- Culture

- Artificial Intelligence

- Genetics

- Language

- Psychology

- Black Holes

- Mental Health

- Mathematics

- Public Health

- Arts

- Climate Change

- Earth

- History

Culture

- Science Bleeds When It’s Cut: Nov 2025

- Readers Respond to the July/August 2025 Issue: Nov 2025

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

Science Bleeds When It’s Cut

As funding dries up, researchers face setbacks that threaten innovation and public progress

By David M. Ewalt edited by Jeanna Bryner

Scientific American, December 2025

David M. Ewalt is editor in chief of Scientific American.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-bleeds-when-its-cut on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

Readers Respond to the July/August 2025 Issue

Letters to the editors for the July/August Issue 2025 issue of Scientific American

By Aaron Shattuck

Scientific American, July/August 2025

Aaron Shattuck is a senior copy editor at Scientific American.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/readers-respond-to-the-july-august-2025-issue on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Artificial Intelligence

- We Need Laws to Stop AI-Generated Deepfakes: Nov 2025

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

To Solve the Deepfake Problem, People Need the Rights to Their Own Image

When anyone can forge reality, society can’t self-govern. Borrowing Denmark’s approach could help the U.S. restore accountability around deepfakes

By The Editors

Martin Gee

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/we-need-laws-to-stop-ai-generated-deepfakes on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Genetics

- Why Genetically Optimizing Embryos Is Misleading, Unethical—And Not Even Possible: Jul 2025

JUL 28, 2025, 9:00 AM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

The Myth of the Designer Baby—Why ‘Genetic Optimization’ Is More Hype Than Science

A genomics firm saying they can help parents with “genetic optimization” of their embryos is tone-deaf Silicon Valley marketing trampling over legitimate science. Parents should be wary

By Arthur Caplan & James Tabery

Marco VDM/Getty Images

Arthur Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics and founding head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s department of population health in New York City. He is the author or editor of 35 books and more than 860 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

James Tabery is a professor of philosophy at the University of Utah. His work on the ethical, legal and social implications of genomics has been featured in Scientific American, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic and National Public Radio. His most recent book—Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health (Alfred A. Knopf, 2023)—tells the story of genomic medicine’s rapid spread across health care, warning that it risks driving up the costs of medicine and exacerbating unjust health inequities.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-genetically-optimizing-embryos-is-misleading-unethical-and-not-even on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Language

- Science Crossword: A Destructive Fix: Dec 2025

DEC 15, 2025, 6:06 PM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

Science Crossword: A Destructive Fix

By Aimee Lucido

Aimee Lucido makes crosswords part-time for several outlets and writes trivia full-time for Bloomberg's news quiz, Pointed. She is also the author of several books for kids, including Emmy in the Key of Code, Recipe for Disaster, and Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. Lucido lives with her husband, daughter and dog in New York.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/science-crossword-a-destructive-fix on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Psychology

- How Small, Easy Acts of Joy Improve Happiness and Well-Being: Sep 2025

SEP 5, 2025, 8:00 AM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

Small, Easy Acts of Joy Mean Big Gains in Happiness

A community science project finds that modest reminders to find joy in the day can have benefits that are on par with those of more ambitious well-being interventions

By Darwin A. Guevarra, Xuhai “Orson” Xu & Emiliana Simon-Thomas edited by Daisy Yuhas & Madhusree Mukerjee

Fiordaliso/Getty Images

Darwin A. Guevarra is an assistant professor of psychology at Miami University in Ohio. He studies affective processes, such as emotions, stress and pain, as well as ways to regulate them and their effects on psychological and physical health.

Xuhai “Orson” Xu is an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Columbia University. He studies human-computer interaction, wearable computing, and applied artificial intelligence for mental and physical health.

Emiliana Simon-Thomas is science director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley. She studies the role of prosocial states and behaviors in well-being and health.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-small-easy-acts-of-joy-improve-happiness-and-well-being on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Black Holes

- How Big Can a Black Hole Get?: Sep 2025

SEP 5, 2025, 6:45 AM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

How Big Can a Black Hole Be?

Some black holes get extremely massive. Is there an upper limit to their growth?

By Phil Plait edited by Lee Billings & Clara Moskowitz

Black holes like the one shown in this illustration can grow astonishingly massive by feeding on immense amounts of matter.

Pitris/Getty Images

Phil Plait is a professional astronomer and science communicator in Virginia. His column for Scientific American, The Universe, covers all things space. He writes the Bad Astronomy Newsletter. Follow him online.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-big-can-a-black-hole-get on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Mental Health

- Teens Are Flocking to AI Chatbots. Is this Healthy?: Aug 2025

AUG 4, 2025, 12:00 PM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

Teens Are Flocking to AI Chatbots. Is this Healthy?

Kids crave approval from their peers. Chatbots offer an alternative to IRL relationships, but they can come at a price

By Elizabeth Englander edited by Megha Satyanarayana

Malte Mueller/Getty Images

Elizabeth Englander has been a researcher and professor of psychology for almost 30 years. She is a nationally recognized expert in the areas of bullying and cyberbullying, childhood causes of aggression and abuse, and children's use of technology. Her ninth book, You Got A Phone!, was awarded a National Parenting Product Award. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/teens-are-flocking-to-ai-chatbots-is-this-healthy on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Mathematics

- How the Mathematics of Honesty Underlies These Auctions: Jun 2025

JUN 9, 2025, 1:45 PM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

How Honesty Won This Economist a Nobel Prize

Here’s the surprising math at the heart of auction theory

By Jack Murtagh edited by Jeanna Bryner

Auction theory suggests a bidder in some auctions would get the best price with ... honesty.

nadia_bormotova/Getty Images

Jack Murtagh is a freelance math writer and puzzle creator. He writes a column on mathematical curiosities for Scientific American and creates daily puzzles for the Morning Brew newsletter. He holds a Ph.D. in theoretical computer science from Harvard University. Follow him on X @JackPMurtagh

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-mathematics-of-honesty-underlies-these-auctions on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Public Health

- Why a Little Heartbeat Irregularity Can Be Good for You: Nov 2025

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

Heart Rate Irregularity Sounds Bad, but Here’s Why You Want a Bit of It

Milliseconds of variability, now detected by fitness watches, can improve well-being

By Lydia Denworth edited by Josh Fischman

Jay Bendt

Lydia Denworth is an award-winning science journalist and contributing editor for Scientific American. She is author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond (W. W. Norton, 2020) and several other books of popular science.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-a-little-heartbeat-irregularity-can-be-good-for-you on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Arts

- Poem: ‘The Covert Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany’: Nov 2025

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

Poem: ‘The Covert Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany’

Science in meter and verse

By Nancy Brewka-Clark edited by Dava Sobel & Clara Moskowitz

Masha Foya

Nancy Brewka-Clark of Beverly, Mass., writes short stories, nonfiction, and plays as well as poetry. Winner of the 2019 Amy Lowell Poetry Prize and finalist for the 2022 Princemere Poetry Prize, she is author of the collection Beautiful Corpus (Kelsay, 2020).

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/poem-the-covert-herbarium-of-cryptogamic-botany on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Climate Change

- Carbon Dioxide Isn’t What You Think It Is: Aug 2025

AUG 21, 2025, 4:15 PM EDT | ARTICLE SOURCE

Carbon Dioxide Defines Our Terrifying, Exhilarating World—And Always Has

In his latest book, science journalist Peter Brannen argues that CO_2 is the most important—and most misunderstood—molecule on Earth

By Lee Billings edited by Clara Moskowitz

Shideh Ghandeharizadeh

Lee Billings is a science journalist specializing in astronomy, physics, planetary science, and spaceflight and is senior desk editor for physical science at Scientific American. He is author of a critically acclaimed book, Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars, which in 2014 won a Science Communication Award from the American Institute of Physics. In addition to his work for Scientific American, Billings’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Wired, New Scientist, Popular Science and many other publications. Billings joined Scientific American in 2014 and previously worked as a staff editor at SEED magazine. He holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Minnesota.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-dioxide-isnt-what-you-think-it-is on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Earth

- Can We Find Cleaner Ways to Extract Rare Earth Elements?: Nov 2025

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

Will We Run Out of Rare Earth Elements?

These valuable but difficult-to-extract metals are increasingly important to modern life

By Clara Moskowitz & Studio Terp edited by Jen Christiansen

Studio Terp

Clara Moskowitz is chief of reporters at Scientific American, where she covers astronomy, space, physics and mathematics. She has been at Scientific American for more than a decade; previously she worked at Space.com. Moskowitz has reported live from rocket launches, space shuttle liftoffs and landings, suborbital spaceflight training, mountaintop observatories, and more. She has a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics from Wesleyan University and a graduate degree in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Studio Terp is Sonja Kuijpers's one-woman data illustration studio based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. She sets out to make sense of numbers, experimenting with shapes and styles to create appealing humanistic data illustrations.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-we-find-cleaner-ways-to-extract-rare-earth-elements on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

History

- December 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago: Nov 2025

NOV 18, 2025, 6:00 AM EST | ARTICLE SOURCE

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

Heimlich maneuver; training fleas

By Mark Fischetti

1975, Plastic Crystal: “Typical microstructure features observed in semicrystalline polymers can be seen in this photomicrograph of a thin film of polypropylene. The ‘sunburst’ structures are called spherulites; their boundaries would be circular if they did not encounter neighboring crystallites as they grow outward from a core. The photomicrograph was made by David Hamer at the Celanese Research Company.”

Scientific American, Vol. 233, No. 6; December 1975

Mark Fischetti was a senior editor at Scientific American for nearly 20 years and covered sustainability issues, including climate, environment, energy, and more. He assigned and edited feature articles and news by journalists and scientists and also wrote in those formats. He was founding managing editor of two spin-off magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 article “Drowning New Orleans” predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. Fischetti has written as a freelancer for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian and many other outlets. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti has a physics degree and has twice served as Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many radio stations.

This article was downloaded from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/december-2025-science-history-from-50-100-and-150-years-ago on Dec 15, 2025 at 6:06 PM EST.

Table of Contents

Scientific American: December 2025 Vol. 333, Issue 5

Culture

Science Bleeds When It’s Cut: Nov 2025

Readers Respond to the July/August 2025 Issue: Nov 2025

Artificial Intelligence

We Need Laws to Stop AI-Generated Deepfakes: Nov 2025

Genetics

Why Genetically Optimizing Embryos Is Misleading, Unethical—And Not Even Possible: Jul 2025

Language

Science Crossword: A Destructive Fix: Dec 2025

Psychology

How Small, Easy Acts of Joy Improve Happiness and Well-Being: Sep 2025

Black Holes

How Big Can a Black Hole Get?: Sep 2025

Mental Health

Teens Are Flocking to AI Chatbots. Is this Healthy?: Aug 2025

Mathematics

How the Mathematics of Honesty Underlies These Auctions: Jun 2025

Public Health

Why a Little Heartbeat Irregularity Can Be Good for You: Nov 2025

Arts

Poem: ‘The Covert Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany’: Nov 2025

Climate Change

Carbon Dioxide Isn’t What You Think It Is: Aug 2025

Earth

Can We Find Cleaner Ways to Extract Rare Earth Elements?: Nov 2025

History

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