American Scientist

Welcome to Jurassic Skye Fossilized footprints show meat-eating and plant-eating dinosaurs coexisting.

The discovery of the 167-million-year-old trackways at the remote shoreline, combined with advanced imaging techniques, has revealed an ancient hub of Jurassic dinosaur activity.

The Solace of Darkness

Craig Childs muses on the significance of dark skies in his newest book.

She is also the coauthor of City Unseen: New Visions of an Urban Planet (Yale University Press, 2018). Seto is a 2025–2026 Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, and she spoke with editor-in-chief Fenella Saunders about her work.

She was the coleader of the urban mitigation chapter for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th and 6th Assessment Reports.

Image: Nature Cities 2024, 1:555–566

Seto’s research has generated new insights about the interaction between urbanization and food systems, the effects of urban expansion on biodiversity and cropland loss, urban energy use and emissions, and urban mitigation of climate change.

Smart Urbanization The world population continues to grow, and to migrate toward urban areas. To study how these trends affect land use changes and to forecast urban expansion, Karen C. Seto, the Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science at the School of the Environment at Yale University, integrates remote sensing, field interviews, and modeling methods.

Karen C. Seto is an expert in satellite remote sensing analysis and has pioneered methods to reconstruct historical land use.

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American Scientist has won four Apex Awards!

Congratulations to the authors and editors. 🏆

The Stories Rivers Carry

Robert Macfarlane’s newest book explores intersections between these waterways and the larger ecosystem.

Unrepresentative Meteorites Carbon-containing asteroids are common in the Solar System, but they rarely reach Earth because the harsh journey can destroy fragile chemical components.

Before hitting Earth, rocks traveling through space are generally referred to as asteroids, meteoroids, or comets, depending on their size and composition. If a piece of one of these objects makes it all the way to Earth, it becomes a meteorite.

Coming Sept. 10th, The American Scientist Podcast presents: "Wired for This" by American Scientist Podcast The American Scientist Podcast presents a new audio series, Wired for This, premiering on September 10, 2025. Wired for This offers an in-depth look at how we think, believe, change, and connect.In…

Hosted by journalist and former neuroscientist Celia Ford, "Wired for This" features interviews with scientists, including Paul O’Keefe, whose research explores how psychological barriers influence the goals people pursue and their potential to achieve them.

The Call of Engineering

The obligation of the engineer includes the promise to be meticulous in practice, to persevere in design challenges, and to hold the line against failure as best as humanly possible.

Sigma Xi's @americanscientist.org publication has won 4 Apex Awards for publication excellence! Congratulations to the writers, editors, and entire publication team.
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Briefings In this roundup, associate editor Nicholas Gerbis summarizes notable recent developments in scientific research, selected from reports compiled in the free electronic newsletter Sigma Xi SmartBrief.

Elasmobranchs such as sharks, rays, and skates have long been considered silent, making noises only while eating, swimming, or colliding. That view began to change in 2022, when divers in Indonesia and Australia noted that two stingray species made clicking noises as they approached.

The work being done by every researcher is important to the overall health of the scientific enterprise. At American Scientist, we have always looked for ways to increase support and visibility for scientists.

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Similar stories from all over the United States as well as Australia, South Africa, and the Pacific Islands have been shared in the news, on social media, and in peer-reviewed research on anglers’ opinions.

But now, the captain reported, he and his customers get sharked several times a day, occasionally not landing a single fish, and it’s not fun anymore.

He said that when it happened rarely, his customers thought it was cool and fun. Many would excitedly pose for a photo with the half of a tuna they had caught, and they would tell people how big the fish had been before the awesome shark came in and took a piece.

At a 2021 public hearing held by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one charter captain noted that he used to get “sharked” once a month or so in Florida, meaning sharks ate his paying customers’ fish before they had a chance to reel them in.

Infinite Quest I AM A PART OF INFINITY: The Spiritual Journey of Albert Einstein. Kieran Fox. 336 pp. Basic Books, 2025. $30.

Seventy years after his death, Einstein retains a unique status as an icon of physics-cosmology-imagination-humanism-pacifism-spiritualism authority.

Read more: www.americanscientist.org/article/your...

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The work being done by every researcher is important to the overall health of the scientific enterprise. At American Scientist, we have always looked for ways to increase support and visibility for scientists.

When the Body Turns on Itself Molecular insights are revealing the hidden architecture of immune dysfunction—and how to stop autoimmune diseases before they begin.

Researchers are now uncovering how these early immune system misfires unfold—and how to catch them in time—using predictive biomarkers such as autoantibodies.

Cosmic Detectives BATTLE OF THE BIG BANG: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins. Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper. 360 pp. University of Chicago Press, 2025. $32.50.

"A compelling scientific and personal perspective on one of the biggest ... questions in cosmology"

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