
Put the Muse Back in Museums
Science museums should recruit the public in confronting the planet’s toughest challenges

Put the Muse Back in Museums
Science museums should recruit the public in confronting the planet’s toughest challenges

Who Remembers Smallpox?
A global immunization campaign in the mid-20th century eradicated the smallpox virus, one of the deadliest diseases in history


Vials of Smallpox Virus Found Unsecured at NIH
Sixty-year-old ampoule contains smallpox DNA, and it is unclear whether the virus is viable.

Could Consuming More Energy Help Humans Save Nature?
Even before I arrived at the annual “Dialogue” of the Breakthrough Institute, an Oakland, California, think tank that challenges mainstream environmental positions, I was arguing about it.

"Stress-Induced" Stem Cell Findings Are Retracted
High-profile reports claiming an easy way to create pluripotent cells were flawed.

CO2 Levels above 400 PPM Threshold for Third Month in a Row
Atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gas, which helps drive global warming, haven’t been this high in somewhere between 800,000 and 15 million years

Should Prisoners Be Used in Medical Experiments?
History is rife with unethical experiments on inmates. But with proper safeguards prisoner studies may hold the key to the accurate representation of vulnerable groups and lead to health benefits

Technology Historian Crushes Internet Myths
As readers of this blog know, since 2005 I’ve been teaching at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. One of the best parts of being an academic is hanging out with cool (compared to me), young (compared to me), up-and-coming scholars, some of whom know far more about the history of science and [...]

Archaeologists Edge Closer to Solving the Mysteries of Teotihuacán
After decades of investigation, fresh clues are emerging from Mexico’s City of Gods

The First World War
A Centennial Commemoration

From the Archives: Nobel Prize Winners on How the Body Works
Nobel Prize winners have published 245 articles in the pages of Scientific American. Here we present excerpts from stories in our archives that highlighted new insights into how the body functions.

Review: The Chemistry of Alchemy
Recommendations from Scientific American