Stories by Sophie Bushwick

Every question we have about the airborne objects that may or may not be spying on the U.S.

Portable sensors and artificial intelligence are helping researchers decode animal communication—and begin to talk back to nonhumans

An expert explains why it’s so odd that the suspected Chinese spy balloon can change course

A cybersecurity expert explains how the FBI’s operation against the ransomware group Hive will impact the rest of this criminal industry

A turtle-inspired robot can morph its legs to move from land to water and back

We asked the text-generating AI ChatGPT to talk about its own flaws

Artificial intelligence can improve health, protect biodiversity and even write wine reviews

Scientific American technology editor Sophie Bushwick explains how Iran is using surveillance tech against vulnerable citizens.

The midterm elections have high stakes for issues such as abortion rights, pandemic funding, climate change and other fundamental policies

The Iranian government is taking advantage of Internet shutdowns to push citizens onto a local intranet that is vulnerable to surveillance and censorship

A new resin can hold fiberglass wind turbines together for years and then be recycled into valuable products, making green energy even greener

The CHIPS and Science Act aims to support domestic semiconductor production, new high-tech jobs and scientific research—even NASA

Over two years, a machine-learning program warned thousands of health care providers about patients at high risk of sepsis, allowing them to begin treatments nearly two hours sooner

A new stick-on ultrasound patch can record the activity of hearts, lungs and other organs for 48 hours at a time

From figuring out how often you go to the bathroom to potentially being used to prosecute you, your trusty smartphone might not be so trusty in a post-Roe world.

A two-part competition aims to spark innovation and connect the groups trying to redesign high-quality masks that protect against COVID

Technology editor Sophie Bushwick breaks down the precedent for using your phone to monitor personal health data.

To protect personal information from companies that sell data, some individuals are relying on privacy guides instead of government regulation or industry transparency

To propel itself higher than any known engineered jumper or animal can, it had to ignore the limits of biology

They could find use as protective material, 3-D printer “ink” or longer-lasting batteries

The Putin regime has a portfolio of digital tools to control information and crack down on protests within the country

But tech companies and governments are fighting back

An ecological model suggests islands are better at preserving literature as well as species

The program also challenges certain assumptions about self-driving cars