Energy
Is Fusion Energy in Our Future?
The U.S. is grossly underinvested in energy research, says Obama's science adviser. And that includes fusion power
Stories by Fred Guterl
Policy
Diversity in Science: Why It Is Essential for Excellence
Science and technology are society's main engines of prosperity. Who gets to drive them?
Energy
Exit Interview: Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren
Scientific American executive editor Fred Guterl talks with Pres. Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, about climate science, space travel, the issue of reproducibility in science, the brain initiative and more...
Policy
Will Trump Negate Obama’s Science Legacy?
Will Obama’s science policy accomplishments survive? A Q&A with outgoing science adviser John Holdren
The Sciences
Ada Lovelace and Gender Diversity in Science
Ada Lovelace, widely regarded as the first computer programmer, would probably have appreciated the current thinking on diversity in the workplace.
Why Do Some Animals Live Longer Than Others?
The key indicator for animals may be total energy expended over a lifetime
The Sciences
The Science of TED 2015
What I love about the annual TED gathering in Vancouver is the way science coexists along with art, social justice, popular song and the rest of TED's eclectic mix.
Technology
What Impact Will Emerging Technologies Have on Geopolitics?
The World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council meetings are going on this week in Dubai. More than 1000 experts (including Scientific American editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina) have gathered to discuss big world problems such as climate change, poverty, water shortages, energy and innovation...
Technology
What Impact Will Emerging Technologies Have on Society?
This week begins the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council meetings. More than 1000 experts (including Scientific American editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina) have gathered in Dubai to discuss big world problems such as climate change, poverty, water shortages, energy and innovation...
The Sciences
Diversity in Science: Where Are the Data?
Global figures on diversity in the science and engineering workforce are hard to come by, but what we know is not flattering
Self-Driving Cars are a Modern Miracle Waiting to Happen
When Bran Ferren was 9 years old his parents took him to the Pantheon in Rome. He looked around at the marble and sculptures, which seemed typical in the ancient city, and then he looked up at the ceiling, which didn't seem typical at all...
Negroponte’s Next Goal is to Connect the “Last Billion”
Nicholas Negroponte, the visionary computer scientist who founded the One Laptop Per Child initiative, now says he wants to connect the "last billion" people on the planet.
Are “Big Brain” Projects Really Worth Billions?
When does it make sense to throw vast sums of money at a single problem? The question animates a lot of debate in science policy circles, and it was a topic of discussion among scientists and policymakers at the World Economic Forums annual meeting in Davos...
Glaxo Announcement Wont End Conflicts of Interest
GlaxoSmithKline broke with industry practice and announced that it will no longer pay scientists to promote its drugs, reports the New York Times.
Health
Living with Voices inside Your Head
Myths can be more harmful than lies, Nobel laureate Harry Kroto has said, because they are more difficult to recognize and often go unexamined.
Environment
The Blurry Line between Small and Quantum Small
The late physicist Erwin Schrodinger was probably relieved to know that flesh and blood cats are too big to behave according to the laws of quantum physics.
Environment
Googling E.T., Mind Reading and Other Crazy Ideas That Just Might Work
A talent search preceding this year’s TED conference turned up enough startlingly smart prodigies to lend an American Idol feel to the event. There was the 15-year-old who invented a better test for pancreatic cancer, the 18-year-old who presented his second nuclear reactor design, and the 13-year-old who strung flickering light-emitting diodes around his family’s livestock to keep the lions away...
Environment
Can Children Teach Themselves?
Sugata Mitra gave street kids in a slum in New Delhi access to a computer connected to the Internet, and found that they quickly taught themselves how to use it.
Environment
Obama Takes Aim at Climate Change, Cyber Security
After a campaign that avoided climate change like the plague, President Barack Obama gave a State of the Union speech that put climate change on center stage.
The Sciences
The Global Risks That Most Worry World Economic Forum Experts
A survey of leaders shows growing concern over consequences of science and technology
