Scientific American Magazine

Long viewed as a stately procession to a foregone conclusion, planetary formation turns out to be startlingly chaotic

Plans are afoot to reuse spent reactor fuel in the U.S. But the advantages of the scheme pale in comparison with its dangers

Worn-out proteins, malfunctioning organelles, invading microorganisms: all are swept up by tiny internal "vacuum cleaners" that keep a living cell healthy. If the process, called autophagy, can be kept in good working order, aging itself might be delayed

Is posting raw results online, for all to see, a great tool or a great risk?

New findings reveal that cigarette addiction can arise astonishingly fast. But the research could lead to therapies that make quitting easier

Bloodsucking worms called schistosomes are among the world's most worrisome human parasites. A new genome sequence and powerful genetic tools promise to help crack their secrets

Switches within DNA that govern when and where genes are turned on enable genomes to generate the great diversity of animal forms from very similar sets of genes