Science

Marijuana contains more than 500 active compounds. But most people focus on two: There’s cannabidiol, or CBD, which reduces inflammation. And then there’s THC, which is the main psychoactive component—it’s the reason weed gives you the relaxed and “euphoric” sensation of being high. THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol. It’s a compound that comes from the flowers […]

On Monday, March 24, Charles DeCarli received an order from the federal government to stop work on his nationwide study of dementia. As the director of the University of California, Davis’s federally funded Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, DeCarli studies the vascular risk factors, such as diabetes and hypertension, that contribute to 15 to 25 percent

This Impossible New Color Is So Rare That Only Five People Have Seen It Researchers discover a new color outside the range of human color vision, but you have to laser your retinas to see it By Jacek Krywko edited by Allison Parshall Teal is as close as you can get to seeing the new

America’s ‘Golden Era’ of Oil Is Already Losing Its Glitter Liberty Energy, founded by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, reports falling profits, and the industry cites tariffs as a driver By Benjamin Storrow & E&E News Anton Petrus/Getty Images CLIMATEWIRE | The oil company founded by Energy Secretary Chris Wright reported falling profits Thursday, warning

Trump Administration’s Science Cuts Come for NSF Funding The National Science Foundation, which funds key science and engineering research, is the latest U.S. agency to be disrupted by Elon Musk’s DOGE By Dan Garisto & Nature magazine Some researchers receiving grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation use its ice core facility in Lakewood, Colorado,

Plant Leaves Absorb Microplastics—And They End Up in Our Food New evidence shows plant leaves absorb airborne microplastics, a previously overlooked route for the particles to enter crops that has implications for ecology and human health By Willie Peijnenburg & Nature magazine Plants can absorb plastic particles directly from the air. Ruben Bonilla Gonzalo/Getty Images

Roughly 70 percent of pregnant people experience morning sickness: bouts of nausea or vomiting, or both, that put them off their food and send them running for the toilet. Despite its name, the miserable condition can strike at any time of day—or last all day. It usually subsides after the first trimester, though it can

Technicians at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center are nearing the finish line on the space agency’s newest flagship astrophysics mission. Called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the eagerly awaited $3.5-billion observatory could solve the secrets of the dark universe, spot untold undiscovered worlds and light the way toward finding alien life. It only awaits

It’s rare these days for astronomers to find a new class of object in the heavens. After all, we’ve been searching the skies for centuries, so all the easy stuff has already been found. Adding new capabilities to our searches does tend to result in new discoveries, however. Looking in different wavelengths of the electromagnetic

Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. It goes without saying that a lot has changed at Scientific American since our first issue came out in 1845. But the magazine—and the world of science journalism in general—also looks radically different today than it did in, say, 1990. That’s when today’s guest first