The First Rocket Launch from Mars Will Start in Midair

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March 04, 2022

Space Exploration The First Rocket Launch from Mars Will Start in Midair NASA's Mars Ascent Vehicle will attempt a wildly unconventional liftoff to bring Red Planet samples back to Earth By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Ecology Bird Feeders Are Good for Some Species--But Possibly Bad for Others Studies of bird feeding in the U.K. raise concerns about the ecological impacts of provisioning our feathered friends By Asher Elbein

Fossil Fuels Will the Russian Invasion Accelerate Peak Oil? Soon the globe could have more clean energy—or higher-priced oil By Benjamin Storrow,E&E News

Evolution The Devastating Loss of Grandparents among One Million COVID Dead Grandparents are a majority of the pandemic's death toll By Robin Marantz Henig

Public Health The Push to Move Past the Pandemic: COVID Quickly, Episode 25 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. You can listen to all past episodes here. By Josh Fischman,Tanya Lewis,Jeffery DelViscio | 07:26

Mathematics Mathematicians Protest Russia Hosting Major Conference For years, concerned researchers have been calling for a boycott of the 2022 International Congress of Mathematicians By Rachel Crowell

Epidemiology Wastewater Monitoring Offers Powerful Tool for Tracking COVID and Other Diseases A CDC database of sewage data from communities around the nation could provide earlier warning of outbreaks and new viral variants By Sara Reardon

Cosmology New Result Casts Doubt on 'Cosmic Dawn' Claim Fresh data suggest instrumental errors may have mimicked a purported signal from the universe's first stars By Davide Castelvecchi,Nature magazine

Politics Global Science Community Condemns Russian Invasion of Ukraine Rebuke against Russian science grows as the deadly conflict continues By Nisha Gaind,Holly Else,Nature magazine

Culture Researchers Analyzed Folk Music like It Was DNA: They Found Parallels between Life and Art Using software designed to align DNA sequences, scientists cataloged the mutations that arose as folk songs evolved By Karen Hopkin | 09:51

Ethics The Manhattan Project Shows Scientists' Moral and Ethical Responsibilities As more of physics research is funded by the military, it is important to learn the full history of our past By George Iskander

Policy Abortion Pills Are Very Safe and Effective, yet Government Rules Still Hinder Access If the U.S. Supreme Court fails to uphold abortion rights this spring, more restrictions are likely By Claudia Wallis

Psychology What to Tell Kids about Ukraine: Recommendations from a Psychologist Children are worried by Russia's attack and need explanations about what is going on, a family counselor says By Stella Marie Hombach

FROM THE STORE How to Do Anything Better When we think about the things we do every day—driving, working, parenting—we realize that even with tasks we are generally good at, there is always room for improvement. As always, science is on the case. This eBook contains a collection of columns written by health and psychology journalist Sunny Sea Gold, whose work has also appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine and Parents. These selections, published by Scientific American between 2009 – 2017, offer practical tips for acing life from nailing that job interview to giving the perfect gift.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Rocks, Rockets and Robots: The Plan to Bring Mars Down to Earth Coordinated by NASA and ESA, an ambitious effort to retrieve samples from the Red Planet faces major obstacles By Robin George Andrews | February 2020

QUOTE OF THE DAY "This launch off another planet will be history-making...With it comes answers to our neighboring planet that cannot otherwise be addressed." Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA

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