Viruses have an understandably bad reputation. But deep in our digestive system, a lot of them are quietly working to keep us ...

Ant queens of one species are sexual parasites that clone ants of another species to create hybrid workers that do their ...

We surveyed people in the U.S. about artificial-intelligence-generated art. Their answers told us a lot about how we value ...

A cable design that sends light through air rather than solid glass could cut signal loss and make long-distance ...

A community science project finds that modest reminders to find joy in the day can have benefits that are on par with those ...

How the Math of Shuffling Cards Almost Brought Down an Online Poker Empire Card dealers create a unique deck with each ...

Knot theory is a branch of topology that has surprisingly practical applications, such as understanding how proteins coil DNA ...

A survey of Scientific American’s century of quantum coverage helps explain the enduring popularity of strange physics ...

Researchers have finally traced the origin of the spotted ratfish’s bizarre forehead teeth, which are used for mating ...

Our understanding of cosmology hinges on how well we know our own local universe, which remains poorly mapped and poorly ...

A type of bacteria found in clean rooms has an unexpected method of survival, with implications for planetary protection ...

AI can transfer strange qualities through seemingly unrelated training—from a love of owls to something more dangerous ...