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.
Stories by Steve Mirsky
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...
4/20 Traffic Accidents Claim Curbed
A deeper data dive calls into question a 2018 study that found a spike in fatal traffic accidents apparently related to marijuana consumption on this date.
What Chickens Can Teach Hearing Researchers
At an April 9th event sponsored by the Kavli Foundation and produced by Scientific American that honored Nobel and Kavli Prize winners, neuroscientists James Hudspeth and Robert Fettiplace talked about the physiology of hearing and the possibility of restoring hearing loss...
Nobelist Says System of Science Offers Life Lessons
At an April 9th event sponsored by the Kavli Foundation and produced by Scientific American that honored Nobel and Kavli Prize winners, economist Paul Romer talked about how the social system of science offers hope for humanity and for how we can live with each other...
How Some U.S. Cities Saw 70 Degree F Temperature Swings between January and February
The polar vortex struck in January, giving Chicago a brief blast of Arctic weather
There's A Word For Today
English lacks some words that other languages pack with meaning.
Tech's Brain Effect: It's Complicated
We don't yet know what the immersion in technology does to our brains, but one neuroscientist says the answer is likely to be that there's good, there's bad, and it's complex.
Science Couple Phages Out Superbug
Medical researcher Steffanie Strathdee needed to save the life of her husband, researcher Tom Patterson, when he contracted one of the world's worst infections. She turned to phage therapy: using a virus to kill the bacteria...
Baseball Commish Talks Big Data
At a sports technology conference, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred addressed issues including an automated strike zone and advanced analytics.
Volunteers Jumped with or without a Parachute to Gauge Its Effectiveness
Someone finally did a study on the efficacy of parachutes
Vaccine Rejection: Truth and Consequences
Kent State epidemiologist Tara Smith talks about vaccines, recent preventable measles outbreaks and her 2017 journal article on vaccine rejection.
Teach Science Process over Findings
Seismologist and policy advisor Lucy Jones says science education needs to teach how science works more than just what it finds out.
Finally Over for Mars Rover
The rover Opportunity has called it quits after working for more than 14 years on Mars.
On the Origin of Darwin
On this 210th anniversary of Darwin's birth we hear evolution writer and historian Richard Milner perform a brief monologue as Charles Darwin, and former Scientific American editor in chief John Rennie and Darwin's great-great-grandson Matthew Chapman read excerpts from The Origin of Species ...
