Scientific American Magazine 2023-10-01

Mark Fischetti

History: October 2023

Readers Respond to the May 2023 Issue

Cover of the May 2023 issue of Scientific American.

Letters to the editors for the May&nbsp;2023 issue of Scientific American

Riley Black

Mutated Gene That Causes Webbed Limbs in Humans May Have Given Bats Wings

A key genetic mutation&mdash;harmful in humans&mdash;may have opened the sky to bats

Carolyn Wilke

Cannibalistic Dads May Be Contributing to Hellbender Salamander Declines

A green, yellow and brown Salamander, identified as an Eastern Hellbender, shown underwater seen with underwater grasses.

Male hellbender salamanders normally tend their young, but lately they&rsquo;ve been devouring them instead

Sophie Bushwick

Matthew Twombly

Amanda Hobbs

See How AI Generates Images from Text

Person surrounded by black boxes. Each black box has a glowing screen with a similar base image projected on it. A few versions of the image are crisp. One includes static.

Generative AI algorithms use probability to create visuals from noise

Naomi Oreskes

Rosalind Franklin Deserves a Posthumous Nobel Prize for Co-discovering DNA Structure

Rosalind Franklin looking into a microscope.

Awarding Rosalind Franklin a Nobel Prize posthumously for her role in DNA discovery is the honorable&mdash;and scientific&mdash;thing to do

Rachel Crowell

New Wildlife Tracker Powers Itself as Animals Walk, Trot and Run

A battery-free GPS may change the game for tracking elusive animals

Amy Brady

A Fictional Psychological Thriller about the Rise of AI

Illustration of a man playing checkers-like game.

Why we&rsquo;re seduced by nature&rsquo;s toxins, horror stories for winter solstice, and more books out this month

Susan Cosier

New Chemical Process Offers Hope for Mixed-Plastics Recycling

A colorful illustration of chemical atoms linking together.

A molecular additive allows different kinds of plastic to be recycled together

Simon Makin

Above-Elbow Bionic Arm Can Control Every Finger

A person delicately holds a ball between the thumb and index fingers of the bionic hand attached to his amputation above the elbow

Researchers have created the first nerve-controlled prosthetic hand that can be used in daily life

Laura Helmuth

Introducing Scientific American&rsquo;s Redesign, Newsletter and Podcasts

Cover of Scientific American's October 2023 issue.

Geoengineering is happening, AI wants to talk with animals, and why we aren&rsquo;t going to live in space

Introducing Scientific American's Redesign, Newsletter and Podcasts

Lucy Tu

Science News Briefs from around the World: October 2023

Mammals munching on dinosaurs in China, Greenland&rsquo;s melted past, coral catastrophe in Florida, and much more in this month&rsquo;s Quick Hits

Jill Langlois

Fish Skin Can Heal Other Animals&rsquo; Eye Injuries

Illustration of fish skin taken off a fish and placed around a human thumb.

Tilapia skin&rsquo;s collagen can aid in healing burns, fixing heart valves, and more&mdash;and now it can be used for repairing corneas

Fish Skin Can Heal Other Animals' Eye Injuries

Jonathan Katz

Poem: &lsquo;Message to My Beloved Sibling&rsquo;

Illustration of the back of a human with wind connecting to its body and brain.

Poem: 'Message to My Beloved Sibling'

Lydia Denworth

How to Figure Out if Moderate Drinking Is Too Risky for You

Illustration of wine being poured into a glass timer.

New research shows any alcohol can harm your body, but the increased risk may not be huge

Timmy Broderick

Fungi Make Safer Fireproofing Material

Scientists are now growing mycelium, the fungal root network, into fire-retardant sheets to provide a safer, nontoxic way to protect buildings

Leo DeLuca

Ancient Honey-and-Vinegar Combo Could Actually Treat Infected Wounds

Glass jar containing a mixture of honey, vinegar, and botanicals viewed from above

An age-old remedy that was prescribed by Hippocrates may be a cheap alternative to antibiotics for those with chronic wounds

Some Metals Mysteriously Heal Their Own Cracks

Illustrations of a cracked piece of metal and a restored piece of metal.

Scientists accidentally discover metals that mend themselves without human intervention

Phil Plait

We Need to Widen the &lsquo;Habitable Zones&rsquo; Seen around Alien Stars

When looking for life in space, we should broaden our horizons

We Need to Widen the 'Habitable Zones' Seen around Alien Stars

Jyoti Madhusoodanan

Fixing Air Pollution Could Dramatically Improve Health Disparities

Illustration of a young girl putting her colorful drawing on a refrigerator.

The most marginalized people are breathing the most polluted air, and improving it could improve health equity worldwide

Allison Parshall

Underground Climate Change Is Weakening Buildings in Slow Motion

Aerial night view of city shows skyscrapers and busy streets.

Hotspots beneath cities deform the ground, causing important infrastructure to crack under stress

Yessenia Funes

The Father of Environmental Justice Exposes the Geography of Inequity

Robert D. Bullard reflects on the movement he helped to create

Katherine Bourzac

People Who Are Changing the Environment One Community at a Time

These four researchers are highlighting environmental inequities and improving the health of their communities

Rachel Wu

Jessica A. Church

To Stay Sharp as You Age, Learn New Skills

Illustration of three elderly people doing a puzzle.

Older people show significant cognitive benefits from learning, provided they have the opportunity to do so

The Editors

Building Codes Save Money and Lives

Home standing among other collapsed homes

As climate change increases the number and severity of natural disasters, an investment in updated building codes will save billions in repairs

Jonathan O'Callaghan

Nearby Supernova Gives Unique View of a Dying Star&rsquo;s Last Days

Gemini North nack on sky with dazzling image of supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy

Astronomers are piecing together the final moments of supernova 2023ixf and learning more about it than any other in recent history

Nearby Supernova Gives Unique View of a Dying Star's Last Days

Ashli Blow

Valley Fever Is a Growing Fungal Threat to Outdoor Workers

Illustration of a man coughing in front of a map of the United States and a tractor.

The disease hits farmworkers and outdoor laborers disproportionately hard

Lauren Gravitz

For Health Equity, Location Matters

Illustration of hands putting together a world globe using puzzle pieces.

A special package explores problems and solutions to the geography of injustice

Mario Livio

How Far Should We Take Our Cosmic Humility?

Illustration of a world orbiting a red dwarf.

For centuries, scientific discoveries have suggested humanity occupies no privileged place in the universe. Now, however, studies of worlds beyond our solar system could place meaningful new limits on our existential mediocrity

Cassandra Willyard

More People Die from Venomous Snakebites Each Year Than Have Ever Died from Ebola

The mapaná, a species of pit viper, being prepared to collect venom to use for antivenom production.

In low- and middle-income nations, snakebite envenoming is more deadly than almost any other neglected tropical disease

Melba Newsome

Discrimination Has Trapped People of Color in Unhealthy Urban &lsquo;Heat Islands&rsquo;

Illustration of an urban city in front of an orange background.

People of color, more than other groups, live in neighborhoods prone to excess heat and the illnesses that go with it

Discrimination Has Trapped People of Color in Unhealthy Urban 'Heat Islands'

Rebecca Boyle

Only 26 Black Women Have Ever Become Astrophysicists in the U.S. Here&rsquo;s One&rsquo;s Story

Astrophysicist Aomawa Shields recounts her alternative career path in a new memoir about life, space and motherhood

Only 26 Black Women Have Ever Become Astrophysicists in the U.S. Here's One's Story

Douglas Fox

It&rsquo;s Time to Engineer the Sky

A colorful illustration of the sun and clouds in the stratosphere.

Global warming is so rampant that some scientists say we should begin altering the stratosphere to block incoming sunlight, even if it jeopardizes rain and crops

It's Time to Engineer the Sky

Sarah Scoles

Why We&rsquo;ll Never Live in Space

Illustration of a woman at a desk and her dog living in a spacecraft.

Medical, financial and ethical hurdles stand in the way of the dream to settle in space

Why We'll Never Live in Space

Lois Parshley

Artificial Intelligence Could Finally Let Us Talk with Animals

A close-up, side-view view of the head of a Sperm Whale under water, with blue background.

AI is poised to revolutionize our understanding of animal communication

Francesco Franchi

Wine&rsquo;s True Origins Are Finally Revealed

Studio photograph showing close-up of the top of a bottle of wine, with red wine pouring into a glass, with dramatic lighting.

A broad genetic study has revised the prevailing narrative about how wine grapes spread around the world

Scientific American

October 2023

Features

It's Time to Engineer the Sky

Why We'll Never Live in Space

Artificial Intelligence Could Finally Let Us Talk with Animals

Wine's True Origins Are Finally Revealed

Departments