Science & Society
Scientists are people too, a new book reminds readers
The Shape of Wonder humanizes scientists by demystifying the scientific process and showing the personal side of researchers.
Current Issue
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
The Vera Rubin Observatory is ready to revolutionize astronomy
Sporting the world’s largest digital camera, the new telescope is poised to help solve some of the universe’s biggest mysteries.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Environment
See how aerosols loft through Earth’s sky
Aerosols, small particles in the atmosphere like salt and dust, may offset a third of human-caused climate warming, though their influence is fading.
Technically Fiction
Animals
The phoenix isn’t the only critter to survive the flames
There are no real phoenixes hiding anywhere. But science has revealed that some living things can take quite a bit of heat.
More Stories from the September 1, 2025 issue
- Health & Medicine
Measure blood sugar with a grain of salt
Continuous glucose monitors are now readily available. With guidance, they can help people make small dietary and lifestyle changes for better health.
- Health & Medicine
A new diabetes treatment could free people from insulin injections
In a small cell therapy trial, 10 out of 12 people with type 1 diabetes no longer needed supplemental insulin, even a year after treatment.
- Astronomy
Two spacecraft created their first images of an artificial solar eclipse
The Proba-3 spacecraft succeed at creating solar eclipses, kicking off a two-year mission to study the sun’s mysterious outer atmosphere, the corona.
- Earth
Earth’s oldest rocks may be at least 4.16 billion years old
If the new age of these Canadian rocks is solid, they would be the first and only ones known to have survived Earth’s earliest, tumultuous time.
- Climate
This paint ‘sweats’ to keep your house cool
This experimental paint reflects sunlight, emits heat and mimics sweating to cool buildings without air conditioning, even in the tropics.
- Life
A 3-D printed, plastic beaker could help algae grow on Mars
Algae grown under Mars-like conditions could make bioplastic building materials for structures to harbor life in space.
- Artificial Intelligence
How much energy does your AI prompt use? It depends
AI models such as ChatGPT consume serious power. Experts break down where that energy goes, and what you can do to help.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer DNA is detectable in blood years before diagnosis
Tiny, newly formed tumors shed small fragments of DNA that are swept into the bloodstream. Future cancer screening tests could detect them early.
- Neuroscience
At early ages, autism in girls and boys looks similar
A new study of more than 2,500 children under 5 found little difference in autism symptoms between boys and girls.
- Chemistry
Modified bacteria convert plastic waste into pain reliever
With genetic tweaks, E. coli turned 92 percent of broken-down plastic into acetaminophen, charting a path to upcycle plastic waste sustainably.
- Space
The biggest black hole smashup ever detected challenges physics theories
Gravitational waves spotted by LIGO reveal two black holes, 140 and 100 times the mass of the sun, merged to become a 225 solar mass behemoth.
- Space
A third visitor from another star is hurtling through the solar system
Scientists have found a new interstellar object whizzing toward the sun.
- Climate
Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves
Even without reaching heat wave levels, sustained high temperatures may contribute to a litany of health issues.
- Life
Why these zombie caterpillars can’t stop eating
Sneaky chemistry by a real-life “Last of Us” Cordyceps fungus mind controls its zombie insect victims by convincing them they’re starving.
- Genetics
Genetics reveal the origin story of East Asia’s favorite sweet bean
The origin of red beans — also called adzuki — has been murky. A new study says Japan is where it all started.
- Paleontology
How fast did dinosaurs really go? Birds walking in mud provide new clues
Tracks of dinosaur footprints can hint at how fast the extinct animals moved. Here’s how guinea fowl can help fact-check those assumptions.
- Earth
An ancient Earth impact could help in the search for Martian life
Strange cone-shaped rocks led scientists to the hidden remains of one of Earth’s oldest asteroid impacts. It could help us find fossil life on Mars.
- Animals
A newly discovered cell helps pythons poop out the bones of their prey
The cells helps the snakes absorb the bones of their prey — and might show up in other animals that chomp their meals whole.
- Planetary Science
How alien ‘canals’ sparked debate over life on Mars
In The Martians, journalist David Baron recounts scientific and public debate over purported intelligent life on the Red Planet.
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