60-Second Science

The elephant bird was the heaviest bird to ever walk the earth. Also, its eggs were 150 times the size of chicken eggs, and thick as a dinner plate.

The fossil was a prehistoric bird is called Pelagornis sandersi,  and its wings stretched out twice as wide as those of the great albatross. 

James Rothman shared The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience in 2010 for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release. How did a biochemist come to win such a prestigious prize in neuroscience?

What you pay for tests, vaccines, and medicine will change

From North America to South Asia, summer heat waves are becoming longer, stronger, and more frequent with climate change

From upsetting jobs and causing intellectual property issues to models that make up fake answers to questions — here's why we're concerned about Generative AI.

More sustainable ways of removing persistent chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the environment are on the horizon.

We learn the story of “Ella,” a patient with 12 different personalities, or “parts,” and of her therapist, who helped her form a peaceful community—many selves in one body and mind.

Two SciAm editors duke it out to see if wormholes and multiverses could in fact exist.

Parrot nestlings spend time stringing together jumbled mixtures of sound—a rehearsal for more adult conversations  

Recent rulings on the abortion pill cite the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law that’s still on the books

Vernal Pools are safe havens for creatures like the fairy shrimp, who have lived through the end of the dinosaurs, the breakup of Pangea, and multiple ice ages, but humans are paving them over.

Inside a vault at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles lies a microscopic population of immense value—the repository for vernal pool fairy shrimp.

Carpets of gold, burrowing toads and fairy shrimp all depend on vernal pools—habitats that, most of the time, do not exist.

Vernal pools are home to spectacular residents, like the fairy shrimp, but these unusual natural wonders are under threat.

A scientist who does whale necropsies — or in layman's terms, whale autopsies — tells us why so many dead whales are washing up on beaches. 

Very high HDL cholesterol levels almost double your risk of heart problems.

Humans are building meaningful relationships with AI chatbots. What will the consequences be?

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper will search for signs of habitability on three of Jupiter's potentially ocean-bearing moons

Two of the foremost experts on witch hunts talk about the link between the formation of domestic labor and the rise of witch hunting.

The AI GPT-4 has emergent abilities—but that’s not why it’s scary. 

A careful new study reveals coffee is generally safe for your heart and may boost your daily step count.

These two researchers journey toward the center of the earth–via windows to the crust–to find bacteria that can breathe iron, arsenic and other metals that would kill us pretty quick.

The real-life fungi that inspired The Last of Us hijack the bodies of ants, wasps, cicadas, and more.

Our first known interstellar visitor is now long gone, but new research has some ideas about why it moved the way it did while it was in our cosmic neighborhood.

Insights from Deaf and autistic communities could finally make office spaces better for everyone. 

Vera Rubin went from a teenager with a cardboard telescope to the "mother of dark matter." Some of her colleagues and mentees weigh in on her fascinating life, and how she was a champion for women in astronomy.

Post-COVID symptoms can linger for months or years, and more and more evidence points to problems with the nervous system.

Music made with artificial intelligence could upend the music industry. Here’s what that might look like.

Google’s new AI model can generate entirely new music from text prompts. Here’s what they sound like.

Machine-learning algorithms are getting so good that they can translate Western instruments into Thai ones with ease.

In the inaugural episode of Cosmos, Quickly, we blast off with Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno of the Space Force, who is charged with protecting our space in space, particularly from Russia and China.

The burgeoning field of “digital bioacoustics” is helping us understand animals like never before.

A vaccine pioneer tells us that shots to protect against RSV—a dangerous virus for babies and older people—are finally nearing approval.

Every year on Pi Day, we have a reason to celebrate one of math’s most famous symbols. But this year we speak to someone who has captured it in song.

We slammed a $330-million spaceship the size of a dairy cow into an asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Here’s what we’re learning about how our first step in planetary defense could save us in the future.

Some animal's babies physically relax when their parents whisk them away from danger. The same thing works for tiny wailing humans.

Scientists partnered with tiger sharks to map seagrasses—the unsung hero of ocean conservation.

Some caterpillars have evolved with antifreeze in their body cavity, allowing them to become cater-Popsicles to survive cold winters. But climate change could threaten that.

Hosts Josh Fischman and Tanya Lewis explore the pandemic’s mental health toll on teens and young adults. They also delve into the effectiveness of telehealth, which has been booming since the start of the pandemic.

Researchers who study aphantasia, or the inability to visualize something in your "mind's eye," are starting to get a sense of how to accurately measure the condition, and what it may mean for those who have it.

From space aliens to foreign surveillance, we spoke to experts to find out what’s really going on with the balloon brouhaha.

Successfully mitigating the impacts of climate change will rely heavily on innovation in science and technology.

Science might be redefining what “life out there” might really mean.