Scientific American Magazine

Government policies that encourage exploitation-in particular excessive logging and clearing for ranches and farms-are largely to blame for the accelerating destruction of tropical forests

This mysterious region contains antimatter, radioactive clouds, veiled sources of intense radiation, swirling gas and dust and an unseen object with a tremendous gravitational pull-perhaps a massive black hole

A surprisingly simple method for making unlimited copies of DNA fragments was conceived under unlikely circumstances-during a moonlit drive through the mountains of California

The explosion of the world's nuclear arsenal could not match the power released when a kilometer-size meteorite hits the earth. Have impacts even more powerful altered biological as well as geologic evolution?

New designs that include "passive" safety features can make nuclear power more attractive, but only if attention is paid to economics, effective management and rigorous training methods

A circadian clock adjusts the sensitivity of the horseshoe crab's eyes. Study of the mechanism opens a window on the brain's control of sensory organs in other animals as well

Why after centuries of stability has this society, an apparent relic of ancient hunting and gathering groups, abandoned many of its traditional ways?

The beauty of a glazed ceramic arises from the interplay of light with the complex structure of the glaze. The methods of materials science reveal the ingenuity of ancient glazing technologies