Albert Edelfelt’s painting of Louis Pasteur conducting an experiment in his lab. Credit: Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons “Spontaneous generation” was the idea that living organisms can spring into ...

It appears that in our world and in this time, humans have been left with the distinct impression that they can match wits with God. To believe someone is smarter than their Creator is foolish at best ...

We may earn a commission from links on this page. This experiment involves two liquids and a machine that will jiggle them. That’s all. So how does it create a family of “worms” that branch out from ...

We are at a critical time and supporting climate journalism is more important than ever. Science News and our parent organization, the Society for Science, need your help to strengthen environmental ...

IF there is one thing more curious than another in the “Spontaneous Generation” theory, it is the way in which so-called matters of fact, as proved by careful experiment, are brought forward by the ...

Much has been written about the Manhattan Project, the American-led project to develop the atomic bomb. Less well known is Nazi Germany’s “Uranium Club”—a similar project started a full two years ...

THE investigation embodied in the memoir now submitted to the Society was opened in the summer of 1876 by a series of tentative experiments on turnip-infusions, to which were added varying quantities ...

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in ...