Stories by Kelso Harper

A rare geomagnetic storm lit up skies, eerie AI demonstrations and a cautionary word about raw milk.

Kate Russo has seen 13 total solar eclipses, and even she isn't ready for this one.

A team of researchers has an ambitious plan to capture the 2024 total solar eclipse like never before.

We asked a professional astro photographer and eclipse chaser how to take the best photographs and videos of a total solar eclipse.

How artist and astrophysicist Nia Imara makes 3-D prints of the birth of stars

Scientific American’s TikTok delivers piping-hot science in bite-sized videos

Advanced sensors and artificial intelligence could have us at the brink of interspecies communication

A Stanford researcher is growing crystals on the International Space Station and electronics to withstand the extreme environments of Venus.

Four decades into his activism, Robert Bullard looks back on his legacy and the work ahead.

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón discusses her involvement in NASA’s Europa Clipper mission and the inspiration behind her poem, which will travel onboard the spacecraft.

The new field of digital bioacoustics is using machine learning to try decipher animal speak, including honeybee toots and quacks and whoops.

From North America to South Asia, summer heat waves are becoming longer, stronger and more frequent with climate change.

Humans are building meaningful relationships with AI chatbots. What will the consequences be?

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper missions will search for signs of habitability on three of Jupiter’s potentially ocean-bearing moons.

The AI GPT-4 has emergent abilities—but that’s not why it’s scary. 

A careful new study reveals coffee is generally safe for your heart and may boost your daily step count.

Insights from Deaf and autistic communities could finally make office spaces better for everyone. 

Post-COVID symptoms can linger for months or years, and more and more evidence points to problems with the nervous system.

The burgeoning field of “digital bioacoustics” is helping us understand animals like never before.

Research shows that antifat bias lowers the quality of care for higher-weight patients. Here is one patient’s story

For decades, assumptions about weight have clouded our view of health

The disaster draws attention to the controversial hydropower projects in the Himalayas

To understand the battle over e-cigarettes, one must look to history—and big tobacco

As the climate changes and glaciers melt, a lesser-known threat lurks in alpine areas: glacial lake outburst floods. These events happen rapidly, releasing huge amounts of water with little or no warning. Unsuspecting communities lying in the flood path can suffer serious losses.

Researchers seek better ways to predict these outburst floods and mitigate their danger. Take a hike through the Swiss Alps with glaciologist Fabian Walter to learn about this phenomenon and our ongoing efforts to understand it.