Scientific American Magazine

The ripple of a new technology throughout the economy leads to effects that are not predictable by examining each industry in isolation. Every decision to introduce technology could be based on data available to all

The body's largest organ is more than a passive protective covering: it is also an active element of the immune system. Specialized cells in the skin have interacting roles in the response to foreign invaders

Physicists have been keeping watch over an 8,000-ton underground detector, waiting for a sign that all matter has a finite lifetime. So far no proton has been observed to decay, but the vigil will continue

They are dense crowds of ancient stars bound together by their own gravitation. For decades the study of clusters has yielded insights into the evolution of stars, of galaxies and of the universe as a whole

The very first systems able to evolve through natural selection are likely to have been made differently from today's organisms, and of different materials. They may have been crystals of clay

Wild chimpanzees have rarely been studied without the lure of food, which can distort their social relations. A study of unprovisioned apes shows their social structure is shared only with human beings

To carry an aqueduct across a valley the Romans built either a bridge or a siphon. Their siphons relied on the principle that water in a pipe will always return to its original height

A mathematical operation called transfer mapping relates properties of mirage images to topological ideas. Certain features of mirages are thus understood without detailed knowledge of atmospheric conditions