How the Brain Makes and Breaks Habits
Researchers are pinpointing the brain circuits that can help us form good habits and break bad ones
Features
How to Search for Life on Mars
Experiments now under development could finally answer one of the most profound questions in science: Does life exist outside of Earth?
Coming Soon: New Machines That Know Exactly What's Bugging You
Machines that can quickly identify virtually any bacterium, virus or fungus are being developed for hospitals. Networking the devices could allow health authorities to save lives by spotting disease outbreaks earlier than ever before...
Can We Control the Weather?
Governments and farmers worldwide spend millions every year trying to control the weather. New science suggests they might be on to something
Drug Developers Take a Second Look at Herbal Medicines
Desperate to develop new drugs for malaria and other ailments, researchers are running clinical trials with traditional herbal medicines—and generating promising leads
The Whole Economy Is Rife with Ponzi Schemes
Many ordinary business practices resemble the infamous con game
What Happens to a Society That Does Not Believe in Free Will?
What happens to a society that believes people have no conscious control over their actions?
Departments
- From the Editor
Issue Highlights: How Habits Form, the Illusion of Free Will and Biosensors
- Letters
Readers Respond to "The Proton Radius Problem"
- Advances
The Paradox of Pollution-Producing Trees
ID’ing a Skull Just Got Easier
Twitter to Release All Tweets to Scientists
Shattering Kidney Stones
Lake on Saturn’s Largest Moon May Have Waves
Your Intestines Can Taste Sugar
The Laser Beams That Pick Up Particles
Meeting of the Puzzlers
Where Do Baby Sea Turtles Go?
A Phone That Lies for You
Students Build the First Eukaryotic Chromosome from Scratch
Bees Living in Cities Are Building Their Homes with Plastic
Fusion Experiment Breakthrough
- Forum
Dinosaurs Offer a Rich Field for Study of the Human Era
- The Science of Health
How Gut Bacteria Help Make Us Fat and Thin
- The Science Agenda
Secret Clinical Trial Data to Go Public
- TechnoFiles
The Case against Smartwatches
- Recommended
Book Review: Sally Ride: America's First Woman in Space
Book Review: Virtual Unreality
Book Review: Deep
Review: Brian Cox's Wonders of Life
- Skeptic
Will Mutual Assured Destruction Continue to Deter Nuclear War?
- Anti Gravity
The Right Car Handled the Right Way Can Drive You up the Wall
- 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
Supersonic Aircraft for Transport, 1964
- Graphic Science
Immigrants Move Up the Wealth Ladder In Steps
