SCIENCE
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OpenAI’s Secrets are Revealed in Empire of AI
Technology reporter Karen Hao started reporting on artificial intelligence in 2018, before ChatGPT was introduced, and is one of the few journalists to gain access to the inner world of the chatbot’s creator, OpenAI. In her book Empire of AI, Hao outlines the rise of the controversial company. In her research, Hao spoke to OpenAI leaders, scientists and entry-level workers…
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How Close Are Today’s AI Models to AGI—And to Self-Improving into Superintelligence?
December 6, 2025 5 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Are We Seeing the First Steps Toward AI Superintelligence? Today’s leading AI models can already write and refine their own software. The question is whether that self-improvement can ever snowball into true superintelligence By Deni Ellis Béchard edited by Eric Sullivan KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY The Matrix, The Terminator—so much…
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Satellite Megaconstellations Are Now Threatening Telescopes in Space
December 3, 2025 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Satellites Swarming Low-Earth Orbit Threaten Space Telescopes Proliferating satellites are beginning to harm the science work of the beloved Hubble Space Telescope and other observatories By Meghan Bartels edited by Lee Billings A simulated image represents the projected contamination by satellite trails in observations by the forthcoming Analysis of…
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Could Symbolic AI Unlock Human-like Intelligence?
Will computers ever match or surpass human-level intelligence — and, if so, how? When the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), based in Washington DC, asked its members earlier this year whether neural networks — the current star of artificial-intelligence systems — alone will be enough to hit this goal, the vast majority said no. Instead, most said,…
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JUNO Neutrino Observatory Releases First Results
November 26, 2025 2 min read China’s Giant Underground Neutrino Observatory Just Released Its First Results—And They’re Promising Hidden beneath the hills of southern China, the JUNO observatory shows promise in solving neutrino mysteries By Jeanna Bryner edited by Claire Cameron JUNO’s central detector is filled with scintillating fluid and surrounded by photomultiplier tubes (shown here). Yuexiang Liu/JUNO Collaboration Trillions…
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COP30 In Brazil Highlights Global Climate Challenges and Indigenous voices
Kendra Pierre-Louis: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Kendra Pierre-Louis, in for Rachel Feltman. You’re listening to our weekly science news roundup. Let’s kick things off with some climate news. Last week the 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP, wrapped up in Brazil. I talked to Zoya Teirstein, a senior staff writer at Grist who was…
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New Research Shows How AI Could Transform Math, Physics, Cancer Research, and More
November 19, 2025 3 min read New Research Shows How AI Could Transform Math, Physics, Cancer Research, and More A new paper shows ChatGPT-5 emerging as a tool that helps scientists test ideas, navigate literature and refine experiments By Deni Ellis Béchard edited by Clara Moskowitz A new report from OpenAI and a group of outside scientists shows how GPT-5,…
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Readers Respond to the July/August 2025 Issue
HIGH TESTOSTERONE I’m grateful for the warnings threaded through Stephanie Pappas’s “The Truth about Testosterone” and would like to elaborate from personal experience. As a transgender man, I adore the effects of testosterone. But I discovered some unwelcome ones when my levels climbed. My higher dosage was accidental; I assumed my doctor wanted me to increase it each week until…
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Scientists Create 3.3 Trillion Degree Particle Soup to Mimic the Universe Just after the Big Bang
November 15, 2025 2 min read Scientists Measure the Temperature of the Universe Just after the Big Bang Quark-gluon plasma, a bizarre state of matter that mimics the early cosmos, is the hottest thing ever made on Earth By Clara Moskowitz edited by Lee Billings Image of two gold beams colliding at near the speed of light June 14, 2000.…
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IEA Now Predicts Oil and Gas Demand Will Rise beyond 2030, Departing from Previous Forecasts
November 12, 2025 2 min read IEA Now Predicts Oil and Gas Demand Will Rise beyond 2030, Departing from Previous Forecasts The International Energy Agency says weak climate action and energy security fears are effectively delaying peak fossil fuel consumption By Humberto Basilio edited by Claire Cameron Anton Petrus/Getty Images The International Energy Agency predicts global demand for oil and…
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