The Sciences
Famous for Being Fatuous: Celebs and Pols Say the Darnedest Things—Especially about Science
If the recent election season has taught us anything, it's that fame does not equal brains, at least when it comes to science
Features1827 articles archived since 1845
Environment
How Solyndra's Failure Promises a Brighter Future for Solar Power
The bankruptcy of photovoltaic panel-maker Solyndra is actually good news for the U.S. solar industry
Biology
How an Interconnected Planet Is Fueling the Brewing Viral Storm
In his new book, award-winning biologist and author Nathan Wolfe examines the origins and spread of viruses around the globe
Mind & Brain
Book Review: The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Rates of violent deaths have declined, but psychologist Robert Epstein argues in this review that it is too early to praise human nature's "better angels."
Mind & Brain
Meet the Winners of Scientific American's Great Consciousness Contest
Stand aside "Watson": We have triumphed over the machine
Technology
Technology Leaders and Scholars Remember Steve Jobs
Some friends of Scientific American wrote to us expressing their appreciation of the life of one of the great inventors and technology visionaries. Here are some of their thoughts and reflections...
Health
Why Is Pancreatic Cancer So Deadly?
The illness that ultimately felled Apple founder Steve Jobs often kills shortly after diagnosis
Space & Physics
"You're the Top..." [From the Archive]
Fermilab finds the top quark—sort of
Space & Physics
The Discovery of the Top Quark [From the Archive]
Finding the sixth quark involved the world's most energetic collisions and a cast of thousands
Mind & Brain
The Hedonic Nose: Pleasure May Organize Your Sense of Smell
The nose really might "know" good from bad, even before the brain does
The Sciences
How Math Whizzes Helped Sink the Economy [Book Excerpt]
Scott Patterson's book The Quants profiles the quantitative-minded investors who helped inflate the hedge fund bubble
The Sciences
Urban Geology: Artists Investigate Where Cities and Natural Cycles Intersect [Slide Show]
Excerpts from a new book reveal the "geo-architecture" of New York City
Biology
A Graphic Look at Obesity--Inside and Out
A new detailed picture of the biological consequences of the global weight problem, as visualized by the scientifically tuned illustrations of theVisualMD
The Sciences
Ghosts, Aliens, Quantum Gravity, Extra Dimensions, Sci Fi--and the Rules of Science
In this excerpt from the new book Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World (Harper Collins, 2011), you'll learn why, although it's true that scientists sometimes have been wrong, that doesn't mean there are no rules--or that everything is possible...
Biology
What Will the Next Influenza Pandemic Look Like?
Predicting pandemics might still be impossible, but with millions of lives at stake, researchers are using the latest science and lessons from history to best prepare for the next big one...
