Scientific American May 2026 Cover Story Details New Research and Treatments for Heart Disease

New Evidence Indicates Inflammation May Be the Cause of Cardiovascular Disease. A New Drug May be the Answer

NEW YORK, April 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientific American, the world's leading popular science publication covering science, health, technology, the environment and society, today unveiled its May 2026 issue. The cover story, titled "Your Heart In Flames," centers on the critical role that chronic inflammation may play in cardiovascular disease, and how inexpensive inflammation-reducing drugs like colchicine could offer new treatments.

"Cardiologists have puzzled over the fact that up to a quarter of the people admitted to hospitals for heart attacks and strokes don't exhibit typical risk factors. Melina Wenner Moyer's cover story offers a thrilling look at the scientists who have spent decades unraveling this mystery and offers new hope for the millions of Americans living with heart disease," said David M. Ewalt, editor in chief of Scientific American. "The May issue also shares how the discovery of altermagnets could change physics and computing, examines why birds were the only dinosaurs to survive the Cretaceous mass extinction, and looks at America's declining freshwater mussel population."

Top Science, Health, and Technology stories in Scientific American's May issue include:

HEALTH

• YOUR HEART IN FLAMES by MELINDA WENNER MOYER
  Inflammation may be the true cause of cardiovascular disease—and there's a drug to treat it.

PHYSICS

• A NEW KIND OF MAGNET by BOB HENDERSON
  How the discovery of altermagnets could change physics and computing.

EVOLUTION

• HOW BIRDS SURVIVED THE DINOSAURS' DOOMSDAY by STEVE BRUSATTE
  Scientists finally know why birds were the only dinosaurs to pull through the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

ECOLOGY

• THE MYSTERY OF THE VANISHING MUSSELS by ROBERT KUNZIG
  What's driving America's freshwater mussels toward extinction?

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About Scientific American
Founded in 1845, Scientific American is the oldest continuously published magazine in the U.S. and the leading authoritative publication for science and technology in the general media. Together with scientificamerican.com and eight local language editions around the world, it reaches more than fifteen million readers a month. Scientific American is published by Springer Nature.

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SOURCE Scientific American