Laura Helmuth, who had led the magazine since 2020, wrote an expletive-filled social media post on election night

The editor in chief of Scientific American, the US’s oldest magazine, has announced her resignation after a series of online posts in which she called some Donald Trump supporters “fascists” and “bigoted”.

In a post on Bluesky on Thursday, Laura Helmuth, who was originally appointed as the magazine’s editor in chief in 2020, said: “I’ve decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief. I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching).”