
Stories by Lee Billings

Lee Billings is a senior editor for space and physics at Scientific American. Credit: Nick Higgins


Book Review: Tigers Forever
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Book Review: Beautiful Geometry
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

November Book Reviews Roundup
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Book Review: Out on a Limb
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Book Review: Voyager
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Five Billion Years of Solitude: Looking for Longevity [Excerpt]
In this excerpt from Five Billion Years of Solitude author Lee Billings chronicles the pioneering scientists who have led the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence in their quest to answer the haunting question: Is humanity alone in the universe?...

It’s Time to Modernize the Antiquated Definition of Temperature
The quest for an absolute temperature scale heats up

Book Review: Giraffe Reflections
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Book Review: Countdown: Our Last, Best Hope for a Future on Earth?
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Book Review: The West without Water

Book Review: The Sports Gene

Fact or Fiction?: We Can Push the Planet into a Runaway Greenhouse Apocalypse
A new study suggests human activity could, in theory, bring about the end of most life on Earth

Solved: The Mystery of the Martian Meteorites
Precision dating of a single rock resolves lingering uncertainties about the Red Planet’s history

Cassini Spacecraft Takes 1 Last Look at Home Today

Neptune s New Moon May Be Named after One of Sea God s Monstrous Children

Uncommon Measure: Acoustic Result Could Change Definition of Temperature
A new measurement of a fundamental physical constant marks a turning point in the quest to craft a perfect temperature scale

A Brilliant Flash, Then Nothing: New “Fast Radio Bursts” Mystify Astronomers
Ultrafast, ultrabright radio pulses from sources unknown could help map intergalactic matter, but only if astronomers can figure out their origin

Do 3 Habitable Super-Earths Really Orbit a Nearby Star?
News of possible multiple habitable worlds around the red dwarf star Gliese 667 C may be exciting, but researchers caution that certainty about these exoplanets remains elusive