There's something so wonderful about fast radio bursts. You're a celestial object, humming along, then suddenly BOOM! You shoot off enough energy, in just a fraction of a second, that it's detectable 10 billion light years away. www.scientificamerican.com/article/astr...

Record-breaking fast radio burst is the oldest and most distant ever seen

Detected by the MeerKAT array, this “fast radio burst” comes from 3 billion years after the Big Bang, and could help map the universe’s otherwise-invisible intergalactic matter

scientificamerican.com

Just got a press release from a sports betting company analyzing NHL team subreddits to see which are the most profane. Edmonton Oilers fans are the most foul mouthed. My fellow Habs fans are the 4th most polite. The Canes are the politest but f--k those guys. This is data analysis at its best.

This kind of thing has become way too common in Jewish families. Debate has always been at the core of Judaism, but the emotional lashing out has become more frequent and ugly. It sucks.

Corey Atad@coreyatad.com · 4d ago

since then i've heard no end of grief from family members, including my cousin who messaged to say that the documentary (which he hasn't seen) is all lies, and that if my grandparents were still alive, "they would be ashamed to have such a libtard for a granchild." my mom castigated me for it, too.

Congratulations to the winners, and to me for waking up on time to cover it.

Scientific American@sciam.bsky.social · 4d ago

BREAKING: The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for their pioneering work in "mirror" chemistry.

Take a listen to the latest episode of @sciam.bsky.social's Science Quickly. I did a quick hit to talk about how wellness influencers are sharing a cure all recipe that could cause botulism. Thanks @feltman.bsky.social for having me on! www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epis...

The flood threat, measles risk and TikTok trend to know about

An El Niño–driven ocean surge threatens coastal flooding, researchers warn that a plan to loosen vaccine requirements will increase measles risks in Florida, and experts debunk a viral TikTok cold rem...

scientificamerican.com

The UAE is continuing to expand its space exploration program. After putting a probe into Mars orbit, it's now planning a 2028 launch of a mission to a record seven asteroids. www.scientificamerican.com/article/unit...

United Arab Emirates to launch spacecraft to probe seven asteroids in 2028

The country's space program is new and ambitious, having already sent a mission into Mars orbit

scientificamerican.com

So many reviews asking if Tom Cruise's new movie Digger is good. (It sounds insane! In a good way!) @emmalgometz.bsky.social is out here asking the real question: is it scientifically accurate? www.scientificamerican.com/article/coul...

How accurate is the climate disaster in Tom Cruise’s new movie Digger?

In the movie, a giant iceberg from Greenland floats into the sea, imperiling millions—but is that even possible?

scientificamerican.com

Google's prototype orbital data center Project Suncatcher launched aboard a SpaceX rocket about an hour ago. So far, all seems to be going well as the various payloads aboard get deployed. www.scientificamerican.com/article/goog...

Google’s Project Suncatcher has officially launched to space

Project Suncatcher is aimed at testing Google's AI chips in the harsh environment of space

scientificamerican.com

All eyes are on the Michigan Senate seat race. I spoke to @abdulelsayed.bsky.social about how his science background influences his policies, how he'd implement Medicare for All, and what the MAHA movement gets right. www.scientificamerican.com/article/demo...

Abdul El-Sayed explains how science influences his politics

Scientific American spoke to the Michigan Senate candidate about how his background in medicine has shaped his outlook

scientificamerican.com

It's tradition to throw candy at the kid during the religious portion of a bar/bat mitzvah and these were the go to. Which is great, because they're soft, and your 13 year old jerk friends would really try and which them at you. Keeping them in production is a boon for public safety.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 2w ago

Sunkist Fruit Gems, a beloved kosher jelly candy and Bar Mitzvah staple, has been salvaged from discontinuation after finding a new manufacturer in Candyrific.

Boeing's Starliner is getting another shot. After a disastrous first crewed mission in 2024 that left two astronauts stuck on the ISS for 286 days, an uncrewed mission could launch as soon as December, and the ship could carry humans once more in 2028. www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

NASA looks ahead to Boeing Starliner tests as it tries to overcome the spacecraft's troubles

Starliner hasn't flown since its failed 2024 mission left two astronauts aboard the International Space Station for 286 days

scientificamerican.com

I messed up my algorithm so you don't have to. A number of influencers are recommending garlic fermented in honey as a homemade antiviral and antibacterial. There's only one problem: this cure-all could give you botulism. www.scientificamerican.com/article/tikt...

TikTok influencers are promoting a home remedy to boost the immune system that could cause botulism

No, fermenting garlic in honey is not a replacement for antibiotic or antiviral meds

scientificamerican.com

During her confirmation hearing to lead the FDA, Heidi Overton said Trump is wrong on a number of things, from MMR shots killing kids to Tylenol causing autism. But she refused to ever actually say the president is wrong about anything. www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Trump's FDA nominee Heidi Overton affirms MMR vaccine and mifepristone are safe at crucial Senate hearing

Heidi Overton also said at the hearing on Thursday that Tylenol does not cause autism

scientificamerican.com

Also, if you want a little light crude reading (heh, oil joke), here's an explainer on why diesel prices are so high. While much of it is due to economics and the wars in Ukraine and Iran, some of it is down to chemistry. www.scientificamerican.com/article/dies...

Diesel fuel prices are rising—chemistry can help explain why

Diesel prices have almost doubled over the past year, spelling trouble for farmers, truckers and the entire U.S. economy

scientificamerican.com

Senate hearing for FDA commissioner nominee Heidi Overton. First question from Sen. Cassidy is on vaccines. Overton distances herself from Trump, says MMR is not lethal, is safe and effective.

Call for pitches! @sciam.bsky.social is commissioning stories of all lengths on all areas of science, but in particular I'd love to hear from journalists with enterprising or newsy stories in: health; mind and brain; technology; and archaeology. claire.cameron@sciam.com, no PR please!

If you want to read more about what Trump had to say about AI and climate change, my article is now up at @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Trump rejects AI regulation, citing parallels with climate change in UN address

The president also said artificial intelligence should be rebranded as "super intelligence"

scientificamerican.com

Adam Kovac@adamjkovac.bsky.social · 3w ago

Last week, Pres. Trump polled Truth Social on whether to rebrand AI as "superior" "extreme" or "supreme" intelligence. During a UN speech, he went with none of the above saying, the government will rebrand all AI as "super intelligence." He also rejected any global regulation of the tech.

Last week, Pres. Trump polled Truth Social on whether to rebrand AI as "superior" "extreme" or "supreme" intelligence. During a UN speech, he went with none of the above saying, the government will rebrand all AI as "super intelligence." He also rejected any global regulation of the tech.

You may have heard about OpenAI solving a $1 million math problem. Sounds like a big deal, and it is! But while the equation is commonly used in engineering, nobody expects anything to really change, at least immediately. www.scientificamerican.com/article/what...

What does OpenAI’s fluid-dynamics breakthrough mean for real-world engineering?

OpenAI’s claimed proof of the Navier-Stokes problem is a mathematical tour de force, but any real-world applications may be years away—if they ever arrive at all

scientificamerican.com

Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see... not much. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is powering up and caught its first photons of cosmic light, but turning it on is way more complicated than flipping a switch. Still, it's an exciting step! www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa...

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope glimpses its first cosmic light

The space telescope is set to reveal thousands of new exoplanets and scour the universe for signs of dark matter and energy

scientificamerican.com

Radiologist and Fox News personality Nicole Saphier praised MMR and hep. b vaccines during a confirmation hearing, a stance that appears to be at odds with the president and RFK Jr. www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Trump's surgeon general nominee praises MMR, hepatitis B vaccines at Senate hearing

Both the president and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. have made numerous false claims about the vaccines' efficacy and safety

scientificamerican.com

The new print version of the October Scientific American is now out! My regular column ("The Universe"), about the fate of the moon, is in there. 😁 www.scientificamerican.com/issue/sa/202...

Scientific American Volume 335, Issue 3

"The questions science may never answer", "Will we ever know how life began?", "Can humans live forever?" and more

scientificamerican.com

ICYMI: Pres. Trump's EPA pulled back regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants. Power plants are the largest stationary source of emissions in the U.S. and climate scientists say this could have huge impacts on global warming. www.scientificamerican.com/article/trum...

Trump repeals emissions regulations of fossil-fuel power plants

The reversal of a Biden-era cap on emissions from the plants could have devastating effects in efforts to stop climate change

scientificamerican.com

The El Nino in the Pacific is shaping up to be one of the most devastating in living memory. Look at Indonesia, where the weather pattern has led to intense droughts that allow wildfires to spread. That, in turn, has led to 100,000 people getting sick. www.scientificamerican.com/article/el-n...

El Niño fuels wildfires in Indonesia, sickening some 100,000 people

The fires are burning peatlands, which can release more particulate matter into the air than other wildfires

scientificamerican.com

Today in cosmic events that are hard to wrap your head around: in 2022, a photon hit Earth that had no business being here. Physicists think they've finally figured out how it got here without being destroyed. www.scientificamerican.com/article/this...

This cosmic particle was never meant to reach Earth. Now, scientists think they finally know why it did

In 2022, researchers detected a very odd photon from an enormous gamma ray burst that should have been destroyed on its way to Earth

scientificamerican.com

I hate paywalls and my pay cheque depends on them. They suck! But they’re also necessary until someone comes up with a better idea. (Don’t say online ads. They aren’t the banana stand, there’s no money in them.)

Gerry Doyle@mgerrydoyle.bsky.social · last mo.

one last thought for the weekend: no one likes paywalls, but money keeps the lights on, is the thing. much as you wouldn't walk into a corner store and wonder why you're paying for a candy bar or something, news and the gathering/production of it takes work and has value

It's the best part of the science year - the Ig Nobels have been handed out! Come for the cockroach milk, stay for the scientists who taunted poisonous snakes or buried 1,000 pairs of underpants. www.scientificamerican.com/article/2026...

2026 Ig Nobels honor cockroach milk, interspecies kissing, taunting venomous snakes and more

The silliest science awards of the year are here, but the Ig Nobels aren’t just funny business

scientificamerican.com

Good morning, the U.N. has now said there's no chance of avoiding the 1.5 C warming threshold set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Enjoy your day! www.scientificamerican.com/article/un-a...

U.N. admits exceeding 1.5-degree-Celsius global warming target is ‘unavoidable’

The world is set to blow past the Paris Agreement’s longtime threshold “within the next few years,” according to a new report

scientificamerican.com

There's a weird decagon-shaped wave in the atmosphere at Saturn's south pole, and nobody is sure how it got there. The wave was imaged by Hubble and scientists are now puzzling over how it formed. www.scientificamerican.com/article/scie...

Scientists discover a mysterious wave shaped like a decagon in Saturn's atmosphere

The strange structure appears to have formed recently, but nobody can explain exactly why

scientificamerican.com

It's unclear if the CDC will be doing any kind of vaccination awareness campaign ahead of flu season. Also unclear if they'll be doing the Vaccines for Children program, which provides shots for kids in families that can't afford them.