Scientific American Magazine

How to protect society from fear, lies and division

Stop arguing with people about what is true. Instead ask how they are voting

It’s not just “antiscience thinking”

What 1990s Internet protest movements share with today’s disinformation campaigns

Simulation games help newsrooms prepare for covering a chaotic election season

From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most insidious false claims about the pandemic

An analysis of 391 skulls shows that birds evolved surprisingly slowly, compared with their dinosaur forerunners

There are defensive, offensive and diplomatic options for averting conflicts in orbit

A mysterious condition once dismissed as hysteria is challenging the divide between neurology and psychiatry

The legacy of the 20th century’s deadliest pandemic shows how large groups remember—and forget—their shared past

DNA from bacteria and viruses, recovered from human remains, shows how pathogens helped to topple empires and change civilizations