Stories by Steve Mirsky

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient blue light–emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. The winning work is explained by physics Nobel Committee members Per Delsing and Olle Inganäs

 

Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura share the physics Nobel for the invention of efficient blue light–emitting diodes, which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources. Steve Mirsky reports

 

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain—an inner GPS. The winning work is explained by Karolinska Institute faculty and Nobel Committee members Göran Hansson, Ole Kiehn, Hans Forssberg and Juleen Zierath
 

John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser share the prize for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain. Steve Mirsky reports

 

The soil in Manhattan's Central Park contains microbial life that also exists in deserts, frozen tundra, forests, rainforests and prairies. Steve Mirsky reports

 

When every party was a toga party

New MacArthur Fellow Pamela Long studies the scientific revolution as a result of the interactions of academics and hands-on infrastructure engineers in the 15th and 16th centuries. Steve Mirsky reports

 

A study of leopard droppings in agricultural western India reveals that the cats primarily eat domestic animals, mostly dogs, but only a small amount of livestock. Steve Mirsky reports

 

Scientific AmericanBright Horizons Cruise 22 is in port in Kodiak, Alaska, on September 2nd. We talk about our last few stops and hear from passenger and Manhattan Project veteran Margaret Asprey

An argument for additional alimentary arthropods

Scientific AmericanBright Horizons Cruise 22 arrives in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 31st, which allows us to post audio from a fascinating taxi trip through Juneau on August 28th.

Scientific AmericanBright Horizons Cruise 22 arrives in Juneau, Alaska

Scientific American Bright Horizons Cruise 22 arrives in Ketchikan, Alaska.

On August 24th, 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft rendezvoused with Neptune, making it the farthest planet to pose for a close-up, a record it still holds today.    

 

Dan Falk discusses his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe   

Dan Falk discusses his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe   

Scientific American editor–turned-sci-fi-writer Mark Alpert, author of Final Theory and Extinction, talks about his latest book, The Furies   

Scientific American Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the value of scientific research and development. Also testifying is Vint Cerf, one of the fathers of the Internet and Google’s vice president and "chief Internet evangelist." The hearings took place July 17, 2014

Joy Reidenberg, comparative anatomist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, talks about her new PBS series Sex in the Wild, about the sex lives of elephants, orangutans, kangaroos and dolphins. The series debuts July 16, 2014

Strategies for collision avoidance, acceptance and observance

Cognitive neuroscientist Scott Weems talks about his book HA!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why

Do you promise to tell the truth on however many phones you carry?

Recently discovered galaxies shaped like jellyfish leave a long trail of hot gas and dust, victims of even hotter gas from their surrounding cluster of galaxies

 

The May Camelopardalids meteor outburst turned out to be a dud, because meteor storm prediction is not a sure thing, unlike, for example, calculating the next eclipse