Feature Articles - 2009

RSS

Noah Clayton Getty Images

Scientific American Mind 7/1/09
Fit Body, Fit Mind? Your Workout Makes You Smarter
How can you stay sharp into old age? It is not just a matter of winning the genetic lottery. What you do can make a difference

Special Editions 6/29/09
The Arctic Thaw Could Make Global Warming Worse
The melting Arctic is releasing vast quantities of methane. How big is this greenhouse threat? What can be done?
Scientific American Magazine 6/29/09
Grassoline: Biofuels beyond Corn
Scientists are turning agricultural leftovers, wood and fast-growing grasses into a huge variety of biofuels—even jet fuel. But before these next-generation biofuels go mainstream, they have to compete with oil at $60 a barrel
Scientific American Magazine 6/24/09
Evolutionary Origins of Your Right and Left Brain
The division of labor by the two cerebral hemispheres—once thought to be uniquely human—predates us by half a billion years. Speech, right-handedness, facial recognition and the processing of spatial relations can be traced to brain asymmetries in early vertebrates
Special Editions 6/22/09
Can Captured Carbon Save Coal-Fired Power?
Extracting carbon dioxide from power plant exhaust and storing it underground may be the only hope to avoid a climate change catastrophe caused by burning fossil fuels

Scientific American Magazine 6/22/09
The Science of Economic Bubbles and Busts
The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has prompted a reassessment of how financial markets work and how people make decisions about money

Special Editions 6/18/09
How Local Solutions Can Have Global Climate Impact
Scientists and policymakers should focus more on how local communities can adapt to climate change

Special Editions 6/17/09
The Persistent Prophet--Lester Brown's New-Found Optimism
Lester Brown, at times ridiculed, has been warning the world for 40 years about coalescing energy, food and population crises. So why is he optimistic now?

Scientific American Magazine 6/15/09
Space Geology: From the Moon to Mars
The only scientist and field geologist ever to visit the moon offers some pointers to those who will one day visit Mars

Special Editions 6/15/09
Top 25 Green Energy Leaders
Forward-thinking companies, universities and municipalities are finding creative ways to run on renewable power

Special Editions 6/10/09
Population and Sustainability: Can We Avoid Limiting the Number of People?
Slowing the rise in human numbers is essential for the planet--but it doesn't require population control

Scientific American Magazine 6/10/09
The Evolution of House Cats
Genetic and archaeological findings hint that wildcats became house cats earlier--and in a different place--than previously thought

Scientific American Magazine 6/3/09
Phosphorus Famine: The Threat to Our Food Supply
This underappreciated resource--a key component of fertilizers--is still decades from running out. But we must act now to conserve it, or future agriculture could collapse

Special Editions 6/2/09
Cash for Clunkers: A Fair Trade for the Environment
"Hey! Trade in your old, soot-spewing car for a newer one. Free." The latest scam? Not according to a former vice chair of the Federal Reserve

Scientific American Magazine 6/1/09
How Trivial DNA Changes Can Hurt Health
Small changes to DNA that were once considered innocuous enough to be ignored are proving to be important in human diseases, evolution and biotechnology

Scientific American Magazine 5/26/09
Racetrack Memory: The Future Third Dimension of Data Storage
A device that slides magnetic bits back and forth along nanowire "racetracks" could pack data in a three-dimensional microchip and may replace nearly all forms of conventional data storage

Scientific American Magazine 5/20/09
Unlikely Suns Reveal Improbable Planets
Astronomers are finding planets where there were not supposed to be any

Scientific American Magazine 5/18/09
Scientific American 10: Guiding Science for Humanity
Ten researchers, politicians, business executives and philanthropists who have recently demonstrated outstanding commitment to assuring that the benefits of new technologies and knowledge will accrue to humanity

Scientific American Magazine 5/11/09
Our Planet's Leaky Atmosphere
As Earth's air slowly trickles away into space, will our planet come to look like Venus?

Scientific American Magazine 5/6/09
How to Build Nanotech Motors
Catalytic engines enable tiny swimmers to harness fuel from their environment and overcome the weird physics of the microscopic world

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Next»