2017-09-13 所属栏目:科学美国人

Internet companies often receive requests by law enforcement for customer info to help with ongoing investigations. Rarely, however, will a court order hit up a Web hosting company

2017-09-12 所属栏目:科学美国人

Just as humans understand the shape of our surroundings by how light reflects off objects, bats use reflections of sounds they produce instead—what’s called echolocatio

2017-09-08 所属栏目:科学美国人

As Houston begins recovery efforts from Hurricane Harvey, a new storm threat—Hurricane Irma—is barreling west towards the Caribbean and Florida. We have few defenses ag

2017-09-07 所属栏目:科学美国人

Up in California’s High Sierra, above the dense pine forests, rocky habitats reign. And if you look carefully among the boulders, you might see a pika—a rabbit relative

2017-09-04 所属栏目:科学美国人

On March 11, 1437, Korean royal astronomers noticed something out of the ordinary in the night sky. "There was a brand new star they'd never seen before, between two of the well-k

2017-09-04 所属栏目:科学美国人

When birds face the destruction of their habitat, some species don’t make it while others survive. But what happens at the very beginning of the process, just as a bird's ha

2017-08-31 所属栏目:科学美国人

As the world's oceans heat up, salmon are migrating earlier. Plankton are shifting their range. But warmer water temperatures also mean warmer fish—and faster-running metabo

2017-08-30 所属栏目:科学美国人

In the fight to conserve tropical rainforests, here's a tool you don't often hear about: orange peels. Specifically, 12,000 tons of them, dumped on the land. "You don't usually

2017-08-28 所属栏目:科学美国人

<sounds of people watching the total solar eclipse>

You&rsquo;ve all taken off your glasses by now, along with the family and friends of my friend Dennis Meredith. Because the Gre

2017-08-25 所属栏目:科学美国人

“I expected to have this interesting intellectual experience, and instead it was just completely visceral.”Author and journalist David Baron talking about the first tim

2017-08-24 所属栏目:科学美国人

“I expected to have this interesting intellectual experience, and instead it was just completely visceral.”

Author and journalist David Baron talking about the first t

2017-08-21 所属栏目:科学美国人

More than 900 years ago, the Pueblo people were thriving in New Mexico&rsquo;s Chaco Canyon. While they were there, the region experienced what the whole country is looking forward

2017-08-21 所属栏目:科学美国人

When you install an app on your smartphone, you&rsquo;re often asked whether you&rsquo;d like to share your list of contacts with that app. That might be a convenient way to connec

2017-08-18 所属栏目:科学美国人

Fifty years ago, British inventors made and marketed the first electronic “breathalyzer”. The alcohol gauge has become standard issue for U.S. law enforcement cracking

2017-08-15 所属栏目:科学美国人

Polar Bears spend most of their time roaming the sea ice in search of seals. And seals spend most of their time underneath that ice, avoiding the top predator. But climate change i

2017-08-11 所属栏目:科学美国人

You wouldn't think studying lizards is a particularly dangerous profession. Until, that is, sheriffs approach you with their guns drawn. "We get the cops called on us sometimes."

2017-08-10 所属栏目:科学美国人

Twitter has more than 300 million monthly active users. But researchers have estimated that between about 30 million and 50 million of those are Twitter bots—automated accoun

2017-08-07 所属栏目:科学美国人

In January 2014, an epic cold wave swept across the southeast—a "snowpocalypse" so severe that thousands of drivers in Atlanta abandoned their cars on icy highways and Inters

2017-08-07 所属栏目:科学美国人

The Mediterranean diet is well known for its heart-healthy effects. It even sounds healthful: lots of fruits and veggies, whole grain and legumes. Plus olive oil, a bit of red wine

2017-08-02 所属栏目:科学美国人

What does panic sound like? <<clip of Homer Simpson scream>> Like that, for sure. But also like this <<pig sound>>. And this <<chickadee sound>>. But maybe you already knew that. B

2017-08-01 所属栏目:科学美国人

Songbirds produce a rich repertoire of sounds: songs, of course, but also chatter calls, flight calls and alarm calls: like this high-pitched warning from a black-capped chickadee:

2017-07-31 所属栏目:科学美国人

We all know money can&rsquo;t buy happiness. But according to a recent study, there may be a loophole. A team of researchers finds that shelling out for services that save time can

2017-07-27 所属栏目:科学美国人

Perhaps the chief poster child of antibiotic resistance is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. The bacterium is impervious to a suite of antibiotics, and can caus

2017-07-26 所属栏目:科学美国人

What sort of scenery do you find most appealing? Researchers in the U.K. asked volunteers that question, through an online photo-rating game, and the result was sort of what you'd

2017-07-20 所属栏目:科学美国人

As soon as a person dies, decomposition begins. And the first visitors arrive. "Within five to 15 minutes of death, blowflies or other insects begin to colonize the body." Rabi Mus