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Today:
November 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago
NEWS | 14 October 2025
1975, Pupil Perception: "Photographs of two women were retouched so that each woman had large pupils in one photograph and small pupils in the other. When the question concerned a positive attribute, subjects tended to choose the woman with the large pupils; for a negative attribute, they tended to choose the small pupils." Work was begun in December 1924 and has continued, the Scientific American supplying a portion of the necessary funds. She came down with such rapidity that he had to discharge water ballast and order the dropping of gas tanks. A recent case, writes Professor Cameron, was caused by inhaling the dust from paper not colored green.

Top Stories:
Science Crossword: Organized Chaos
NEWS | 14 October 2025
This crossword is inspired by the November 2025 issue of Scientific American. Read it here. We’d love to hear from you! E-mail us at games@sciam.com to share your experience.

World:
A Cure for Type 1 Diabetes May be Closer Than You Think
NEWS | 14 October 2025
This article is part of “Innovations In: Type 1 Diabetes,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Vertex. “Ideally it’s a one-and-done, like a vaccine, so one can never get type 1 diabetes,” says Sanjoy Dutta, chief scientific officer of Breakthrough T1D, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization that’s funding efforts to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. One of the biggest challenges facing doctors and patients is that type 1 diabetes involves two problems. The drug binds to a particular protein on immune system cells called T cells and reduces their ability to attack the body’s beta cells. Stem cells are immature cells that have the ability to turn into insulin-producing beta cells and to produce more cells like themselves.

Current Events:
Announcing the #SciAmInTheWild Photography Contest Short List
NEWS | 14 October 2025
We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American . To celebrate Scientific American ’s 180th anniversary, we invited readers to place our magazine covers in the wild. Since Scientific American’s inception 180 years ago, its covers have taken readers on epic journeys—from deep oceans to distant galaxies. Decade by decade, the magazine’s covers have showcased incredible artistic renderings of breakthrough science and debuted 27 different logos. Those who took part in the contest e-mailed us or posted their photographs on Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn or TikTok.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 14 October 2025
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News Flash:
U.S. Science Has Weathered Attacks Before and Won
NEWS | 14 October 2025
Worth recalling in this anniversary year, one of Scientific American’s proudest moments came in a past era of attacks on science. But a war on scientists not toeing the political line was in full swing then, and Scientific American was in the thick of it. This scientists-as-writers approach came about by happenstance, Scientific American editor Gary Stix found while researching the history of the magazine. “Scientific American runs to the sort of stuff which the Soviets would like to see in a popular science journal,” claimed an AEC memorandum that same year. This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

Latest:
Three Anti-Inflammatory Supplements Can Really Fight Disease, according to the Strongest Science
NEWS | 14 October 2025
Multiple studies suggest that omega-3 supplements can reduce markers of chronic inflammation, Hu says, especially among people with underlying health conditions. The omega-3 supplements also were associated with a 40 percent reduction in heart attacks among those consuming the least fish. VITAMIN DEgg yolks contain some vitamin D. Masanyanka/Getty ImagesRigorous trials have debunked the once popular idea that vitamin D is a wonder drug for everything from breast cancer to diabetes. Most people in the VITAL study started with normal levels of vitamin D, Manson says. (The recommended daily vitamin D intake for adults is 600 IU.)

Breaking:
Inside the Mysterious Smuggling of the El Ali Meteorite
NEWS | 14 October 2025
Known locally as Shiid-birood (“the iron rock”), the El Ali meteorite is 13.6 metric tons of iron and nickel. For centuries the El Ali meteorite, a brownish, pitted boulder some two meters wide and one meter tall, went unnoticed by anyone but locals. “We were, in retrospect, getting quite biased information” about both the removal of the El Ali meteorite and its export to China. Later in 2021 Gessler presented the El Ali meteorite to the Meteoritical Society, recognizing it as the third-largest meteorite discovered in Africa. These minerals lace the El Ali meteorite, residing inside tiny inclusions roughly the width of a human hair.

Trending:
Can Genetic Testing Predict Type 1 Diabetes? Experts Say Earlier Treatment Is Possible
NEWS | 14 October 2025
But the experience exemplified the growing interest in genetic risk tests for the disease, he says. This lack of representation is problematic for people of different ancestries because genetic risk factors differ across populations. “One of the biggest needs in the field is to understand what confers genetic risk in a much more diverse genetic ancestry,” Brusko says. Genetic risk tests for type 1 diabetes are inching closer to use in clinical care. In the U.S., genetic screening for type 1 diabetes is still done primarily in research environments.

This Just In:
The Brain Science of Elusive ‘Aha! Moments’
NEWS | 14 October 2025
Experiences in Insight Problem Solving,” by Jennifer Wiley and Amory H. Danek, in Nature Reviews Psychology, Vol. moments and compare the brain activity during them with the brain activity for analytical solutions. That part of the brain, the right anterior superior temporal gyrus, connects with many other brain regions. Our findings linking this specific area of the brain to the aha! Fortunately, insightful thinking is largely unconscious and does not tax attention or working memory the way analytical thinking does.

Sponsored:
Remote Monitoring App
SPONSORED | 14 October 2025
SmartSync is a mobile application, compatible with any Android smartphone, that syncs your important data to your email. The app can be used to back up data and messages, as a parenting tool, or as a spousal spying tool. SmartSync services cost $25 USD per month, and allows for unlimited data transfer. The app can be found Here

Today:
Lifting the Veil on Near-Death Experiences
NEWS | 14 October 2025
For decades François d’Adesky, a retired diplomat and civil servant who now lives in Brussels, spoke to no one about his near-death experience (NDE). An astounding 5 to 10 percent of the general population is estimated to have memories of an NDE, including somewhere between 10 and 23 percent of cardiac arrest survivors. “Now, clearly, we don’t question anymore the reality of near-death experiences,” says Charlotte Martial, a neuroscientist at the University of Liège in Belgium. But their findings are already challenging long-held beliefs about the dying brain, including that consciousness ceases almost immediately after the heart stops beating. Participants reported stronger sensory effects during their NDE, including the sensation of being disembodied, but stronger visual imagery during their drug trip.

Top Stories:
How the Brain 'Constructs' the Outside World
NEWS | 14 October 2025
They nudged me to develop a perspective that provides an alternative description of how the brain interacts with the outside world. Fluctuations in neuronal activity are meaningful only for the scientist who is in the privileged position of observing both events in the brain and events in the outside world and then comparing the two perspectives. A brain that remakes itself constantly would be unable to adapt quickly to fast-changing events in the outside world. When you close your eyes, you still know where you are because a great deal of what defines “seeing” is rooted in brain activity. In this sense, our thoughts and plans are deferred actions, and disengaged brain activity is an active, essential brain operation.

World:
A New Picture of Schizophrenia Emerges, and So Do New Ways to Treat It
NEWS | 14 October 2025
They blocked the activity of dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain involved in motivation, learning, habit formation, and other processes. Despite growing evidence of schizophrenia being rooted in changes occurring during childhood, Kraepelin’s idea that schizophrenia is neurodegenerative persists—although it is hotly debated. In some patients, symptoms worsen over time, and this progression is often accompanied by tissue loss in the brain. Though effective at treating psychosis, dopamine blockers are no panacea for schizophrenia. Accordingly, Tebartz van Elst and others advocate using the term “autoimmune psychosis” to describe the ailments of these patients.

Current Events:
Could Inducing Lucid Dreams Treat Insomnia and Nightmares?
NEWS | 14 October 2025
Imaging studies revealed more wakelike activity in the brain during lucid dreams than nonlucid dreams. To have stable lucid dreams, you need to remain calm and attentive, or you will probably wake up from excitement. Lucid dreamers who can conjure up characters rate these dreams as more positive and mystical than other dreams. Headbands and watches could help them call for help to escape nightmares—or just help to induce lucid dreams or direct the content for more satisfying dreams. Such measures could lead to algorithms that detect opportune moments to deliver sensory cues and induce lucid dreams.