Genes and Race: The Distant Footfalls of Evidence
A review of Nicholas Wade’s book, “A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History“. In this book NYT science writer Nicholas Wade advances two simple premises: firstly, that we should stop looking only toward culture as a determinant of differences between populations and individuals, and secondly, that those who claim that race is only a [...]
Does Rice Farming Lead to Collectivist Thinking?
Psychologists find that the agricultural region in China where people grew up predicted whether they have an individualistic or communal outlook
Science in the Abstract: Don't Judge a Study by its Cover
A competition for attention lies at the heart of the scientific enterprise. And the abstract is its “blurb.” A scientific abstract is a summary used to attract readers to an article and to get a piece of research accepted for a conference presentation.
Fight over Solar Power Returns to White House Roof [Video]
The sunshine that warms Washington, D.C. is once again generating electricity for the White House. After an absence of nearly 30 years, the Obama administration has announced that a 6.3 kilowatt photovoltaic installation of the “typical size for an American house,” is back on the White House roof and generating power.
Ring Ritual Reminds Engineers of Their Responsibility
One of my good friends is an engineer trained in Canada. I had noticed over the years that she always wears a plain silver ring on her pinky, but I never asked if it had any special meaning to her.
Rebooting Civilization: Survivors’ How-to Guide for Restoring Technology after the Apocalypse [Excerpt]
In his new book, astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell compiles the knowledge necessary for society to recover after a devastating disaster, including the basics of taking photographs
Happy Birthday, Circle of Willis!
By 1664, the year he published his most famous book of neuroanatomy, Cerebri Anatome, Dr. Thomas Willis was already renowned in Britain for saving lives.
Book Review: The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
The “Crisis” in Scientific Results Is a Matter of Biology
Biology is making it harder for scientists to reproduce one another's experiments
Statistician David J. Hand Shows How the Seemingly Improbable Becomes a Sure Thing
There are so many things in heaven and earth that coincidences become certainties
One of Srinivasa Ramanujan’s Neglected Manuscripts Has Helped Solve Long-standing Mathematical Mysteries
Mathematician Ken Ono has solved long-standing puzzles using insights hidden in the unpublished papers of Indian prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan
L.S.B. Leakey on the Distant Past; H. G. Wells on the Near Future
Innovation & discovery as chronicled in past issues of Scientific American