Go Ask Alice: The History of Toklas’ Legendary Hashish Fudge
Alice B. Toklas truly stirred the pot when she included a recipe for hashish fudge in her memoir-cum-cookbook. She published The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook in 1954, following the death of her lifelong partner, Gertrude Stein.
How BP's Blowout Ranks among Top 5 Oil Spills in 1 Graphic
BP's Macondo well disaster was bad but U.S. oil addiction is worse
The Enduring Mystery of the Missing Oil Spilled in the Gulf of Mexico
It's on the beach, in the marshes, on the continental shelf and under the deep sea—and still not all of the oil has been found
Learning to Make a Stone Age Axe Gives Clues to How the Brain Evolved
For many decades, scientists have tried to understand the past by doing as our forebears did. One important endeavor in what is called experimental archaeology involves moderns crafting Stone Age tools by chipping away at rocks.
Mad Science: The Treatment of Mental Illness Fails to Progress [Excerpt]
Recent questions about the validity of diagnostic criteria for mental illness have raised deeper questions about the current state of psychiatry
People Are Modifying Monitors to Make Gargantuan Geckos
Over the last several days a consortium of people interested in herpetology, weird animals, animal lore, and special effects have worked together to help resolve an incredible and bizarre `mystery'*.
Scientists Perturbed by Loss of Stat Tools to Sift Research Fudge from Fact
The journal Basic and Applied Social Psychology recently banned the use of p-values and other statistical methods to quantify uncertainty from significance in research results
Putting A New Spin on Space Elevators
Fans of sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke know and love his 1979 classic novel, The Fountains of Paradise. The plot centers on efforts of a visionary structural engineer in the 22nd century, Dr Vannevar Morgan, to construct a space elevator connecting the surface of the earth with a satellite in geostationary orbit, almost a kind [...]
Subatomic Particles Over Time: Graphics from the Archive, 1952-2015
In the May issue of Scientific American, a familiar friend makes an appearance: a chart of fundamental particles. These particles—fermions (which include constituents of matter such as electrons and quarks) and bosons (usually carriers of force)—are at the very heart of the Standard Model of particle physics.
Boots or Heels: My Wardrobe Paradox as a Woman in STEM
A couple of weeks ago a wonderful hashtag was making its way around Twitter, with female scientists all over the world sharing photos of their feet to show a day #InMyShoes.
Was I Wrong about “The End of Science”?
One of the coolest—and most stressful–moments of my career took place November 7, 1996, when I was a staff writer for Scientific American.
ScienceDebate Revs Up for 2016 Presidential Election
This year, I've been very fortunate to be a part of the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) program, which brings together 60 leaders from around the country to work on projects designed to create significant social impact and change.