Scientific American Magazine

Does membership in a group that has been poor for generations constitute belonging to a separate culture? A study of Puerto Ricans in both Puerto Rico and New York indicates that it does

Banding on certain corals evidently represents annual, monthly and daily growth. Ancient corals thus provide clues to the length of the year in past eras and to changes in the earth's rotation

Air pollution and other drawbacks inherent in the internal-combustion engine make this early kind of car seem increasingly attractive. All depends on the improvement of batteries, and here there are advances

The central theme of molecular biology is confirmed by detailed knowledge of how the four-letter language embodied in molecules of nucleic acid controls the 20-letter language of the proteins

The simplest systems available for the study of a wide range of solid-state phenomena may be the crystal structures that are formed at very low temperatures by noble-gas atoms

It has long been known that poor vision in dim light can be improved with vitamin A. Experiments with rats have now clarified exactly what it is the vitamin does

In trying to establish the length of the year, needed to reform the Christian calendar, Copernicus may have seen that a turning earth can solve a crucial problem that a turning sky cannot

The Adlie penguin travels hundreds of miles from its breeding grounds over virtually featureless land and water and returns to the same nest. How it does so is investigated by experiment