SCIENCE
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How Woodpeckers Turn Their Entire Bodies into Pecking Machines
January 2, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm How Woodpeckers Turn Their Entire Bodies into Pecking Machines These birds’ drilling approach is more like extreme tennis playing than weight lifting By Rohini Subrahmanyam edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Tapping woodpeckers harness their muscles more like tennis players than like weight lifters. Diana Robinson Photography/Getty Images Woodpeckers operate…
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NASA’s New Chief Hints Iconic Space Shuttle Might Not Be Moving to Texas After All
December 30, 2025 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm NASA’s New Chief Just Put a Fresh Twist on the Texas Space Shuttle Saga NASA’s new boss Jared Isaacman hinted that he could break with Texas lawmakers’ push to move iconic space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Houston By Claire Cameron edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier Space shuttle…
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Why Active Rest Is Important During the Holidays
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. The holiday season is often painted as an idyllic vision of rest, conjuring images of warm beverages and bountiful time with loved ones. But many people have trouble unwinding at this time of year. Why do the December holidays offer the promise of…
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Sparkling Galaxy Merger Shines in New Euclid Space Telescope Image
December 24, 2025 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Dark Matter Telescope Captures a Sparkling Galaxy Merger The Euclid Space Telescope is decking the halls with boughs of starlight By Meghan Bartels edited by Claire Cameron ESA/Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA, image processing: Euclid Science Ground Segment and M. Schirmer (MPIA) (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) A languid spiral galaxy appears draped…
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U.S. Plan to Drop Some Childhood Vaccines to Align with Denmark Will Endanger Children, Experts Say
December 20, 2025 4 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm U.S. Plan to Drop Some Childhood Vaccines to Align with Denmark Will Endanger Children, Experts Say The U.S. reportedly plans to overhaul the country’s childhood vaccine schedule. The move could set public health back decades, experts say By Lauren J. Young & Tanya Lewis edited by Claire Cameron Secretary…
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Two Möbius Strips Combine to Create a Bizarre Object That Only Exists in 4D
December 18, 2025 3 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Two Möbius Strips Combine to Create a Bizarre Object That Only Exists in 4D In geometry, there are surfaces that do without an inside or outside—and some need at least four dimensions to exist By Manon Bischoff edited by Daisy Yuhas LAGUNA DESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images Visually, the “Klein bottle” doesn’t seem all that…
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Getting a COVID Vaccine while Pregnant Slashes Risk of Premature Birth, Major New Study Finds
December 15, 2025 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Getting a COVID Vaccine while Pregnant Slashes Risk of Premature Birth, Major New Study Finds Pregnant people who receive a COVID vaccine are 60 percent less likely to experience severe disease and around 30 percent less likely to give birth prematurely, according to new research By Claire Cameron edited…
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What Time Is It on Mars?
You know how it goes: You’re trying to get some shut-eye in your bunk after a long shift of scraping samples of prebiotic material from red rocks in Utopia Planitia, and before you know it, your alarm bell rings. And then you see it woke you up a full 477 microseconds early! Life on Mars is tough. Figuring out the…
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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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