Social Sciences

Historian Craig Fehrman unpacks the science, politics and human stories behind one of America’s most famous expeditions

From ecohorror to science-inspired poetry, discover the books Scientific American staffers are recommending this summer

Actor Tom Hiddleston reflects on the first time he visited Pompeii as a teenager and explains why the ancient city’s preserved tragedy continues to shape his understanding of history and humanity

The White House’s senior science adviser faced questions over research funding cuts from lawmakers on Wednesday

This massive dinosaur skeleton sold for more than $50.1 million on Tuesday

Hundreds of thousands of scientists, including Nobel laureates, warn that changes to the way federal grants are approved would greatly damage American science

Steel support columns in the Midtown building, which is being converted from offices into apartments, may have been overloaded, experts say

The breakthrough could reveal previously hidden ancient human activity inside caves acting as “genetic archives”

A new method that detects whether bones have been burned reveals Homo erectus brought fires into caves far earlier than previous evidence had suggested

These ruins, located just five kilometers from Stonehenge, likely laid the groundwork for religious rites celebrating the longest and shortest days of the year

How did we get here?

A meditation on life and the von Neumann–Wigner interpretation of quantum mechanics