Culture

What makes reality shows so popular also helps explain why Donald Trump is so popular

The hit show Severance can be refashioned as a teaching moment about certain brain disorders. But its famed “Innie” versus “Outie” conceit is totally bogus

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

Letters to the editors for the October 2024 issue of Scientific American

Our February issue covers new Alzheimer’s guidelines, teens’ transcendent thinking, Neandertal DNA in all of us, and more

The end seems nigh for TikTok in the U.S.

Thousands of U.S. TikTok users are joining China-based app RedNote, spawning memes, jokes and confusion 

TikTok is on the clock: ByteDance, the app’s China-based owner, must sell it by January 19 or face a ban

The familiar zodiac constellations are defined by Earth’s motion around the sun, but they don’t define your fate

Making cookies is time- and labor-intensive. Here’s how a little math can make it easier and less wasteful this holiday season

Early cultural exposure can influence kids’ ideas about gender and STEM in significant ways

Unless we pursue AI carefully, the Nobel committee will one day give a Peace Prize to the people cleaning up its terrible consequences, just as it did with nuclear physics