Magicians need to resort to trick props to pull a rabbit out of a hat. But we pulled DNA out of a banana with nothing more than a few household ingredients during a Scientific American Google Hangout on December 20. (See Scientific American Goes Bananas on December 20. No artifice or foolery was involved: just [...]

Above all, science is a collaborative enterprise, where researchers working together can span the continents. Increasingly, nonspecialists—citizen scientists—are pitching in as well. Whale.FM—a collaborative effort of Scientific American, Zooniverse and the research institutions WHOI, TNO, the University of Oxford and SMRU—lets citizen scientists help marine researchers who are studying what whales are saying. (You can [...]

When I wrote my end-of-the-year update for staff, Bora Zivkovic, our chief blogs editor, reminded me that others are also interested in the goings on at Scientific American. It’s never a good idea to say no to Bora. So here’s a summary of some highlights for 2011: AWARDS We won a 2011 National Magazine Award [...]

Congressional staffers, federal agency senior personnel, non-profit leaders and scientific organization executives joined Scientific American Editor in chief Mariette DiChristina at a recent reception to celebrate the magazine’s special issue on cities. “Celebrating cities in many ways is celebrating what is best in us,” DiChristina told the crowd as she kicked off the evening honoring [...]