Sick of Poverty

New studiessuggest that the stress of being poor has a staggeringly harmful influence on health

Tackling Malaria

Interventions available today could lead to decisive gains in prevention and treatment--;if only the world would apply them

Getting a Leg Up on Land

Recent fossil discoveries cast light on the evolution of four-limbed animals from fish

Inside the Mind of a Savant

Kim Peek possesses one of the most extraordinary memories ever recorded. Until we can explain his abilities, we cannot pretend to understand human cognition

Scientific American 50

Flu preparedness, flexible electronics and stem cells all star in our fourth annual salute to the research, business and policy leaders of technology

Smarter Use of Nuclear Waste

Fast-neutron reactors could extract much more energy from recycled nuclear fuel, minimize the risks of weapons proliferation and markedly reduce the time nuclear waste must be isolated

Wormhole

Woo Suk Hwang, Seoul National University

This Korean researcher racked up a series of important advances in embryonic stem cell technology, including the first lines of cells from patients

Google, Inc., Mountain View, Calif.

The Web's leader in accessing information gets better

Fred Kavli, Founder, Kavli Foundation, Santa Barbara, Calif.

This technology entrepreneur and philanthropist has dedicated millions to help inspire revolutions in astrophysics, nanoscience and brain research

Getting Serious about Flu

A combination of public health measures and technology raises hope for the flu fight

More Power to Solar

Photovoltaic advances make the ever lagging technology more of a competitor

Stem Cell Imperative

Despite political obstacles, research and commercial endeavors advance

Repairing Broken Hearts

Research in zebra fish could transform cardiology

A Future in Plastics

The march toward less expensive, more flexible electronics continues

Protections for the Earth's Climate

Industry, local governments and academia look for solutions to global warming

New Offensives against HIV

A research insight, a new drug target and an advocacy group assist in fighting the disease

Creative Paths to Open Access

Technology supplies new protections against threats of a fortress society

A Force for Change

China's homegrown NGOs serve as the nation's environmental conscience

Designing Artificial Life

Biologists move a few steps toward building cells from scratch

Waiting for Wi-Far

New standards and hardware expand the reach of wireless

New Aircraft, Big and Small

A 570-metric-ton mammoth and a craft that burns alcohol are now flying

Watching the Brain at Work

Innovations in imaging let scientists ascertain what's going on in your head

Practical Nanotubes

Molecular-scale fabrication points toward commercial carbon electronics

True Green

Architects and chemists strive to place an environmental stamp on their work

Hope for Fixing Gene Defects

Studies have shown improved hearing in animals and demonstrated a new gene delivery method

Photons, Electrons and Silicon

Silicon lasers enable integration of optics and electronics

An ECHO of Black Holes

Sound waves in a fluid behave uncannily like light waves in space. Black holes even have acoustic counterparts. Could spacetime literally be a kind of fluid, like the ether of pre-Einsteinian physics?...