
A report from the M.I.T. Energy Conference: The future of clean energy is... coal?
Mark Fischetti has been a senior editor at Scientific American for 17 years and has covered sustainability issues, including climate, weather, environment, energy, food, water, biodiversity, population, and more. He assigns and edits feature articles, commentaries and news by journalists and scientists and also writes in those formats. He edits History, the magazine's department looking at science advances throughout time. He was founding managing editor of two spinoff magazines: Scientific American Mind and Scientific American Earth 3.0. His 2001 freelance article for the magazine, "Drowning New Orleans," predicted the widespread disaster that a storm like Hurricane Katrina would impose on the city. His video What Happens to Your Body after You Die?, has more than 12 million views on YouTube. Fischetti has written freelance articles for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Smithsonian, Technology Review, Fast Company, and many others. He co-authored the book Weaving the Web with Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, which tells the real story of how the Web was created. He also co-authored The New Killer Diseases with microbiologist Elinor Levy. Fischetti is a former managing editor of IEEE Spectrum Magazine and of Family Business Magazine. He has a physics degree and has twice served as the Attaway Fellow in Civic Culture at Centenary College of Louisiana, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2021 he received the American Geophysical Union's Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism, which celebrates a career of outstanding reporting on the Earth and space sciences. He has appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, CNN, the History Channel, NPR News and many news radio stations. Follow Fischetti on X (formerly Twitter) @markfischetti

A report from the M.I.T. Energy Conference: The future of clean energy is... coal?

Green Role Model: Boston's Macallen Building
This condominium complex puts a new slant on urban development

Don't Stop Now

4 Technologies to Protect Our Food Supply
Tracking packages and food sources would lead to faster recalls and lessen contamination risks

Is Your Food Contaminated?
New approaches are needed to protect the food supply

Touch Screens Redefine the Market—Working Knowledge on Smart Phones
Taking apart the Apple iPhone and the BlackBerry Storm

New Designs Going Up—Working Knowledge on Elevators
A look inside the complex machine that moves people up and down floors

Unselling Bottled Water

Where on Earth You Are--Working Knowledge on Global Positioning System
How handheld global positioning system devices can determine your position on Earth--even when indoors

Aggressive Optimism: Environmental Challenges Facing the New President
Letter from Scientific American Earth 3.0 Managing Editor Mark Fischetti

Singing in the Rain (Forest)
In May 2009 the Rainforest Foundation will celebrate 20 years of protecting the tropics

Dinner and a Show--Working Knowledge on Microwave Ovens
The science behind nuking that TV dinner

Working Knowledge: Voting Machines—Competing Candidates
Taking apart the various voting machines used in the U.S.

Drowning New Orleans
In a harrowing prediction of what would become the future, this 2001 feature notes that a major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands

Dry Dyes--Working Knowledge on Instant Photo Developing
Taking apart the digital photo printer

Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming
Cultivating crops in downtown skyscrapers might save bushels of energy and provide city dwellers with distinctively fresh food

Working Knowledge: Warming and Cooling—Home Heat Pumps

Working Knowledge: Cruise Ships—Nimble Skyscrapers at Sea

Working Knowledge: Green Roofs—Living Cover
How Do Green Roofs Work?

Working Knowledge: Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs—The Switch Is On

Working Knowledge: Blue Screens—Leap of Faith

Connections to an Untethered Future
Delivering electric power through the air cuts the final cord

Mosquitoes Enlisted to Beat Malaria
Bugs engineered to avoid transmitting the disease could outcompete bugs that do transmit it

Working Knowledge: Bowling Pinsetters—Perpetual Reset Machine
Bowling Pinsetters