Culture

Here’s what educational TV from the late 1940s and early 1950s can teach us today

New science book recommendations from the editors of Scientific American

An orientation to our special issue

Some of the cringiest articles in Scientific American’s history reveal bigger questions about scientific authority

A classic data visualization brought an astronomical curiosity to music lovers

A data designer explains the art and science of analyzing and charting text from 5,107 issues of this magazine

In the 1960s Martin Gardner helped to turn the artist M. C. Escher into a sensation

How the words we use have evolved over the past 175 years

This magazine launched a contest to prove, or disprove, the existence of ghosts

Science in meter and verse

We look back at some highlights, midlights and lowlights of the history of Scientific American, featuring former editor in chief John Rennie. Astrophysicist Alan Guth also appears in a sponsored segment.

“Baking is applied microbiology,” according to the book Modernist Bread. During pandemic lockdowns, many people started baking their own bread. Scientific American contributing editor W. Wayt Gibbs talks about Modernist Bread, for which he was a writer and editor.