An Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculation Machine Reveals New Secrets

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January 07, 2022

Archaeology An Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculation Machine Reveals New Secrets Scientists have a new understanding of the mysterious Antikythera mechanism that challenges assumptions about ancient technology By Tony Freeth

Sociology Citizen Militias in the U.S. Are Moving toward More Violent Extremism In some members, a longing for "simpler" times is giving rise to deadly activities By Amy Cooter

Creativity Salvador Dali's Creative Secret Is Backed by Science The painter described falling into the briefest of slumbers to refresh his mind. Now scientists have shown the method is effective at inducing creativity. By Christopher Intagliata | 03:43

Sexuality People Have Been Having Less Sex--whether They're Teenagers or 40-Somethings Among the young, social media, gaming and "rough sex" may contribute to this trend By Emily Willingham

Culture Sometimes Science Is Wrong Research is a self-correcting process, but that fact is often lost on the public By Michael D. Lemonick

Pharmaceuticals Preparing for the Next Plague SARS-CoV-2 adds impetus to the race for broad-spectrum countermeasures against future global infectious scourges By Laura DeFrancesco,Nature Biotechnology

Oceans Historical Shipwreck Keeps Moving, Revealing Dangerous Underwater Mudflows A ship sunk by a German U-boat in 1942 can today help track large pulses of mud from the Mississippi River By Katherine Kornei

Public Health 'Flurona' Is a Great Example of How Misinformation Blooms A catchy name has spawned false statements and panic over being infected with two viruses at once By Raghu Adiga

Astrophysics Astronomers Report a Monstrous Eruption from a Supermagnetic Star In a fraction of a second, the outburst released as much energy as our sun produces in 100,000 years By Mindy Weisberger,LiveScience

Animals Dogs Can Distinguish Speech from Gibberish--and Tell Spanish from Hungarian A new study's authors say their investigation represents the first time that a nonhuman brain has been shown to detect language By Annie Melchor

Astronomy James Webb Space Telescope Completes Crucial Sunshield Deployment The successful unfurling of the five-layered, tennis court-sized assemblage is a major milestone for the new observatory By Tereza Pultarova,SPACE.com

Space Exploration What Is a Lagrange Point? NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will travel to a special spot where the gravity from Earth and the sun is balanced By Clara Moskowitz,Matthew Twombly

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Health & Medicine, Volume 3, Issue 6

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BRING SCIENCE HOME Waves in Slow Motion How do waves work? You will be able to see for yourself with this fun, slow-motion science activity. Catch a wave! Credit: George Retseck Have you ever noticed seagulls bobbing up and down on the ocean? You might have also seen surfers catch a wave that takes them to shore. Maybe you have floated on a lake, going up and down as a wave passed by. Or perhaps you have seen debris, such as driftwood, that has been washed up by waves. Water waves are fascinating—they come in all sizes, from a tiny ripple to monster waves that are 10 meters high. You have seen them but do you know what drives them—and how they move across oceans and seas? In this activity you will bring the ocean home and make waves in a bottle. You will also sharpen your observation skills and find out why some waves are slow and others are fast.

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