The Human Experiment
Our species is transforming itself and the world. How will it work out?
Features
The Permanent, Unmistakable Mark Human Beings Have Left on Planet Earth
Our influence is written in the geologic strata
What Life Will Be Like on a Much Warmer Planet
A map based on new data reveals where climate change threatens peoples’ ways of life—and what they are doing to prepare for the future
1 World, 10 Billion People: Who Thrives, and Who Falls Behind?
Quality of life on an increasingly crowded planet depends on decisions made today
How Inequality Threatens Civil Society
A spiral of slow growth and rent-seeking by powerful interests pose a danger to democracy
The First Tinkering with Human Heredity May Happen in the Infertility Clinic
Scientists are set to cross a long-standing bioethical red line
Does Aging Have an Off Switch?
Drugs already in trials could significantly extend healthy human life spans
Would You Live Forever (If You Could)?
Uploading your brain into a computer is probably impossible. But for sake of argument: What would you do if it weren’t?
Can Humans Outsmart Extinction?
If we do it right, we could become a long-term stabilizing force for the planet
What a Science Fiction Writer Knows about Predicting the Future
The short version: It’s impossible to do
20 Big Questions about the Future of Humanity
We asked leading scientists to predict the future. Here’s what they had to say
Online Exclusives
A Short History of the Future
Forward-looking stories from Scientific American, 1845 to 2016
Olympics 2016: What Makes or Breaks Top Athletes
Will better training and coaching lead to new records, or do drugs and technology determine the score? Explore the science of the Games with these articles
More Book Recommendations for September
Books and recommendations from Scientific American
Digitizing Your Analog Movies Is Just the Beginning
To preserve your data, you’ll have to migrate them to a new digital format every decade or so
Departments
How to Survive in a Warmer World [Interactive]
- From the Editor
Looking Forward: A Short History of the Future in Scientific American
- Letters
Readers Respond to the May 2016 Issue
- Advances
Could Medical Cannabis Break the Painkiller Epidemic?
Astrochemists Detect Chiral Molecules in Interstellar Space for the First Time
Researchers Are Building a Tear Bank to Better Understand Why We Weep
Blood Left at Scene Can Indicate Criminal's Age
An Auditory Component to Autism
The Kilogram's Makeover Is Almost Complete
Even the Most Remote Islands Harbor Human Messes
Are There Too Many Neuroscientists?
In Case You Missed It: The Ozone Hole Is Closing, Paris Bans Cars Built before 1997--and More!
We All Speed-Read
- Forum
The Cosmos Might Be Mostly Devoid of Life
- The Science of Health
Why Gene Tests for Cancer Don't Offer More Answers
- The Science Agenda
Donald Trump's Lack of Respect for Science Is Alarming
- TechnoFiles
Digitize Those Memory-Filled Cassettes before They Disintegrate
- Recommended
How a Seed Collection Could Save Humanity
- Skeptic
Is It Possible to Measure Supernatural or Paranormal Phenomena?
- Anti Gravity
The Trainable Cat Is a Guide to the Hows and Whys of Focusing Your Feline
- 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
A Veiled Warning on Artificial Intelligence from 1966
- Graphic Science
Affluent Millennials Are Moving into Inner Cities