Archaeology
Pompeii’s survivors shine in a new documentary series
Hosted by actor Tom Hiddleston, Pompeii: Out of Time mixes facts and fiction to bring three real ancient Romans to life.
Featured Articles in this Issue
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Cover Story
Static electricity is a mystery, and scientists are all charged up
Scientists are largely clueless about the origins of static electricity. A quirky group of researchers aims to change that.
Reviews & Previews
Science Visualized
Life
Spikes, claws and stingers have no single best shape
A study of 143 piercing tools, from tusks to love darts, finds they trade off piercing ability for durability. And no one shape wins out.
Being Human
Science & Society
Science backs calls for limiting screens in schools
School device use links with lower test scores and distractions abound. But reversing the entrenched pandemic pivot to screens will be hard.
More Stories from the September 1, 2026 issue
- Neuroscience
A photographic memory is wishful thinking
In fiction, photographic memories crack the case or save the day. But our brains can’t hold on to everything — and that’s a good thing.
- Health & Medicine
Shock wave therapy for erectile dysfunction is on the rise
A sound wave–based therapy commonly used to dislodge kidney stones is gaining traction as a treatment for erectile dysfunction.
- Tech
No, SpudCells aren’t alive. But they’re a step toward the first synthetic life
The lab-made cells open a window into what’s possible for synthetic life, researchers say.
- Health & Medicine
Many U.S. teens underestimate fentanyl’s deadly risk
A majority of 8th-graders and roughly a third of 10th- and 12th-graders do not see great risk in using fentanyl once or twice, a study reports.
- Anthropology
‘Hobbits’ likely scavenged dragons’ kills
Homo floresiensis may have scavenged Komodo dragon leftovers instead of hunting small elephant relatives.
- Planetary Science
A Mars rover found organic carbon just sitting on a rock
The organic molecules could come from life or from ordinary chemistry — only samples returned to Earth can settle it.
- Agriculture
Scientists say Beefalo are all beef, no -alo. Breeders disagree
A whole-genome analysis of Beefalo, a hybrid bison-cattle breed, suggests very few individuals have any bison DNA at all, a new study reports.
- Neuroscience
Brains break and repair DNA to grow
Newborn mice neurons can snap both DNA strands to migrate, then repair the breaks within a day. The process may be a normal part of brain development.
- Paleontology
A textbook assumption about early land vertebrates may be wrong
Three species that lived about 308 million years ago challenge the idea that the first land vertebrates underwent amphibian-like metamorphosis.
- Planetary Science
Meet the Milky Way’s puffiest planets
Two “superpuff” planets orbiting a sunlike star over 1,000 light-years from Earth are as big as Jupiter and as dense as cotton candy.
- Physics
Pickles glow when you plug them in. Science explains why
A scientist, a jar of pickles and a power strip walk into a room. The punchline involves physics, glowing condiments and a scientific party trick.
- Archaeology
We’ve had fire for longer than we thought
Archaeologists have unearthed new evidence that indicates hominids used fire up to 1.79 million years ago.
- Animals
A whopping 14 million species of insects — or more — may roam Earth
New calculations suggest that the insect species inhabiting our planet may be double or triple previous estimates.
- Climate
Can geoengineering blunt El Niño’s fury?
Marine cloud brightening could cool part of the Pacific and weaken extreme El Niños, simulations suggest. But the approach could have risks.
- Artificial Intelligence
How big a cybersecurity threat are the latest AI models, really?
New AI models are accelerating the game of cat-and-mouse as cybersecurity experts try to keep ahead of would-be hackers. An AI expert explains the risks.
- Animals
Watch an orca ram into a sunfish so hard it explodes
This strategy expands orcas’ already broad repertoire for dispatching different types of prey.
- Archaeology
Ancient Egyptian princesses knew their way around weapons of war
Analysis of six mummies from ancient Egypt challenges the idea that the bows and daggers buried with some royal women were merely ceremonial.
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Crossword: Lab Animals
Solve the crossword from our September 2026 issue, in which we celebrate some creature features.
