Read our February 2024 Issue on The Milky Way's Secret History

Dear Friend of Scientific American, One of my favorite abbreviations is "TIL" for "today I learned." Whenever someone starts a social media post or short video with TIL, you know they're going to share something that tickled them and that they think would tickle you. When we were putting together the February issue of Scientific American, I learned: if you teach a planaria worm where to find food, then decapitate it and throw away the head – it's okay, the tail section grows a new head – the regenerated worm remembers where to find the food. Why have brains, anyway? This sort of finding is the basis of a new research field called "basal cognition," and it's full of examples of just plain cells that remember experiences. TIL that quantum computers are expected to break today's best, essential cryptography, the code that allows you to shop online or send confidential info. That's a today problem, not a tomorrow problem, because anything you want to keep secret today is vulnerable. The National Institute of Standards and Technology held a contest for quantum-proof cryptography, and the winners came up with ways to make it work. TIL that organized crime is illegally mining sand. It's not as flashy as other criminal conspiracies, but it's devastating river banks and shorelines, all driven by demand for cement. TIL that waiting to clip the umbilical cord of premature babies dramatically improved survival. And TIL that the Milky Way's history is way more tumultuous than astronomers or anybody realized until recently. A new map of the Milky Way captures "the single largest increase in astronomical knowledge in, like, forever" says astronomer Charlie Conroy. "It's been shocking." We hope you enjoy these stories and all the others in our February 2024 issue of Scientific American and the rest of our website. Laura Helmuth Editor-in-Chief Scientific American Read the Issue February Issue Highlights Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems—Simple Cells Can Do It Tiny clumps of cells show basic cognitive abilities, and some animals can remember things after losing their head. Read More   Tomorrow's Quantum Computers Threaten Today's Secrets. Here's How to Protect Them Researchers are racing to create codes so complex that even quantum computers can't break them. Read More   Sand Mafias Are Plundering the Earth Organized crime is mining sand from rivers and coasts to feed demand worldwide, ruining ecosystems and communities. Can it be stopped? Read More   Waiting to Cut the Cord Boosts Premature Babies' Survival Delayed umbilical cord snipping is worth the wait for preemies. Read More   The New Story of the Milky Way's Surprisingly Turbulent Past The latest star maps are rewriting the story of our Milky Way, revealing a much more tumultuous history than astronomers suspected. Read More

Read the latest issue! New star maps reveal our galaxy's turbulent past. Read Now

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