Megha Satyanarayana

Dallas

Chief Opinion Editor at Scientific American

chief opinion editor at @sciam. no, my name isn't megan. usual disclaimers apply.

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Articles

Science Isn’t about Domination. It’s about Democracy

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

Nestled in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, the slash-and-burn playbook for the federal government that the Trump administration is following while saying it isn’t, is a call for American “science dominance.”There is no such thing. And what the project means by the term—turning the Department of Energy into a handmaiden of the coal, oil and natural gas industry—betrays not only the taxpayer but science itself. Science isn’t a winner-take-all, zero-sum game of flag football.
Dear Breakthrough Prize Billionaires: Fund the Science You’re Watching Trump Destroy

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

In a lavish party they called the “Oscars of Science,” the billionaires behind the Breakthrough Prizes handed out $3-million awards in April to the researchers in life sciences, physics and math they’ve deemed “heroes of our society.”The 1 percenters behind the prizes include Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg, who attended and helped fund Donald Trump’s inauguration, as well as Yuri Milner and former 23 and Me CEO Anne Wojcicki, who also have ties to .
Utah’s Decision to Ban Fluoride Is a Bad Move for Kids

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

Utah has just become the first U.S. state to ban fluoride from municipal drinking water. Other states will likely follow. It’s a confusing move by a seemingly even-keeled governor to take an evidence-backed public good (fluoride prevents tooth decay) and turn it into something profit-oriented under the guise of personal freedom. In making the decision, he said, “we ran this natural experiment,” comparing people who had grown up with fluoride in the water and people who hadn’t.
Slashing Programs That Help People with Disabilities Is a Nod to Eugenics

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

When I was a teenager, I took voice lessons from a musician who was blind. I drove over to her apartment to sight-read music, sing scales and work on vocal exercises, and I wondered how the heck she managed with our wretched bus system, how she got to the store, to campus, or just out for a walk. I was too afraid to ask. One summer, I spent a lot of time with a genetics doctor who worked in a clinic that was part of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.
Walking Shouldn’t Be So Dangerous in the U.S.

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

I like to walk. In my big southern city, it’s a good way to get some exercise when the weather is nice or to run a nearby errand without having to waste gas or deal with parking. I’m not alone; on the big street I typically take, other pedestrians are always around me, either out of necessity or pleasure. But so are the cars, zooming down that same street. Drivers coast through stop signs or flat out ignore flashing, newly installed crosswalk lights at one major intersection.
Should Kids Do Chores?

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

I often ask my kids to help around the house. Feed our dog. Put clean dishes in cabinets and drawers. Sweep up crumbs after dinner. We are a Montessori family, so a lot of this stuff falls under Practical Life, and it’s supposed to help with motor skills, executive functioning and caring for our spaces. We are also a Scouting family so, “How do Girl Scouts leave a place?” I ask my troop far too often. “Better than we found it!” Indeed. But the kvetching. “Moooooommmmmm. I can’t.
Why Is the Trump Administration Politicizing Weather?

Mar 7, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

In the predawn hours of Tuesday, March 4, a massive storm system spit out two tornadoes, spurred straight-line winds of up to 95 miles per hour and dropped driving sheets of rain where I live. When the sun rose, we scrambled as a 60-year-old American elm, snapped at its base, had fallen precariously onto my neighbor’s fence and the roof of my garage. Hours later, I watched the remaining high winds blow a couch cushion down a street and turn the sky orange with dust.
The Measles Outbreak in Texas Is Why Vaccines Matter

Feb 28, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

A school-age child with measles died in Texas this week, making it the first measles death in the U.S. in 10 years. This child was one of dozens of unvaccinated kids infected with measles in a multi-county, two-state outbreak of an illness the U.S. had officially eliminated 25 years ago. As Texas and New Mexico public health officials respond dutifully with vaccine clinics, contact tracing and exposure alerts, people are still getting sick from this vaccine-preventable disease.
Trump executive order calls mental health prescriptions a 'threat' - why?

Feb 25, 2025 | livescience.com | Megha Satyanarayana

Our teenagers are in trouble. Headlines have been ringing loud alarms around adolescent mental health, and the data are sobering. In 2023, 40 percent of high school students surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they persistently felt hopeless or sad in the past year. Nine percent had attempted suicide. Some of it is because of COVID. Some of it is related to social media. Then there is bullying, the pressure to succeed academically, the pressure to fit in.
Why Is the Trump Administration Villainizing Mental Health Meds for Kids?

Feb 21, 2025 | scientificamerican.com | Megha Satyanarayana

Our teenagers are in trouble. Headlines have been ringing loud alarms around adolescent mental health, and the data are sobering. In 2023, 40 percent of high school students surveyed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they persistently felt hopeless or sad in the past year. Nine percent had attempted suicide. Some of it is because of COVID. Some of it is related to social media. Then there is bullying, the pressure to succeed academically, the pressure to fit in.