Gray Hair Can Return to Its Original Color--and Stress Is Involved, of Course

June 23, 2021

Gray Hair Can Return to Its Original Color--and Stress Is Involved, of Course

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June 23, 2021

Biology

Gray Hair Can Return to Its Original Color--and Stress Is Involved, of Course

The universal marker of aging is not always a one-way process

By Diana Kwon

Climate

How to Prevent Air Conditioners from Heating the Planet

Manufacturers are competing to minimize power consumption and refrigerants as the machines multiply

By Emily Underwood,Anthropocene Magazine

Policy & Ethics

Abortion Is at the Supreme Court Again. It's Different This Time

In the wake of state-level restrictions, a reshaped court could pose a profound threat to abortion rights

By Elizabeth Nash

Evolution

This Newly Discovered Species of Tree Hyrax Goes Bark in the Night

A study makes the case for the new species based on its looks, genes and sounds

By Maddie Bender | 05:04

Climate

Stay or Go? Climate Disaster Victims Face Wrenching Decision

Experts also say low-income people, communities of color and Indigenous peoples have fewer options

By Daniel Cusick,E&E News

Arts & Culture

The Time to Dismantle the Racial Structures That Pervade Global Science Is Now

Sociologist Anthony Ryan Hatch believes we must make the conversation around race and STEM a priority in academia

By Devin Williams

Public Health

How to Prevent the Next Pandemic

We need to make the development and distribution of vaccines a truly global endeavor

By Seth Berkley

Medical & Biotech

The Quest for Cancer-Detecting Blood Tests Speeds Up

Liquid biopsies show promise for early detection of deadly tumors

By Claudia Wallis

Arts & Culture

A Teenager with Autism Protects the Planet, a Tale of Love and Science, and Other New Books

Recommendations from the editors of Scientific American

By Amy Brady

Public Health

COVID, Quickly, Episode 9: Delta Variant, Global Vaccine Shortfalls, Beers for Shots

Today we bring you a new episode in our podcast series: COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between.

By Josh Fischman,Tanya Lewis,Jeffery DelViscio | 05:41

Space

A Possible Link between 'Oumuamua and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

If some UAP turn out to be extraterrestrial technology, they could be dropping sensors for a subsequent craft to tune into. What if ‘Oumuamua is such a craft?

By Avi Loeb

Medicine

CureVac COVID Vaccine Let-down Spotlights mRNA Design Challenges

Scientists are searching for explanations to disappointing final-stage trial results. These insights could help guide the future development of mRNA vaccines

By Elie Dolgin,Nature magazine

Climate

Climate Change Could Fuel the Spread of a Flesh-Eating Parasite

Scientists caution that as the planet warms, more Americans could be exposed to varieties of the Leishmania parasite

By Agostino Petroni,Undark

Biology

What Is CRISPR, and Why Is It So Important?

This revolutionary gene-editing system has taken science by storm.

By Michael Tabb,Andrea Gawrylewski,Jeffery DelViscio

FROM THE STORE

Scientific American Mind, Volume 32, Issue 4

FROM THE ARCHIVE

Fact or Fiction?: Stress Causes Gray Hair

Scientists have a hunch that the gray hairs we dread (or welcome) may arrive sooner with stress

By Coco Ballantyne | October 2007

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It's pretty clear that the hair encodes part of your biological history in some way...Hair grows out of the body, and then it crystallizes into this hard, stable [structure] that holds the memory of your past."

Martin Picard, mitochondrial psychobiologist at Columbia University

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