal scientists and scientific funding. The administration’s science agencies have fired thousands of employees, attempted to freeze research disbursements and proposed new policies that would reduce funding into the future.

February 25, 2025 5 min read Politics, Not Biology, Is Driving Legal Efforts to Classify Sex Sex is not one single, simple, uniform biological reality, so biology cannot be invoked as a basis for “immutable” legal classifications By Agustín Fuentes edited by Dan Vergano Amid the legal theater in the U.S. over sex and gender

February 24, 2025 2 min read Why Temperatures Swung by 90 Degrees F in Parts of U.S. Much of the U.S. has swung from temperatures in the –30s and –40s Fahrenheit to balmy weather in the 60s and 70s F By Andrea Thompson edited by Dean Visser Ice collects along the shore of Lake Michigan