The Traitors has returned to UK screens with its biggest viewing figures ever as 19 celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. The game depends on being able to accurately spot a liar, but are any deception detection methods actually backed up by science? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Timothy Luke, a senior lecturer in the … Read more
Astronomers have yet to find irrefutable proof for any natural satellites of exoplanets—so-called exomoons—but as circumstantial evidence accumulates and the list of candidates grows, the discovery of a true-blue exomoon seems to be looming on the horizon. The latest not-quite-smoking-gun claim concerns a potential exomoon that may be erupting to spew debris onto and around … Read more
Biggest and most powerful rocket ever built successfully made it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites during its 11th test flight on Monday. The previous test flight in August — a success after a string of explosive failures — followed a similar path with similar goals
Produced with financial support from Vertex Pharmaceuticals. This video is part of an editorially independent special report. Narrator: Have you ever thought about how your body turns food into energy or just how carefully it has to manage that process? When we eat, the glucose from our food gets stored in the liver as glycogen. … Read more
Rhizanthella is an extraordinary orchid that lives its entire life underground. It flowers below ground, has no leaves and survives by feeding on nutrients from a fungus that gets its food from the soil and by connecting with roots of the broom bush, Melaleuca uncinata. Rhizanthella was an international sensation when it was first discovered … Read more
October 14, 2025 4 min read Economics Nobel Honors Work Linking Scientific Research to Prosperity Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt share the Nobel economics prize for work that underlines the importance of investing in research and development By Philip Ball & Nature magazine Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, winners of the … Read more
For centuries, great thinkers have pondered why, given the hundreds of billions of planets in the galaxy, we have seen no compelling signs of intelligent life beyond Earth. Now, scientists are mulling an intriguing possibility: if aliens exist, their technology may be only marginally better than ours. And having explored their cosmic neighbourhood for a … Read more
October 14, 2025 3 min read CDC Cuts Threaten Public Health Nationwide, Fired Employees Say A quarter of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff is gone after the Trump administration’s latest reductions in force and earlier layoffs By Dan Vergano edited by Tanya Lewis The David J. Sencer CDC Museum at the headquarters … Read more
I realise that, at this point, there are already far too many shows. Every channel, every streaming service is teeming with content demanding your attention, and there are simply too few hours in the day to watch them all. However, with that in mind, may I recommend a new show called Space Live? There’s only … Read more
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer among women in the United States, surpassing the mortality numbers of breast and ovarian cancer combined. And surprisingly, younger women who have never smoked are increasingly being diagnosed with the disease. Here to explain what could be driving this … Read more