Stories by Curtis Brainard

Special report: How the coronavirus pandemic started, where it’s headed, and how scientists are fighting back

A new era for Alzheimer’s and journalism in the time of coronavirus 

A new view of the Milky Way, the trouble with teeth, ice age survivors, and more 

A cosmic crisis, the dangers of wildfire smoke, how we learn and more

A cosmic crisis, what’s in wildfire smoke, a new hope for rare diseases, and more

The mind’s social maps, the mystery of aerodynamic lift, killer robots, and more

Scientific American kicks off its 175th anniversary year

Fire tornadoes, the black hole paradox, GPS under attack, and more

Fire tornadoes, the black hole paradox, GPS under attack, and more

Time crystals, trickle-up economics, songbird diversity, and more

Time crystals, trickle-up economics, songbird diversity, and more

Monsters of the Mesozoic skies, the quest for a room-temperature superconductor and more

Like much of the U.S., New York City is in the grip of a bitter winter cold. According to a post by Scientific American‘s Larry Greenemeier, more than a century ago, the East River would freeze over every few decades, but ice floes are far less common these days.

Last night at the 87th Academy Awards, Eddie Redmayne won the Oscar for best actor for his portrayal of theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

In the fall of 2005, I and a couple hundred other new students at Columbia University's journalism school walked into a lecture hall for a series of welcome speeches, and two things happened that impressed me.

Diverse ideas and perspectives benefit science—as studies amply demonstrate—yet progress can be frustratingly slow. We think it's time to amplify the conversation.

Scientific American has recently been criticized for two posts that appeared on our blog network. The first was a guest post in April about Larry Summers' statement regarding women in science.

"A sea turtle's life begins in darkness," writes John R. Platt of SciAm's Extinction Countdown blog. Buried in nests along the beach about 50 centimeters below the surface, they must first break out of their eggs before climbing and scraping their way up through the sand.

The Christmas Island frigatebirds (Fregata andrewsi) know how to call attention to themselves, especially the males, which inflate bright, red gular pouches on their necks to attract females.