Scientific American

Close-up of a bonobo, with blurred grass in the background

AnimalsJanuary 12, 2026

New Study Probes How Same-Sex Behaviors Evolved in Nonhuman Primates

New research links same-sex behaviors in nonhuman primates to the evolution of complex social structures

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Screenshot of NASA ISS command handover ceremony

Space ExplorationJanuary 12, 2026

Sick Astronaut on ISS Forces Early Command Transfer from NASA Crew Member to Russian Cosmonaut

Claire Cameron

An array of poker hands

MathematicsJanuary 12, 2026

The Math behind a Perfect Poker Deck

Emma R. Hasson

Illustrations of various different exoplanets

Planetary ScienceJanuary 12, 2026

Far-Out Exoplanet Breaks a Cardinal Rule of Astronomy

Jenna Ahart

A woman in a spacesuit and jetpack examines a planet with a word game pattern within it

GamesJanuary 12, 2026

Spellements: Monday, January 12, 2026

Emma R. Hasson

NEW YEAR SALE: SAVE 36% ON PRINT!

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

A view of the International Space Station against the blackness of space.

Space ExplorationJanuary 10, 2026

NASA Announces Return Date for Evacuating ISS Astronauts

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Golden new year 2026 numbers among confetti on pink background

MathematicsJanuary 10, 2026

Why 2026 Is a Mathematically Special Number

Manon Bischoff

Crew-11 members on Earth

Space ExplorationJanuary 9, 2026

NASA Evacuation of ISS Highlights How Astronauts Prepare for Medical Emergencies in Space

Claire Cameron

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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

A woodpecker standing on snow.

January 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

Illustration of a change ahead sign on the road

BehaviorJanuary 5, 2026

Want to Make Your Resolution Stick This Year? Behavioral Science Has the Answers

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Sushmita Pathak, Fonda Mwangi

An image of a man cutting down a Christmas tree in a farm.

Climate ChangeDecember 24, 2025

Fighting Drought and Heat: The Science of Growing Climate-Resilient Christmas Trees

Kendra Pierre-Louis, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak

Popular Stories

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

A view of the International Space Station against the blackness of space.

Space ExplorationJanuary 10, 2026

NASA Announces Return Date for Evacuating ISS Astronauts

Four ISS crew members are set to touch down on Thursday after NASA announced the first medical evacuation in the space station’s history

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Satellite image shows Antarctica’s Thwaites Glacier with lots of blocks of ice broken off and now floating in the ocean nearby.

Climate ChangeJanuary 7, 2026

Hundreds of Iceberg Earthquakes Rattle Antarctica’s Doomsday Glacier

Capsizing icebergs are violently clashing with the crumbling end of the Doomsday Glacier

Thanh-Son Pham, The Conversation US

Seven astronauts on the ISS

Space ExplorationJanuary 8, 2026

In Unprecedented Move, NASA to Rush Astronauts Home after Medical Incident on ISS

NASA on Thursday announced it would take the extraordinary step of bringing four crewmembers back to Earth from the space station before their official mission end

Meghan Bartels

Black and white image of a man with his head on a desk surrounded with papers

Mind & BrainJanuary 9, 2026

Why Your Brain Puts Off Doing Unpleasant Tasks

A new study in macaques identifies a brain circuit that acts like a “brake” on motivation

Jackie Flynn Mogensen

Illustrations of various different exoplanets

Planetary ScienceJanuary 12, 2026

Far-Out Exoplanet Breaks a Cardinal Rule of Astronomy

Discovered by volunteer scientists, this alien planet is out of synch with its siblings

Jenna Ahart

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