Breaking Past the Limits of Science
How will we transcend today's barriers to get smarter, live longer and expand the power of human innovation?
Features
Aspiration Makes Us Human
Our drive to exceed our evolutionary limits sets us apart from other beasts
Will We Continue to Get Smarter? The Flynn Effect Says Yes
Ever-rising IQ scores suggest that future generations will make us seem like dimwits in comparison
What Sleep Crime Tells Us About Consciousness
In the neurological netherworld between sleep and wakefulness, the mind's delirium can turn tragically real
Researchers Disagree about How to Extend Human Life Span
Two approaches to longevity research aim to extend the average life span out to a century or more
The Projects that Push the Limits of Engineering
10 projects that push the boundaries of the engineered world
Searching for Easy Answers to Hard Computational Questions
Whether or not machines can quickly answer yes-or-no questions could affect everything from national security to the limits of human knowledge
Experiments Scientists Would Do if They Lived Indefinitely
What would scientists learn if they could run studies that lasted for hundreds or thousands of years—or more?
How Far Can Climate Change Go?
How far can we push the planet?
Quantum Uncertainty Poses No Obstacles to Knowledge
Once viewed as imposing absolute limits on knowledge and technology, quantum theory is now expanding the power of computers and the vistas of the mind
Departments
- From the Editor
How Science Takes Us Past Today’s Boundaries
- Letters
Readers Respond to
- Advances
A New Ocean Health Index Shows Clean Water but Poor Management [Interactive]
What Is It?: Bone-Eating Worms
IVF Experts Say They Are Closer to Unraveling the Mysteries of Infertility
Next Steps in the Higgs Boson Hunt
Paint-On Batteries May Revolutionize Energy Storage
The Return on the Average Bank Robbery Is “Rubbish”
Meteor Hunt
Cougars Are Returning to Midwest After 100 years
Fish Swap Dinner for Sex
Chickpeas Undergo a Revolution
Fact Finder: Wobble, Wobble
Cholesterol Confusion: Researchers Closer to Understanding Which Forms of Cholesterol Can Really Hurt Us
Ancient Tartar Shows Our Ancestors Ate Bark
A New Brain-Machine Interface May Help the Paralyzed Spell
- Forum
How Science Can Improve Teaching
- The Science of Health
Clean Sweep: Hospitals Bring Janitors to the Front Lines of Infection Control
- The Science Agenda
A Call for Safer Drugs for Kids
- TechnoFiles
How Hollywood Is Encouraging Online Piracy
- Recommended
From Witch Doctors to Robot Surgeons, 250 Milestones in the History of Medicine
The New Story of Our Origin in the Stars
Recommended: Also Notable
Measurement
Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land
- Skeptic
Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories
- Anti Gravity
Pick Your Poison: How Humankind Could Doom Itself
- 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
50 Years Ago: Antarctic Fauna
- Graphic Science
Why Do Birds Live Longer Than Turtles?
