Scientific American media bias and reliability
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Scientific American as leaning left. We have seen it on 31 published stories of ours.
The short answers
Is Scientific American biased?
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Scientific American as leaning left. An outlet rating describes a broad pattern in its output, not every article it publishes.
Is Scientific American left or right?
AllSides and Ad Fontes Media place Scientific American as leaning left. In the three-way grouping used on story pages, that puts it under Left.
Is Scientific American reliable?
The factual-reliability assessments we hold for Scientific American are Ad Fontes Media: Mixed factuality; Media Bias/Fact Check: High factuality. These are outlet-level assessments, not a guarantee that every report is correct.
What Scientific American has been covering
Our account of each story, written from every outlet that ran it, with Scientific American’s own report linked underneath.
A nearly two-pound meteorite discovered in Mali in 2022 has been identified as a 4.1-billion-year-old piece of Mars. Named Teghaza 001, it offers new insights into the Red Planet's early history and water cycle.
Scientific American reported it asOldest known Mars rock is a ‘Rosetta stone’ for the Red Planet’s watery past (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Scientists have identified an icy object, named 2026 ED138, orbiting the sun beyond Pluto. The object's size is estimated between 600 and 1,500 kilometres in diameter. Classification as a dwarf planet depends on further study.
Scientific American reported it asThe Vera C. Rubin Observatory may have just discovered our solar system’s sixth dwarf planet (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Asian stock markets saw a significant rise following Anthropic's initial public offering filing, which disclosed strong revenue growth alongside substantial losses. Meta Platforms' large equity fundraising also contributed to the positive sentiment.
Scientific American reported it asAnthropic’s S-1 filing spotlights safety fears and science ambitions ahead of IPO (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
The Pentagon has released its seventh set of UFO documents, featuring a report of a black triangular object seen by FBI agents. The craft reportedly moved at high speed without sound or visible propulsion over a sensitive US site.
Scientific American reported it asStrange triangular craft reported in new U.S. government UFO release (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
An international team of scientists has reported that seven of the 16 tracked climate indicators have reached record extremes. The rate of global warming has accelerated significantly, and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are at their highest in two million years, according to the study published in BioScience.
Scientific American reported it asClimate scientists issue a sobering diagnosis about Earth's 'vital signs' (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Jonathan, a 194-year-old Aldabra giant tortoise, has had his genome sequenced by scientists studying the secrets of his longevity. The research identified genetic changes associated with DNA repair and telomere function, offering potential insights into aging.
Scientific American reported it asScientists unlock the longevity secrets of 194-year-old Jonathan the giant tortoise (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
The World Meteorological Organization predicts the current El Niño event will intensify, reaching its peak in December 2026 and potentially persisting until February 2027. This strengthening is expected to increase global temperatures and raise the risk of droughts and floods worldwide.
Scientific American reported it asAn El Niño–fueled ocean wave could raise California flood risks as Florida’s vaccine debate sparks outbreak concerns (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted to advance Dr. Nicole Saphier's nomination for surgeon general. The committee advanced her nomination on a 12-11 vote.
Scientific American reported it asTrump’s surgeon general nominee Nicole Saphier clears key Senate committee (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Dr. Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, is scheduled for a Senate confirmation hearing. Lawmakers are expected to focus on her positions regarding vaccines and the abortion pill mifepristone.
Scientific American reported it asTrump's FDA nominee Heidi Overton affirms MMR vaccine and mifepristone are safe at crucial Senate hearing (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Donald Trump is reportedly seeking to exert greater control over US health research funding. The White House is considering an external commission to validate grants, a move seen as part of a broader crackdown on 'woke' programs.
Scientific American reported it asWhat a Trump order to put political appointees in charge of NIH funding would mean for science (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Researchers have identified a new wild cat species, Leopardus tilcayo, in Bolivia's Yungas forest. The small feline, measuring about 45-46 cm and weighing 1.4 kg, is the first new wild cat species described in more than 100 years.
Scientific American reported it asSee the first new species of cat discovered in more than a century—it’s adorable (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
The US Space Force has confirmed the deployment of weapons in Earth orbit, marking the first public acknowledgement of such capabilities. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink stated the weapons are intended for defence against hostile actions, though specific details remain undisclosed.
Scientific American reported it asThe U.S. has weapons in space (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in orbit. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said the Space Force placed "space control weapons" to deter adversaries, drawing accusations from China and Russia.
Scientific American reported it asThe U.S. has weapons in space (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Scientists estimate Mercury's diameter may have shrunk by up to 14 miles (23 kilometers), a figure 30% greater than earlier projections. The planet's hot iron core cooling and contracting is believed to be the cause, tightening its surface.
Scientific American reported it asThe planet Mercury is shrinking far faster than we thought (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
August 2026 was the hottest month on record globally, tying with July 2023, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The record heat was attributed to human-caused climate change and a strong El Niño event, with sea surface temperatures also reaching new highs.
Scientific American reported it asAugust 2026 ties for hottest month ever recorded (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
OpenAI has announced that an internal AI model has produced a solution to the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem, one of mathematics' seven Millennium Prize Problems. The company claims approximately 10,000 AI agents worked on the problem for 88 hours. However, mathematicians have expressed skepticism due to the lack of a publicly disclosed proof.
Scientific American reported it asAI may have just solved a million-dollar math problem. The field will never be the same (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
The 36th annual Ig Nobel Prizes awarded ten research teams for studies that are scientifically sound but unusual. This year's ceremony was held in Zurich, marking the first time the event took place outside the United States.
Scientific American reported it as2026 Ig Nobels honor cockroach milk, interspecies kissing, taunting venomous snakes and more (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
A United Nations report published on September 2, 2026, states that global temperatures are likely to exceed the 1.5°C warming threshold within a few years. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) calls for rapid emissions cuts and carbon removal to limit damage.
Scientific American reported it asU.N. admits exceeding Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree-C warming target is ‘unavoidable’ (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
NASA's Roman Space Telescope has successfully launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The observatory is designed to study dark matter, dark energy, and exoplanets, collecting vast amounts of data to deepen our understanding of the universe.
Scientific American reported it asNASA launches Roman Space Telescope to explore dark energy and distant worlds (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Flash floods and landslides swept away villages along the Nepal-Tibet border, killing at least 165 people. Experts suggest a glacial collapse, not an earthquake, was the cause, with climate change and the region's topography exacerbating the risks.
Scientific American reported it asWhat Nepal's floods reveal about “cascading hazards” (opens Scientific American in a new tab)
Who says so
2 organisations have published a rating for this outlet, in their own words. Where they disagree, the disagreement is the useful part and it is left standing.
How reliably it reports fact
A rating of the newsroom in general, by others, and a different thing from the Trust score we publish on each story, which judges one piece of reporting.
High factuality
Who owns it
We hold no ownership record for Scientific American.
Where it publishes from
- Publishes from
- New York, New York, United States
- Official site
- scientificamerican.com
- Seen publishing on
- scientificamerican.com
- Access
- Free to read
- Wikipedia
- Entry
What we have seen ourselves
Counted across the stories this site has published, which is the only denominator a reader can check: every one of them has a page, and every page lists the reports it was written from.
- Stories
- 31
- Reports listed
- 31
- We could read
- 2
- First seen
- 4 August 2026
29 of those reports were paywalled or blocked to us. Our reading of this outlet is built on the 2 we could open, not on everything it published.
On 5 of those stories, outlets rated left were largely absent from the coverage and Scientific American ran the story anyway.
Across the 31 stories of ours where at least three of the reports we listed carried a time, we logged no report earlier than Scientific American’s on 2 of them. Overall it filed a median of 16 hours after the earliest report we logged.
Measured 3 November 2026. Last seen in a coverage list 3 November 2026. Ratings pulled 4 October 2026.
Other outlets rated the same way
Publishers carrying the same published leaning as Scientific American, also publishing from United States, ordered by how often we have seen them on a story. Sharing a rating is not the same as being alike.
Think this page is wrong?
The leanings above are published by AllSides, Ad Fontes Media and Media Bias/Fact Check, and we republish them rather than make them. If you think one is misapplied, the strongest place to say so is with the organisation that made it, and every verdict here links to their page.
What we are responsible for is everything else: the ownership chain, where Scientific American publishes from, which of our stories we have listed it on, and whether we have the right publisher at all. Tell us what is wrong and an editor reads it.
Report something wrong on this page
Anything we correct is written up in the public corrections log. We do not publish reader votes as a rating, because an unattributed rating is the thing this site exists to argue against.
Every rating on this page is a named third party’s published work, republished with its author and, where one exists, a link to it. Our own coverage record is the section we measure ourselves. Neither is a judgement of any individual report: those are scored story by story, and the reasoning is on our methodology page.