Health & Medicine
Morbid doesn’t want you to fall for antiaging hype
Scientist Saul Justine Newman debunks high-profile longevity research and antiaging “medicine” in a new book.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
New tools may help diagnose Parkinson’s earlier than ever
From special pens to earwax evaluations, a plethora of emerging diagnostics could one day be a major boon for people with the debilitating disease.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Paleontology
A fossil reveals early relatives of spiders — armed with claws
A Utah fossil shows early relatives of spiders and scorpions already had distinctive front claws 500 million years ago.
Being Human
Science & Society
Pronatalists want more babies. Their solutions aren’t rooted in science
Conservative pronatalists want a return to the traditional nuclear family. But that family structure is at odds with how humans evolved.
More Stories from the June 1, 2026 issue
- Earth
Never-ending storms make for good plot twists. Could they plague Earth?
While the thunderstorms in The Legend of Zelda defy physics, plenty of places on Earth experience extreme weather.
- Health & Medicine
How to scout a safe summer swimming hole
Best practices, including checking public E. coli reports and keeping your head above water can keep you safe while swimming.
- Climate
Extreme heat is cutting the time people can safely be active outdoors
Heat and humidity now severely limit light physical activity for millions of people around the world, with older adults facing the greatest burden.
- Neuroscience
Human echolocation works step by step
Experts in echolocation use multiple clicks and echoes to sense objects, offering insight into how the brain builds perception.
- Particle Physics
Antimatter traveled by truck for the first time
Scientists are envisioning an antimatter delivery program that could ferry antiprotons from CERN to other labs around Europe.
- Paleontology
Early apes may not have evolved in East Africa
Fossil jaw remains found in Egypt suggest that the earliest modern apes evolved in North Africa, not in East Africa where most fossils have been found.
- Climate
Emperor penguins are marching toward extinction. Antarctica fur seals too
Conservationists now list the penguins and seals as “Endangered.” Climate change in Antarctica has led to plunging populations.
- Plants
Tree tops sparkle with electricity during thunderstorms
Ultraviolet cameras captured faint electrical flashes from leaves and branches as storm charges built up in the atmosphere.
- Planetary Science
A comet may have flipped its spin and entered into a death spiral
Gases jetting out of Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák may have caused it to reverse its spin in 2017, possibly leading to its eventual destruction.
- Chemistry
Long nails don’t work on touchscreens. An experimental polish could help
Proton movement in the nail polish probably activates the touchscreen, but the formula isn’t ready to hit shelves yet.
- Health & Medicine
Start cholesterol tests in childhood, new guidelines say
The idea is to control bad cholesterol early in life. Additional tests are also recommended to provide a clearer picture of risk.
- Physics
A static electricity mystery comes to the surface
Seemingly random charging of identical materials depends on the carbonaceous molecules stuck to their surfaces
- Animals
This tree is number one for cloud forest mammals going number two
The strangler fig is a keystone species in the tropics, providing food and shelter, and a place to poop for 17 different mammal species.
- Science & Society
Our understanding of Charles Darwin continues to evolve
Historian Janet Browne’s Darwin: A Biography lifts the curtain on the private life of Charles Darwin, one of science’s most controversial pioneers.
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Math puzzle: The Ant Goes Marching
Solve the math puzzle from our June 2026 issue, where an ant navigates the surface of various objects to find the shortest path to her dinner.
