Feature Articles - 2009

Scientific American Magazine 11/16/09
Growing Skyscrapers: The Rise of Vertical Farms
Growing crops in city skyscrapers would use less water and fossil fuel than outdoor farming, eliminate agricultural runoff, and provide fresh food
Scientific American Magazine 8/19/09
The Origin of Life on Earth
Fresh clues hint at how the first living organisms arose from inanimate matter
Scientific American Magazine 8/17/09
Origins: The Start of Everything
Where do rainbows come from? What about flying cars, love and LSD?
Scientific American Magazine 8/17/09
In the Beginning... Introducing the Origins Issue
A powerful urge to understand the emergence of the cosmos or even life itself fuels the scientific enterprise

Scientific American Magazine 11/11/09
New Culprits in Chronic Pain
Glia are nervous system caretakers whose nurturing can go too far. Taming them holds promise for alleviating pain that current medications cannot ease

Scientific American Magazine 11/9/09
Rethinking "Hobbits": What They Mean for Human Evolution
New analyses reveal the mini human species to be even stranger than previously thought and hint that major tenets of human evolution need revision

Scientific American Magazine 11/4/09
The Future of Cars
Industry leaders look way down the road

Scientific American Magazine 11/2/09
The Long-Lost Siblings of the Sun
The sun was born in a family of stars. What became of them?

Scientific American Magazine 10/26/09
A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables
Wind, water and solar technologies can provide 100 percent of the world's energy, eliminating all fossil fuels. Here's how

Scientific American Magazine 10/22/09
How the Internet is Changing the Way We Will Watch TV
The Internet stands ready to upend the television viewing experience, but exactly how is a matter of considerable dispute

Scientific American Magazine 10/14/09
Another Century of Oil? Getting More from Current Reserves
Amid warnings of a possible "peak oil," advanced technologies offer ways to extract every last possible drop

Scientific American Magazine 10/5/09
Biotech's Plans to Sustain Agriculture
Popular movements may call for more organic methods, but the agricultural industry sees biotechnology as a crucial part of farming's future

Scientific American Magazine 9/30/09
How Quantum Effects Could Create Black Stars, Not Holes
Quantum effects may prevent true black holes from forming and give rise instead to dense entities called black stars

Scientific American Magazine 9/28/09
Privacy and the Quantum Internet
Courtesy of some of the weirdest laws of physics, we may someday be able to search and surf the Web without anyone collecting our data

Scientific American Magazine 9/23/09
Boosting Vaccines: The Power of Adjuvants
Modern insights into the immune system have revived interest in adding ingredients that can supercharge old vaccines and make entirely new ones possible

Scientific American Magazine 9/21/09
Turbocharging the Brain--Pills to Make You Smarter?
Will a pill at breakfast improve concentration and memory—and will it do so without long-term detriment to your health?

Scientific American Magazine 8/21/09
The Origin of Computing
The information age began with the realization that machines could emulate the power of minds

Scientific American Magazine 8/20/09
The Origin of the Mind
The first step in figuring out how the human mind arose is determining what distinguishes our mental processes from those of other creatures

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