We Could Seed Alien Life Elsewhere in the Universe—But We’ll Never Undo the Devastating Consequences, Scientists Caution

Thus far, our search for extraterrestrial life points toward Clarke’s former point, suggesting that our little blue dot is ...

We Could Seed Alien Life Elsewhere in the Universe—But We’ll Never Undo the Devastating Consequences

Could humans spread Earth life beyond our planet? Astrobiologists explain where extremophiles might survive and why the risks ...

This mysterious radio signal has puzzled astronomers for nearly 50 years

The “Wow!” signal is one of our best pieces of evidence for aliens, but researchers are building a compelling case for a more ...
Nature

From cloning to gene-editing: the enduring legacy of Dolly the sheep

Taxidermied, locked behind plexiglass and spinning slowly on a wooden dais in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, UK, the world’s most famous ewe remains a public spectacle three decades ...
Scientific American

The biological dogma that women don’t make new eggs after birth may be wrong

Female mammals have long thought to be born with all the eggs they would ever have, but new research is challenging that consensus ...

Scientists Made a Cell With Most of the Hallmarks of Life. Here’s What to Know.

From why it was created to whether it’s alive, here’s what to know about SpudCell, the latest advance in synthetic biology.
Covers

The Truth is Out There: Why Prediction Market Traders Don't Believe That Aliens Exist

Are aliens real? Was Fox Mulder right all along? We examine the prediction markets to gauge if the U.S. government will confirm that aliens exist before January 2029. The prediction market on a U.S.
Smithsonian Magazine

These Male Fruit Flies Have Sperm That Are Nearly as Long as Their Bodies. Here’s How the Cells Don’t Become a Tangled Mess

Males of the species Drosophila melanogaster pack thousands of almost two-millimeter-long sperm cells into significantly smaller storage organs. A new study reveals how they move in an orderly manner ...