Scientific American’s editors reveal their top alien-themed books—ranging from Carl Sagan’s Contact to Liu Cixin’s The Dark Forest—showing how sci-fi about extraterrestrials doesn’t just entertain but deeply shapes minds, careers, and our understanding of humanity, identity, and the cosmos.

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Scientists in South Korea revived the legendary sea silk—a shimmering, ancient fabric once worn by emperors and popes—by unlocking its secret: its golden glow comes from structural photonin proteins, not dye. With the original clam now endangered, researchers turned to a farmed Korean clam, transforming its threads into a modern, sustainable replica. This breakthrough not only resurrects a lost luxury but also turns waste into wonder, proving science can bridge history, fashion, and ecology.

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Alaska’s glaciers are melting faster than ever—and new satellite radar tech reveals why: every degree Celsius of summer heat adds three extra weeks of melt. This groundbreaking Carnegie Mellon study shows how synthetic aperture radar, which works day or night and through clouds, gives scientists a year-round view of glacier changes. During extreme heat waves, like the one in 2019, glaciers lost protective snow cover by up to 28%, exposing bare ice and accelerating melt. Coastal and inland glaciers react differently despite similar ice loss, hinting at complex regional behaviors. The findings underscore just how sensitive glaciers are to even short-term warming—and how critical this data is for predicting future ice loss.

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