Stories by Amy Nordrum

Nature versus Nurture versus NASA

The space agency sends an identical twin into orbit to study the effect of zero gravity on human health

Fewer People are Calling Poison Control Centers

The latest report reveals that people may be turning to the Internet for guidance

Popular Cable-Stay Bridges Rise across U.S. to Replace Crumbling Spans

The new NY Bridge will replace a crumbling relic across New York's Hudson River with a flashy design called cable-stay that is gaining popularity with bridge engineers

Sugar Beets Make Hemoglobin

It’s the latest veggie discovered to produce the protein best known for its role in blood

Chemists Confirm the Existence of New Type of Bond

A “vibrational” chemical bond predicted in the 1980s is demonstrated experimentally

Battling Bees and Future Bridge Designs: Scientific American's February Issue

Popular Cable-Stay Bridges Rise across U.S. to Replace Crumbling Spans

The new bridge being built across the Hudson River is the latest to use this cost-effective design, which goes up faster and requires fewer materials than competing methods for medium-length bridges—and it looks better, too...

Ex-President Wins Campaign against Ghastly Guinea Worm

Jimmy Carter's efforts against the horribly painful guinea worm parasitic disease have helped lower the number of cases from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 126 last year. Steve Mirsky reports

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Global Guinea Worm Cases Drop to 126 in 2014

Former Pres. Jimmy Carter’s crusade pushes the guinea worm one step closer to eradication

Health Advice from a Grizzly

Hibernating animals have tricks for avoiding diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis and more

The Centuries-Long Search for Sunken Treasure

For 500 years, explorers and marine archeologists have exploited the latest technologies to reach new depths, often at great risk to themselves

Perils of Controlling Parents and Cow Pies: Scientific American’s Jan. Issue

Google's Top Searches of 2014

Americans looked to Google for information on Ebola, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and the actor Robin Williams’s suicide this year—all of which ranked among the hottest search terms of 2014...

Architects Place Priority on Public Health for 2015

To build better and healthier spaces, architects are heeding evidence-based lessons 

NASA Takes on the Clouds

The organization joins scientists in figuring out the role clouds play in climate change

Climate Preparedness Index Reveals Rich-Poor Gap

High in the Peruvian Andes 8,000 alpacas died during a particularly harsh period of cold in the summer of 2004. For the herders who raise and shear these long-haired beasts for a living, it was a huge loss amounting to one fifth of all the alpacas living in that region of the highlands...

Follow Ernest Shackleton’s Legendary Trek on Google Street View [Slide Show]

Google sent a videographer on the route of the explorer’s epic adventure

Follow Ernest Shackleton's Legendary Trek on Google Street View [Video and Slide Show]

Google sent a videographer on the route of the explorer's epic adventure

Can Wild Pigs Ravaging the U.S. Be Stopped?

The USDA is spending $20 million to solve a pig problem that has spread to 39 states and counting

The New D.A.R.E. Program—This One Works

The “keepin’ it REAL” substance-abuse curriculum focuses on elementary and middle-school students’ decisions, not drugs