Stories by Curtis Brainard

Covering Coronavirus

Diseases and Deadlines

Introducing the June 2020 Issue

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

Introducing the May 2020 Issue

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

We Are Here

Introducing the April 2020 Issue

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

Introducing the March 2020 Issue

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

Introducing the March 2020 Issue

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

On Navigation

Introducing the February 2020 Issue

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

175th Anniversary Year Jamboree

Introducing the January 2020 Issue

Scientific American kicks off its 175th anniversary year

Introducing the December 2019 Issue

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

Introducing the November 2019 Issue

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

Introducing the October 2019 Issue

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

East River Ice Floes

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...

Best Actor Eddie Redmayne on Portraying Stephen Hawking (Q&A)

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...

Science Media Beset With Gender Gaps

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...

Welcome to Voices, a Blog to Celebrate Diversity

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.

A Response to Recent Criticism

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...