Health
Peanut butter may be to blame for salmonella outbreak
The source of the salmonella outbreak that has sickened 399 people in 42 states since September may be peanut butter, Minnesota health officials said Friday.
Stories by Ivan Oransky
Space
Tonight's perigee moon in photos
If you're watching the snow come down in the northeastern U.S., like we are here at 60-Second Science, you probably can't see tonight's perigee moon, which we posted about earlier.
Space
Tonight's moon will rival last month's massive bright perigee
Remember last month's massive moon, the one that dazzled onlookers on December 12? That moon was 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than a typical full moon.
The Sciences
Uranium as a solution to the world's economic crisis?
One of the great things about working at the longest-continually published magazine in the U.S.—born in 1845—is thumbing through the archives.
Sustainability
Earthquake rattles Indonesia's West Papua province, prompts brief tsunami warning
The waters off of Indonesia were rocked by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake at 4:43 a.m. local time Sunday, the US Geological Survey reports. The quake's epicenter was about 150 km (95 miles) off the coast of Manokwari, in the West Papua province, and 170 km (105 miles) from the city of Sorong...
The Sciences
Obama names Holdren, Lubchenco, Varmus and Lander to science posts
President-elect Barack Obama named four top science advisors in his radio address yesterday. As reported widely last week, John Holdren will be his chief science adviser, as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology, and Jane Lubchenco, a professor of marine biology at Oregon State University, will direct the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
Sustainability
SciAm and CNN keep an eye on a Planet in Peril
Here at Scientific American , the fate of Earth is an important part of our coverage, from our new publication, Earth 3.0, to a grand plan for solar energy, to daily reporting on climate change...
Evolution
Is global warming forcing Bigfoot to move north?
If you were a nine-foot tall animal covered in dense fur – say, Bigfoot – you would probably seek cooler climes if temps began inching up.
Sustainability
Southern California wildfires destroy hundreds of homes
Wildfires continue to rage through three areas of southern California today -- Montecito, Sylmar, and parts of Orange County -- having already claimed at least 800 homes, the Associated Press is reporting...
Space
Indian impactor probe crash-dives into the moon
In the race to explore space, there may be a new moon on the rise. In the same week that NASA declared the Mars Phoenix mission over, India dropped an impactor, which crash-dived onto the moon's surface today, the Associated Press reports...
Health
Stephen Colbert for FDA commissioner?
Stephen Colbert does not have an MD. But he apparently has a keen understanding of clinical trials, perhaps because of his DFA – doctor of fine arts.
Sustainability
Paloma weakens to a tropical storm after battering Cuba
Hurricane Paloma struck Cuba as a powerful Category 4 hurricane early this morning, bringing coastal floods and knocking over a communications tower, the CBC reports.
Sustainability
Hurricane Paloma eyes Cuba as it becomes a Category 4 storm
The hurricane-battered island of Cuba will likely suffer more damage this weekend at the hands of Hurricane Paloma, which strengthened this morning into an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm...
The Sciences
Beyond Obamamania: Uninsured member of Congress wins reelection; Democrats take Colorado races
The big news of the night, of course, was Senator Barack Obama's historic presidential victory. But ScientificAmerican.com was following a number of other races among the hundreds across the country...
Mind
Holding hot coffee = warm and fuzzy feelings
You know the famous – some would say infamous -- studies done in the 1950s by University of Wisconsin, Madison, psychologist Harry Harlow in which he separated macaque monkeys from their mothers and put them in cages, where they were then given a choice of bonding with surrogate cloth moms or sucking milk from a baby bottle on a wire?...
Tech
20 Winning Pictures: It's a Small, Small, Small, Small World
Have a look at the images that won this year's Nikon Small World contest
The Sciences
Paul Krugman takes Nobel economics prize
Well-known New York Times columnist and Princeton professor of economics Paul Krugman has been awarded the 2008 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel...
Sustainability
Chechnya earthquake toll rises to 13
At least 13 people, including three children, have now died following an earthquake on Saturday in Chechnya, near the war-torn capital city of Grozny, the Agence France-Presse is reporting...
Mind
Am I a narcissist? Part II: Ask my staff
A few weeks ago, I found out that my presence on Facebook can indicate just how narcissistic I am, thanks to a study in the October issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin ...
The Sciences
Chalfie, Shimomura and Tsien win Chemistry Nobel for lighting up cells
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass., and Boston University; Martin Chalfie, of Columbia University, New York; and Roger Tsien, of the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California...
