West Point Uniforms Signify Explosive Chemistry
U.S. Military Academy cadets wear the colors black, gray and gold for reasons found in gunpowder’s chemistry.
Stories by Steve Mirsky
Jacks-of-All-Trades Make the Grade
Journalist and author David Epstein talks about his new book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World.
A New Book Examines the Relationship between Math and Physics
It sure comes in handy for doing physics
It's Melting: Science on Ice
Glaciologist Elizabeth Case of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University’s Earth Institute takes us out near Juneau, Alaska, to study and live on the shifting ice...
Joseph Lange's Campaign against HIV
Seema Yasmin, director of research and education at the Stanford Health Communication Initiative, talks about her book The Impatient Dr. Lange: One Man’s Fight to End the Global HIV Epidemic...
Rhinos and Their Gamekeepers Benefit from AI
Starting in 2017, an artificial intelligence monitoring system at the Welgevonden Game Reserve in South Africa has been helping to protect rhinos and their caretakers.
Why Baseballs Are Flying in 2019
An analysis of the 2019 edition of the Major League baseball points to reasons why it's leaving ballparks at a record rate.
Jared Diamond's New Book Upheaval Looks at Lessons to Be Found from Countries in Crisis
Fixing a problem first requires recognizing that it exists
Bone Up on What's Inside You
Author and self-described fossil fanatic Brian Switek talks about his new book Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone.
Solving Our Plastic Problem
At Scientific American 's third Science on the Hill event, experts from academia and the private sector met at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill to talk with Scientific American editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina about solutions to our plethora-of-plastics problem...
A Biodegradable Label Doesn't Make It So
At the third Scientific American “Science on the Hill” event, “Solving the Plastic Waste Problem”, one of the issues discussed by experts on Capitol Hill was biodegradability. ...
Remembering Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann, 1969 Nobel Laureate in Physics who identified the quark, died May 24th.
Calculus Reveals the Universe—and Can Make a Tuna Melt Sandwich
A new book that can make you love calculus
Secrets of the Universe Revealed!
Cornell University applied mathematics professor Steven Strogatz talks about his new book Infinite Powers: How Calculus Reveals the Secrets of the Universe.
Kavli and Nobel Laureates Tackle Science's Big Questions
Highlights from an hour-long panel of Kavli and Nobel prizewinners at the National Academy of Sciences
Nobelist: Harness Evolution as a Problem-Solving Algorithm
Frances Arnold, the Caltech scientist who shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, says evolution can show us how to solve problems of sustainability.
If at First You Don’t Succeed
The benefits of failure
A Loaded Gun Can Be Dangerous Even If Only a Dog Is Near the Trigger
Even man’s most loyal companion can’t be trusted around guns
How the Black Hole Said Cheese
Scientific American 's chief features editor Seth Fletcher talks about his book Einstein's Shadow, an account of the long effort to image a black hole that recently came to fruition...
A Tree and Its People in a Warming Landscape
Conservation scientist Lauren Oakes discusses her book about Alaska ecology and sociology, In Search of the Canary Tree: The Story of a Scientist, a Cypress, and a Changing World...
