Category Science

[CLIP: “Let There Be Rain,” by Silver Maple] Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Hope your February is off to a great start. Let’s kick off the week by catching up on all…

When I spoke with Guldin in December, after the first stage of the pilot had finished, he sketched a rough vision of what this work could look like in the not-too-distant future. Robotic crawlers equipped with cameras, powerful lights, sonar,…

The optimal fuel route for Mars involves arriving when the two planets are roughly on opposite sides of the sun. This launch window repeats every 18 months, and the journey time of nine months means any problems onboard will need…

It also puts him on a collision course with people who worry that a switch to organic crops would make it much harder for the US to achieve its climate goals. Organic crops tend to produce less yield per acre,…

Rat sightings are on the rise in New York City Fatih Aktas/Anadolu/Getty Images It has long been predicted that many pest species will thrive as the planet warms – and now a study of 16 major cities has found that…

Science is, in its very nature, collaborative. Many consortiums and alliances within scientific fields cross borders and language barriers. Some labs may be able to find additional funding from alternative sources such as the European Union. But it is unlikely…

The translucent toes of a wandering salamander William P. Goldenberg How salamanders manage to move around on uneven, vertical tree surfaces with such dexterity has long baffled scientists. A new discovery suggests they use a trick out of a horror…

When I was a kid, there were nine planets. Now we know of thousands! But that includes exoplanets, alien worlds that orbit alien suns. Only eight planets call our solar system home. Or there might still be nine if some…

In late December astronomers using the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in Chile observed a new asteroid near our planet. Dubbed 2024 YR4, the object—somewhere between 40 and 100 meters in size—was spotted on December 27. The asteroid’s…