Scientific American MagazineDecember 2012

10 innovations that are radical enough to alter our lives

Quantum theorists often speak of the world as being pointillist at the smallest scales. Yet a closer look at the laws of nature suggests that the physical world is actually continuous—more analog than digital

Loss of Arctic sea ice is stacking the deck in favor of harsh winter weather in the U.S. and Europe

The pharmaceutical industry funnels money to prominent scientists who are doing research that affects its products--and nobody can stop it

At the driest place on Earth, one astronomer sifts through starlight to find clues about the Milky Way's evolution. Here is her account of a typical trip, based on four days in March 2011

As priceless images from the earliest days of photography were dissolving in front of museumgoers' eyes, an unlikely team set out to save them

Knowledge of how the brain intuits what someone else is thinking helps Rebecca Saxe devise possible solutions to seemingly intractable political and social conflicts