July 2008 Issue
Security Bug -- June Bug -- Bug Trap
Warm up the PET scanner for a Dance Dance Brain Revolution
Ecology -- Oncology -- Immunology -- Privacy
The body and its intestinal flora produce chemicals with hidden health information, Jeremy Nicholson has found. Someday treating disease may mean treating those bacteria
Schizophrenia -- Markets vs. Polls -- Expanding Universe
Fossils in America -- Science and Religion -- A Giant Moon
Ozone Warming -- Antiradiation -- Quantum Novelty -- Babbage Computer
Recent brain-imaging studies reveal some of the complex neural choreography behind our ability to dance
The iPhone and even wilder interfaces could improve collaboration without a mouse or keyboard
A new set of puzzles inspired by Rubik's Cube offers puzzle lovers the chance to get acquainted with the secret twists and turns of mathematical entities called sporadic simple groups
A new approach to the decades-old problem of quantum gravity goes back to basics and shows how the building blocks of space and time pull themselves together
The age-old practice of turning the soil before planting a new crop is a leading cause of farmland degradation. Many farmers are thus looking to make plowing a thing of the past
Protective heat shock proteins present in every cell have long been known to counteract stress. Newly recognized roles in cancer and immunity make them potential therapeutic allies
DNA furnishes an ever clearer picture of the multimillennial trek from Africa all the way to the tip of South America
News
Head Games: Video Controller Taps into Brain Waves
Emotiv Systems introduces a sensor-laden headset that interprets gamers’ intentions, emotions and facial expressions.
Feature
The Origin of Menopause
New research sheds light on why women survive for decades, whereas females in many other species die after they lose the ability to reproduce.
News
Aztec Math Used Hearts and Arrows
Archaeologists discover early Mesoamerican units of measurement.
Strange but True
Identical Twins’ Genes Are Not Identical
Twins may appear to be cut from the same cloth, but their genes reveal a different pattern.
Slide Show
Fifty Years of American Space Exploration
NASA celebrates half a century of American spaceflight with a new collection of space
exploration images.
Video
The Monitor—Fewer Rubles Meant Better Health for Cubans
Scientific American’s irreverent weekly news roundup tackles Cuba’s “special period.”
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