Science Quiz: Event Horizons and Flesh-Eating Parasites
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Scientific American
6 hours ago
- Scientific American
Did Disease Defeat Napoleon?
Beginning on June 24, 1812, around 600,000 soldiers led by French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte crossed the Neman River to invade the Russian Empire. The war was one of the most costly in history, and just under six months later, only a few tens of thousands of men returned across the river. The massive losses have historically been attributed to soldiers falling in battle, succumbing to frostbite, starving to death or dying in a typhus epidemic. But now a new, not-yet-peer-reviewed preprint study by microbiologist Rémi Barbieri of Paris City University and his team have identified other pathogens that might actually have been responsible for much of the death. Historical records from the time show that doctors that accompanied the army diagnosed typhus from symptoms such as fever, headaches and skin rashes, and an analysis of remains in a 2006 study had suggested possible infections with typhus and trench fever. But when Barbieri and his team examined the preserved teeth of 13 of Napoleon's fallen soldiers, they were unable to find any evidence of Rickettsia prowazekii, the bacterium responsible for epidemic typhus, or Bartonella quintana, the cause of trench fever, which infected more than a million soldiers during World War I. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Instead they found traces of the bacterium Salmonella enterica —which causes typhoid fever, not to be confused with typhus—and Borrelia recurrentis, which causes relapsing fever and is mainly transmitted by body lice. With the help of modern medicine, typhoid and relapsing fever both have very high survival rates. But these previously unidentified pathogens could have easily caused death in soldiers who had already been weakened from cold and hunger and were living in terrible hygienic conditions. The researchers note that their sample of 13 soldiers is too small to be sure that other diseases, such as typhus, did not kill many other soldiers during Napoleon's retreat. They only have not yet found evidence of such infections. Napoleon himself survived the retreat almost unscathed. The losses brought his rule over Europe to a slow end, however. In 1815 Napoleon was finally defeated by the U.K. and Prussia at the Battle of Waterloo. HELP US STAND UP FOR SCIENCE Before you close the page, we need to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and we think right now is the most critical moment in that two-century history. We're not asking for charity. If you become a Digital, Print or Unlimited subscriber to Scientific American, you can help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both future and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself often goes unrecognized.
Scientific American
2 days ago
- Scientific American
Spellements: Friday, August 8, 2025
How to Play Click the timer at the top of the game page to pause and see a clue to the science-related word in this puzzle! The objective of the game is to find words that can be made with the given letters such that all the words include the letter in the center. You can enter letters by clicking on them or typing them in. Press Enter to submit a word. Letters can be used multiple times in a single word, and words must contain four letters or more for this size layout. Select the Play Together icon in the navigation bar to invite a friend to work together on this puzzle. Pangrams, words which incorporate all the letters available, appear in bold and receive bonus points. One such word is always drawn from a recent Scientific American article—look out for a popup when you find it! You can view hints for words in the puzzle by hitting the life preserver icon in the game display. The dictionary we use for this game misses a lot of science words, such as apatite and coati. Let us know at games@ any extra science terms you found, along with your name and place of residence,
Scientific American
2 days ago
- Scientific American
Science Quiz: Cosmic Inflation and Lunar Nights
Allison Parshall is an associate editor at Scientific American covering mind and brain and she writes the weekly online Science Quizzes. As a multimedia journalist, she contributes to Scientific American 's podcast Science Quickly. Parshall's work has also appeared in Quanta Magazine and Inverse. She graduated from New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute with a master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting. She has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Georgetown University.
