Departments
- Headlines: Nice Doctors Heal You Faster, and More
- Mental Maps Reveal the Brain's Plug-and-Play Plasticity
- Cell Phone Psychology: Personal Training by Phone
- Risk-Taking Teens Have More Mature Brains
- Monitoring Live Brains Reveals Plasticity
- Is Multitasking Limited by a Mental Bottleneck?
- Ability to Guess Others' Thoughts Tied to Language Proficiency
- Pollution's Toll on the Brain
- How You Learn More from Success Than Failure
- Does Vitamin D Improve Brain Function?
- Does Morning Sickness Mean Smart Kids?
Readers Respond on "Do Parents Matter?"--And More...
- Ask the Brains: Are our Brains Constantly Making Subconscious Calculations?
- Ask the Brains: Why Do We Have Trouble Facing Our Credit Cards the "Right" Way?
Features
What Does a Smart Brain Look Like?: Inner Views Show How We Think
A new neuroscience of intelligence is revealing that not all brains work in the same way
By Richard J. Haier
Rational and Irrational Thought: The Thinking That IQ Tests Miss
We assume intelligence and rationality go together. But we shouldn't be surprised when smart people do foolish things.
By Keith E. Stanovich
True Love: How to Find It
Combing through your social network is the most fruitful—and most common—way of finding
the love of your life
By Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler
Why We Worry
Chronic worrying stems from a craving for control. But the more we fret, the less our bodies are able to cope with stress
By Victoria Stern
Alzheimer's Update: New Insight May Speed Therapies
New technologies for spotting Alzheimer's disease are poised to unravel its cause and speed progress toward effective treatments
By Joel N. Shurkin
Secrets of How Meditation Works
New research reveals the cell mechanisms underlying
a meditative state
By Peter B. Reiner
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Copenhagen and Climate ChangeThe people of the world continue to grapple with the question of how best to combat climate change
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60-Second Science
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Mercury Fillings Seem Safer over Time
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Smaller Fingers Mean More Sensitive Fingertips
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Slideshows
A tool-wielding octopus? This invertebrate builds armor from coconut halves
Seven Answers to Climate Contrarian Nonsense
Solar panels for the rest of us
Owning the climate: will geoengineering help combat climate change?
Earth-Like Planets May Be Made of Carbon
Debate Rises on Whether to Ban Chlorine
Lonely senator says Copenhagen necessary for climate action in U.S.
SciAm's 2009 Gadget Guide: 10 Tech Toys You Deserve after a Tough Year [Slide Show]