Magazine
May-June 2026
May-June 2026
Volume: 114 Number: 3
The commemorative footballs created for each new World Cup are more than eye-catching visual redesigns; their surfaces can comprise different numbers of panels, new textural elements, and seams that vary in depth, width, and length. In “Balls in the Air,” physicist John Eric Goff describes how these changes can significantly alter the flight of balls during Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) tournaments. Within a 20-year historical context of remodeled and recolored balls that includes the 2026 Trionda, Goff describes how such surface factors affect drag—and how that football-slowing force can suddenly change at certain speeds. When such changes happen at free-kick speeds, they can cause substantial headaches for goalkeepers. (Cover image by Ben Kirshner.)
In This Issue
- Art
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Communications
- Economics
- Engineering
- Environment
- Ethics
- Evolution
- Mathematics
- Physics
- Policy
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Technology
The Ancient Mississippi River’s Return
Roy Burbank Van Arsdale, Youngsang Kwon, Randel T. Cox, David N. Lumsden
Environment
Current flooding along preglacial tributaries foreshadows broader changes as North America rebounds from the most recent ice age.
Diversity from Isolation
Daniel T. Ksepka
Biology Evolution
Fossils of early penguin species reveal the myriad paths these birds took from the sky to the sea, and from temperate New Zealand to the frozen Antarctic.
