Skip to content
1932


Conceptual illustration of a stopwatch surrounded by other elements like waves and atoms.
Physical World

Watching the world, one quintillionth of a second at a time

By Ivan Amato

An attosecond is no time at all for a person. Not so for electrons, atoms and molecules. Laser-wielding scientists are revealing the action.

An illustration shows a silhouette of a man’s head with the brain highlighted, with viruses and DNA strands around the figure.
Health & Disease

How rogue jumping genes can spur Alzheimer’s, ALS

By Amber Dance

Our genomes are peppered with DNA segments called retrotransposons that can move from place to place. When unleashed, some can kill nerves and promote inflammation — a discovery that may inspire treatments for neurodegeneration.

Conceptual collage shows HIV virus, infected person, images of pills and microscope.
Health & Disease

HIV medications: Did fears about side effects come to pass?

By Tammy Worth

The emergence of antiretroviral drugs saved millions of lives — but some worried about long-term health problems. Here’s how that turned out.

Conceptual image shows a prescription bottle containing worms.
Health & Disease

Worm-inspired treatments inch toward the clinic

By Amber Dance

Infection by certain wrigglers may reduce inflammation and fight obesity and diabetes. Scientists are at work to turn the findings into therapies.

Black-and-white collage of beautiful small shells
Living World

The history of the ocean, as told by tiny beautiful fossils

By Tim Vernimmen

Bountiful remains of foraminifera reveal how organisms responded to climate disturbances of the past. They can help predict the future, too.

Photograph of a group of grey colored sandhill cranes standing in water and stubble.
Food & Environment

How farmers can help rescue water-loving birds

Cranes, sandpipers, ducks, geese and many other waterbirds have lost essential rest stops along their seasonal migration routes. Bird-friendly agriculture can assist in filling the gaps.

By Lela Nargi
A field of white button mushrooms; one has a brown, wrinkled cap.
Living World

Viruses that roam the fungal kingdom

Mushrooms and other fungi can harbor hidden companions — and some of these may fight pesky or dangerous molds

By Amber Dance
Conceptual art shows a government building opening up to show gears, a wrench and mechanical systems at work under the roof.
Society

How to make bureaucracies better

By Nicola Jones

People love to hate them, but effective administrative systems shape good government. A political scientist weighs in on why reforming them is best done with care.

A young grizzly bear climbs over a highway guardrail.
Food & Environment

Getting along with grizzly bears

By Lesley Evans Ogden

In rural Alaskan and Canadian communities, reducing conflict between people and their wild neighbors means both species must change their behavior

Collage showing a close-up of an eye, a farmworker in the sun, rising heat waves, cataracts, and a pair of sunglasses
Health & Disease

How climate change threatens eye health

By Sanket Jain

Cataracts, pink eye and other ocular disorders are linked to heat, air pollution and higher UV exposure

A collection of photos of sea cucumbers of different colors and textures.
Living World

Weird and wondrous sea cucumbers

By Katarina Zimmer

These spiny or slimy ocean creatures display an astonishing diversity of appearances, behaviors and lifestyles. Many are increasingly threatened.

A collage of 11 flowers of thermogenic plants
Living World

Rotten tricks: How hot and stinky plants woo pollinators

By Rachel Ehrenberg

To attract insects, thermogenic plants turn up the heat, emit strong odors and even disguise themselves as corpses

Multimedia

A collage of different kinds of wild seeds, varying in size and shape.
Living World

The surprisingly tricky art of seed banking

By Katarina Zimmer

To safeguard threatened plants, science must unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken

Black silhouettes of dead trees stand out against a pinky orange sky
Food & Environment

Ghost forests are growing as sea levels rise

By Jude Coleman

As trees choked by saltwater die along low-lying coasts, marshes may move in — for better or worse, scientists are learning

A collage illustration shows people of all ages and ethnicities using shared mobility services, including e-scooters, bicycles and rideshares.
Society

Shared mobility: Making travel easier for all

By Kaja Šeruga

Carshares, bikeshares and the like are a positive for the environment, though access to them isn’t equal. What can be done to give everyone more transportation options?

Conceptual illustration shows a dark, hot hydrothermal vent at the bottom of the ocean, plus the genesis of small organic chemicals and primitive cells.
Living World

At the dawn of life, did metabolism come first?

By Viviane Callier

Some scientists propose that in the beginning, geochemistry gave way to biochemistry — with no genetic material necessary. Only later did RNA and DNA appear.

Ilustration of a doctor raking in a Japanese rock garden drawn to resemble a person’s profile, symbolically erasing a tumor cell by reducing stress.
Health & Disease

How stress shapes cancer’s course

By Diana Kwon

Studies show psychological strain can accelerate tumors — could beta blockers slow them down?

Three panels show a cow, a chicken and a woman, with viral particles moving from each animal to the woman.
Health & Disease

Everything you need to know about bird flu

How dangerous is it? Where did it come from? H5N1 influenza’s origins stretch back to the 1990s, and key events paved the way for the outbreak we’re seeing today.

By Amber Dance
Illustration of a woman shows a primary tumor in breast that has spread to other body parts.
Health & Disease

How cancer cells travel to new tissues and take hold

Understanding these astonishing migrations through the human body, known as metastases, could suggest novel treatments

By Amber Dance
Animation visualizes one electron orbiting a proton along a specified orbit.
Physical World

Pursuing the electrical fluid: How scientists discovered the electron

By Tom Siegfried

A celebration of 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Mechanics and Science would be remiss without a look at how the carrier of electricity finally yielded its secrets — paving the way to the quantum era

Photograph of snow-capped mountains with forests and snowy landscape in foreground.
Physical World

How did eastern North America form?

By Alexandra Witze

With many collisions and much crumpling of rock, down the ages. The story holds lessons for how the edges of continents are built and change over time.

A 3D visualization shows an orbiter’s view of Mars with a prominent region of white ice visible atop the planet.
Physical World

Ghost rivers, hidden lakes: The long search for water on Mars

By Nicola Jones

Martian lake beds and deltas reveal the Red Planet’s watery past. But many puzzles remain, scientist Bruce Jakosky says.

Aerial photograph of solar panels and sundry huts set among vegetation.
Technology

For climate and livelihoods, Africa bets big on solar mini-grids

By Victoria Uwemedimo and Katarina Zimmer

Nigeria is pioneering the development of small, off-grid solar panel installations to bring reliable electricity to remote communities — setting a model for other African countries

An indigenous woman in traditional dress with a baby on her back stands in front of a lake, with high mountains in background.
Health & Disease

Born in thin air: Overcoming the challenges of pregnancy at high elevation

By Tim Vernimmen

In people not adapted to life at altitude, the sparse oxygen can impair fetal growth, causing problems that can last a lifetime. Researchers are searching for remedies.

Photo illustration shows aerial view of Reno’s skyscrapers, roads and some trees in the foreground. Overlaid with orange to suggest heat.
Food & Environment

Why sizzling cities are mapping hot spots street by street

In metros like Reno, Nevada, citizen scientists hit the road to collect detailed temperature data — key to taming urban heat, saving lives and designing for a warmer future

By Ula Chrobak
Collage featuring a brain, hippocampus, rabbit and neuronal activity.
The Mind

It began with a rabbit: Unraveling the mystery of memory

Half a century after the discovery of long-term potentiation, we’re still learning how the brain remembers

By Tim Vernimmen

Support Knowable Magazine

Help us make scientific knowledge accessible to all

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error