Archives: Scientific American
Surprising Creatures Lurk in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic creates strange communities that bring coastal and open-ocean animals together
2 High School Students Prove Pythagorean Theorem. Here’s What That Means
t an American Mathematical Society meeting, high school students presented a proof of the Pythagorean theorem that used trigonometry—an approach that some once considered impossible
Asteroid Didymos May Spin So Fast It Flings Rocks into Space
The asteroid Didymos witnessed its companion get slammed by NASA’s DART spacecraft, and Didymos itself may have interesting activity
The Right Words Are Crucial to Solving Climate Change
Speaking to people’s priorities can build the will needed to implement climate solutions
Cataclysmic Collisions May Explain ‘Forbidden’ Exoplanets
A new model could explain the scarcity of certain planet sizes
The Search for Extraterrestrial Life as We Don’t Know It
Scientists are abandoning conventional thinking to search for extraterrestrial creatures that bear little resemblance to Earthlings
How Star Collisions Forge the Universe’s Heaviest Elements
Scientists have new evidence about how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum and other heavy members of the periodic table
Crows Perform Yet Another Skill Once Thought Distinctively Human
Scientists demonstrate that crows are capable of recursion—a key feature in grammar. Not everyone is convinced
Utility Explores Converting Coal Plants into Nuclear Power
The large utility PacifiCorp is studying the viability of turning five fossil-fuel plants into nuclear-energy-and-storage facilities
Heaviest Bony Fish Ever Measured Is a Wheel-Shaped Behemoth
A sunfish found near the Azores breaks the 26-year-old record for the heftiest bony fish ever measured