Week in Science: The biggest scientific U-turns in history

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August 29—This week, 180-degree turns in science for Scientific American's 180th birthday, a classic psychology theory meets its demise, and dozens of new deep-sea creatures are discovered in an underwater gorge. —Andrea Tamayo, Newsletter Writer

Top Stories

Scientific American Celebrates 180 Years with Stories of Scientific U-turns In honor of SciAm's 180th birthday, we're spotlighting the biggest "wait, what?" moments in science history. Rachel Feltman, Jeffery DelViscio, Alex Sugiura

Scientific American is 180 years old! Celebrate by purchasing a digital subscription for $18 (get it?). Click here for our special offer.

Pastel Pink Lobsters, Goofy-Looking Squid Among Deep-Sea Oddities Discovered in Ocean Abyss Researchers spied a wild array of life, including dozens of suspected new species, in an underwater gorge Ashley Balzer Vigil

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RFK, Jr., Demanded a Vaccine Study Be Retracted—The Journal Said No In a rare move for a U.S. public official, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., called for a paper that found no link between aluminum in vaccines and disease to be retracted. The journal rejected the request Rachel Fieldhouse, Nature magazine

Can You Get a COVID Vaccine This Year? Here's What We Know Many questions still surround COVID vaccine access this fall, but here's what we know so far Meghan Bartels

Why a Classic Psychology Theory about Vision Has Fallen Apart The downfall of a long-standing theory in psychology raises a question: How much does the environment we're raised in change how we literally see the world? Nora Bradford

Truth, Romance and the Divine: How AI Chatbots May Fuel Psychotic Thinking A new wave of delusional thinking fueled by artificial intelligence has researchers investigating the dark side of AI companionship Conor Feehly

If This Asteroid Hits the Moon, Watch for Shooting Stars and Stricken Satellites The 60-meter asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 4 percent chance of hitting the moon. Could such a lunar collision create a dangerous new meteor shower? Phil Plait

Can SpaceX Solve Its 'Exploding Starships' Problem? After a string of fiery failures, SpaceX's biggest rocket faces another test flight with sky-high stakes for U.S. space ambitions Adam Rogers

Human Case of Flesh-Eating Screwworms Detected in U.S. This gruesome parasite is more of a threat to your burger than to you Madhusree Mukerjee

The Brain's Map of the Body Is Surprisingly Stable—Even after a Limb Is Lost The brain's body map doesn't reorganize itself after limb amputation, a study found, challenging a textbook idea in neuroscience Katie Kavanagh, Nature magazine

Mining the Deep Sea Could Threaten a Source of Ocean Oxygen Deep-sea rocks packed with valuable metals may also be making oxygen in the deep, dark ocean—raising new questions about the cost of mining them. Rachel Feltman, Jeffery DelViscio, Alex Sugiura

New Instrument Checks on Proxima Centauri's Planets Fresh results from near-infrared instruments foretell a bright future for finding life elsewhere in the Milky Way Ivan Farkas

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