Science news and technology updates from Scientific American
Science News Briefs from around the World: February 2023Sharks wielding research cameras in the Bahamas, Mexico’s spider monkey diplomacy, a carbon “time bomb” in the Republic of Congo, and much more in this month’s Quick Hits
01/29/23
Death, Sex and Aliens: A Surprising History of SlimeSublime slime, sprawling light pollution, harnessing the bioelectricity in our body, and more books out this month
01/28/23
One Third of the Amazon Has Been Degraded by Human ActivitiesA pair of studies raise concerns that the Amazon rainforest may be approaching a point of no return
01/27/23
The Right Words Are Crucial to Solving Climate ChangeSpeaking to people’s priorities can build the will needed to implement climate solutions
01/27/23
How Plants' Plumbing Let Them Conquer the WorldTo protect from deadly drought and make it on land, plants developed complicated inner plumbing
01/27/23
A Neurologist Answers Questions Patients Might Have about the New Alzheimer's Drug LecanemabWhat a patient and family members can expect from the recently approved drug lecanemab—and what more is needed to help stop Alzheimer’s dementia
01/27/23
How Antidepressants Help Bacteria Resist AntibioticsA laboratory study unravels ways antidepressants and other nonantibiotic drugs can contribute to drug resistance
01/26/23
Did Plants Domesticate Humans? Watch 'The First Entanglement'Archaeologists studying one of the birthplaces of agriculture find a complex interplay between human actions and the workings of nature and genetics.
01/26/23
What Time Is It on the Moon?Satellite navigation systems for lunar settlements will require local atomic clocks. Scientists are working out what time they will keep
01/26/23
How the U.S. Lost Years of LifeMany countries saw drops in life expectancy during the pandemic, but some populations have suffered more than others
01/26/23
This Overlooked Scientist Helped Save Washington, D.C.'s Cherry TreesMycologist Flora Patterson helped make the USDA fungus collection into the world’s largest. She also made a mean mushroom “catsup”
01/26/23
Should You Really Worry about Solar Flares?The sun is unleashing powerful outbursts that could strike Earth, but these events are far more common—and much less worrisome—than some hyped headlines suggest
01/26/23
Making the Entire U.S. Car Fleet Electric Could Cause Lithium ShortagesConverting the existing U.S. car fleet to electric vehicles would require more lithium than the world currently produces, showing the need to move away from private cars as a primary means of travel
01/25/23
Monkeylike Animals Once Lived in the Arctic, New Fossils ShowTwo newly identified primatelike mammals once lived in the Arctic, which could help us understand how species there today may adapt as the climate heats up
01/25/23
Why Earth's Inner Core May Be Slowing DownThe planet’s solid inner core might rotate at a different rate than the rest of the planet, and that rate might be changing
01/25/23
Better Patient Care Calls for a 'Platinum Rule' to Replace the Golden OneA new principle in medicine focuses on understanding patients’ values, not assuming they share your own
01/25/23
This Common Aquatic Plant Could Produce Buckets of BiofuelEngineered duckweed could be a prolific “green” oil producer
01/25/23
Ants Can Sniff Out CancerSupersmeller ants quickly learn to recognize tumors’ signatures in mouse urine
01/25/23
Humans Can Correctly Guess the Meaning of Chimp GesturesA new finding that humans can correctly interpret the gestures of chimps and bonobos adds to growing research that suggests that human language may have evolved from a dictionary of hand and body signals
01/24/23
Government Researchers Aim for Better--And Cheaper--BatteriesDepartment of Energy researchers are partnering with battery manufacturers to help them find new ways to make cheap batteries that can store a lot of energy