Scientific American

A green iguana with its eyes closed sprawls on a concrete surface

AnimalsJanuary 16, 2026

It’s so cold in Florida that iguanas might rain from the skies

Florida’s iguanas are an introduced species, and they aren’t used to the chilly temperatures the state is currently experiencing

Meghan Bartels

Fully stacked Artemis rocket rolling out to the launch pad

Space ExplorationJanuary 17, 2026

NASA’s Artemis II mission to the moon is inching toward launch

Claire Cameron

Side view of woman in silhouette using smartphone against illuminated blue screen

Mind & BrainJanuary 16, 2026

RFK, Jr., shifts focus to questioning whether cell phones are safe. Here’s what the science says

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Close-up of a Basset hound puppy looking at the camera

DogsJanuary 17, 2026

Do their ears hang low? The genetics of dogs’ adorable floppy ears

Heidi Ledford, Nature magazine

Graphic shows a pizza with dashed lines indicating cuts dividing the pie into eight slices. Each of the following four slices has one piece of pepperoni: the two slices in the upper right quadrant, the bottom slice in the lower left quadrant, and the bottom slice in the upper left quadrant.

GamesJanuary 17, 2026

Math Puzzle: A Pizza Puzzle

Jack Murtagh

NEW YEAR SALE: SAVE 36% ON PRINT!

A stylized digital illustration of a 3D pixelated human hand reaching down to touch a glowing point on a fragmented, cube-like globe against a blue background, suggesting connection between humanity and technology.

Artificial IntelligenceJanuary 17, 2026

The next AI revolution could start with world models

Deni Ellis Béchard

A photoillustration of a colorful triptych of the same image of a space rocket in pink and yellow, natural colors, and green and blue

Space ExplorationJanuary 16, 2026

NASA’s historic Artemis II moon mission is almost ready to launch

Lee Billings

Nebula with iron bar

Space & PhysicsJanuary 16, 2026

Astronomers Spot Mysterious Bar-Shaped Cloud of Iron Inside an Iconic Nebula

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Light flash flare effect of glittering sun or star

The UniverseJanuary 16, 2026

For Stars, It’s Not Easy Being Green

Phil Plait

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January 2026 Issue

Orca emerging from the water

Conservation

These Orcas Are on the Brink—And So Is the Science That Could Save Them

Kelso Harper

Illustration of a person peeking into a dark room lined with cabinets from floor to ceiling. Stars and bursts of light appear and disappear.

Astronomy

Mysterious Bright Flashes in the Night Sky Baffle Astronomers

Ann Finkbeiner

The TidyBot making a bed in a lab

Robotics

Meet Your Future Robot Servants, Caregivers and Explorers

Ben Guarino

Illustration of two human profiles in mirrored view. One is in tune with body’s signals. No external noise. Brain is healthy and figure feels in balance. In the other, eternal noise prevails. Figure feels on edge.

Psychology

A Distorted Mind-Body Connection May Explain Common Mental Illnesses

Diana Kwon

Tuatara facing the camera directly, under the glow of warm light.

Biology

Rising Temperatures Could Trigger a Reptile Sexpocalypse

Elizabeth Preston

House of cards with a small figure in a hospital gown sitting on the top. Faces of cards include heart, kidney and pancreas illustrations.

Health

Heart and Kidney Diseases and Type 2 Diabetes May Be One Ailment

Jyoti Madhusoodanan

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Games

A robot hand reaches toward bubbles with letters in them

Spellements

Create as many words as you can!

Illustration of a hand and multiple numbers against a purple background.

Math Puzzles

Stretch your math muscles with these puzzles.

A robot hand unleashes a swirl of puzzle pieces, crosswords, and circles with numbers and letters

All Games

Science inspired games, puzzles and quizzes

Special Edition

Photographs of 3D-printed shapes show soft cells derived from space filling polyhedra. Blue is derived from a truncated octahedron, pink is from a hexagonal prism and green is from a cube.

Mathematics

Mathematicians Discover a New Kind of Shape That’s All over Nature

Elise Cutts

Many discrete loops. Each looks like a close shape made of a continuous black line drawn in 3D space.

Mathematics

Mathematicians’ Favorite Shapes Hold the Key to Big Mathematical Mysteries

Rachel Crowell, Violet Frances

Colorful abstract illustration

Neurology

How Squishy Math Is Revealing Doughnuts in the Brain

Kelsey Houston-Edwards

Jar full of gumballs

Cognition

Babies Are Born with an Innate Number Sense

Jacob Beck, Sam Clarke

Pool balls inside a roulette and a group of people coming out of half open ball shells on the ground.

Mathematics

Citizens’ Assemblies Are Upgrading Democracy: Fair Algorithms Are Part of the Program

Ariel Procaccia

Illustration of geometric pieces.

Mathematics

Inside Mathematicians’ Search for the Mysterious ‘Einstein Tile’

Craig S. Kaplan

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Podcasts

An image of oil refinery in Venezuela near a body of water.

January 16, 2026

Venezuela, Oil and a Warming Planet: What’s at Stake

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Illustration of a bottle of cooking oil placed on a wooden surface

DietJanuary 14, 2026

How Seed Oils Became Controversial—And What the Science Really Says

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

A woodpecker standing on snow.

Public HealthJanuary 12, 2026

How Woodpeckers Peck with Power, Why Flu Is Spiking, and What AI and Robots Mean for Tech’s Future

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Eric Sullivan, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Conceptual image of a semaglutide pill

HealthJanuary 9, 2026

Inside the Weight-Loss Drug Revolution: Promises, Pitfalls and a Pharma Arms Race

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Sushmita Pathak, Alex Sugiura

A child receiving an immunization in their arm from a doctor.

Public HealthJanuary 7, 2026

From Vaccines to Gender-Affirming Care: What New Policy Shifts Mean for Kids

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Dan Vergano, Fonda Mwangi, Alex Sugiura

Discussions

What’s your experience with science on Wikipedia?

7View the Discussion

Will we ever understand the nature of consciousness?

38View the Discussion

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Popular Stories

Side view of woman in silhouette using smartphone against illuminated blue screen

Mind & BrainJanuary 16, 2026

RFK, Jr., shifts focus to questioning whether cell phones are safe. Here’s what the science says

The possible health effects of radiofrequency waves emitted by cell phones has been a subject of debate for decades

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Light flash flare effect of glittering sun or star

The UniverseJanuary 16, 2026

For Stars, It’s Not Easy Being Green

Stars emit lots of green light, but our eyes don’t let us see them that way

Phil Plait

A green iguana with its eyes closed sprawls on a concrete surface

AnimalsJanuary 16, 2026

It’s so cold in Florida that iguanas might rain from the skies

Florida’s iguanas are an introduced species, and they aren’t used to the chilly temperatures the state is currently experiencing

Meghan Bartels

A photoillustration of a colorful triptych of the same image of a space rocket in pink and yellow, natural colors, and green and blue

Space ExplorationJanuary 16, 2026

NASA’s historic Artemis II moon mission is almost ready to launch

On Friday NASA laid out the time line for Artemis II, humanity’s first crewed mission to the moon in more than 50 years

Lee Billings

A color-coded map of the U.S. showing warm temperatures in red and orange across the southern U.S. and milder temperatures in yellow and green across most of the rest of the central and eastern portions of the country

WeatherJanuary 8, 2026

January Feels More Like Summer in Some U.S. States. Here’s Why

An area of high pressure is bringing record-high heat to some parts of the U.S., with an added boost from climate change

Andrea Thompson

Golden new year 2026 numbers among confetti on pink background

MathematicsJanuary 10, 2026

Why 2026 Is a Mathematically Special Number

Neither a square nor prime number, 2026 is still intriguing

Manon Bischoff

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