Hallucinogens as Medicine

In a matter of hours, mind-altering substances may induce profound psychological realignments that can take decades to achieve on a therapist's couch

Life Unseen: Images of Magnificent Microscopic Landscapes [Slide Show]

Scientific American presents this year's winning micro-imaging entries from the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Contest

Jane of the Jungle: Goodall Reflects on the Chimp Mind

Primatologist Jane Goodall shares insights from her 50 years among chimpanzees

Blood from Stone: How Fossils Can Preserve Soft Tissue

Mounting evidence from dinosaur bones shows that, contrary to common belief, organic materials can sometimes survive in fossils for millions of years

Cyborg Beetles: Merging of Machine and Insect to Create Flying Robots

Tiny flying robots that are part machine and part insect may one day save lives in wars and disasters

Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality

The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending

World Changing Ideas 2010

Ten thoughts, trends and technologies that have the power to transform our lives

A Geometric Theory of Everything

Deep down, the particles and forces of the universe are a manifestation of exquisite geometry

Jump-Starting the Orbital Economy

Why NASA's plan to get out of the manned spaceflight business may (finally) make space travel routine

The Game of Life

Bringing joysticks and scoreboards into our daily routine may be the key to making us better people

Human Number Crunchers

When research is like a video game, computers finish second

Know-It-All Toll Roads

Building more roads won't eliminate traffic. Smart pricing will

The DNA Transistor

A new approach to DNA sequencing could revolutionize our understanding of genetics

A Killer Water Filter

Novel materials promise better access to clean water around the world

A Wandering, Plant-Eating Robot

It gobbles up wood chips, leaves and other “biomass” and generates electricity

Borrowing Nature's Code

Algorithms inspired by Mother Nature help us run our vast digital biosphere

One Hundred Tests

A cheap diagnostic warns couples against passing rare genetic diseases to their offspring

Gas from Trash

Modified microbes eat waste and secrete fuel

The Importance of Junk DNA

Biologists continue to be surprised by what was once dismissed as wasted space

World Changing Videos