History

An illustration of a woman scientist cutout portrait from a black and white historical photography in from of an image of DNA

BiologyNovember 6, 2025

An Opera Explores the Story of Rosalind Franklin and the Discovery of DNA

Betrayal, ambition and the double helix: turning Rosalind Franklin’s story and the discovery of the structure of DNA into an opera

Rosie Millard, Deborah Unger, Lily Whear, The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Superstar group "Buffalo Springfield" rehearse inside their house on October 30, 1967 in Malibu, California. From left to right, Bruce Palmer, Stephen Stills, Neil Young, Dewey Martin and Richie Furay sit in a living room as they all play guitar.

Artificial IntelligenceNovember 2, 2025

Can AI Music Ever Feel Human? It’s Not Just about the Sound

A personal experiment with the artificial intelligence music platform Suno’s latest model echoes a new preprint study. Most listeners can’t tell AI music from the real thing, but emotional resonance still demands a human story

Deni Ellis Béchard

The Young American Scientists Event—Register Now

A man on white horse trudges on a snowy field amid brown robed downcast soldiers.

HistoryOctober 24, 2025

Napoleon’s Defeat in Russia Was Aided by Two Surprising Deadly Diseases

Disease-causing bacteria that have been recently discovered in the teeth of Napoleonic soldiers may have spurred the massive infantry’s demise during its retreat from Russia

Andrea Tamayo

Photographs of two women were retouched so that each woman had large pupils in one photograph and small pupils in the other.

HistoryOctober 14, 2025

November 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago

Curveballs; poison wallpaper

Mark Fischetti

Covers of three issues of Scientific American

CultureSeptember 22, 2025

Announcing the #SciAmInTheWild Photography Contest Short List

To celebrate Scientific American’s 180th anniversary, we invited readers to place our magazine covers in the wild. See our staff’s favorite submissions

Sunya Bhutta, Isabella Bruni, Brianne Kane

HistorySeptember 16, 2025

October 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago

Charming quarks; the first Batman signal

Mark Fischetti

An illustration of a woman scientist working at a table with tools for making doll house dioramas

Social SciencesSeptember 11, 2025

Meet the Mother of Modern Forensic Science Who Made Crime Scene Dioramas

How a determined socialite, inspired by true crime, helped professionalize the field of murder investigations

Katie Hafner, Marcy Thompson, The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Book RecommendationsSeptember 2, 2025

7 Science Book Reviews from Scientific American’s Archives with Modern Recommendations

A collection of seven book reviews from our archives, each paired with a recently published book we recommend

Brianne Kane

Cover of the September 2025 issue of Scientific American against a gray backgroud

CultureAugust 19, 2025

180 Years of Standing Up for Science

Our anniversary celebration begins with an outstanding collection of stories about times that science itself has made a full about-face

David M. Ewalt

Loops on the sun are shown in a false-color picture

HistoryAugust 19, 2025

September 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago

Huge fish; spiritualist rebuke

Mark Fischetti

A robotic hand holds out an abacus-like word game in this illustration

GamingAugust 11, 2025

Wordology: Terms from the Archive

Explore the words of science past from Scientific American

Sarah Lewin Frasier

Group of suited scientists pose indoors; Einstein seated center front with Hans Bethe standing behind him.

OpinionAugust 1, 2025

U.S. Science and Scientific American Have Weathered Attacks Before and Won

Federal officials seized 3,000 copies of Scientific American in 1950 in a “red scare” era of attacks on science. The move backfired and offers lessons for today

Dan Vergano

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