About the SA Blog Network  

Observations

Observations


Opinion, arguments & analyses from the editors of Scientific American
Observations HomeAboutContact
  • Profile

    From the editors and reporters of Scientific American , this blog delivers commentary, opinion and analysis on the latest developments in science and technology and their influence on society and policy. From reasoned arguments and cultural critiques to personal and skeptical takes on interesting science news, you'll find a wide range of scientifically relevant insights here. Follow on Twitter @sciam.
  • 3 Science Questions to Ask U.S. Presidential Candidates

    As you may already be aware from my previous posts, The Guardian U.S. and NYU’s Studio 20 journalism lab have teamed up to push a project called The Citizens’ Agenda into the media discourse surrounding the U.S. presidential 2012 election. The idea: find out what you–the citizens–want the candidates to be discussing over the next [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Neuroscience and Magic: The Science of Stealing a Watch

    Apollo Robbins, a.k.a the “Gentleman Thief,” explains his technique of managing attentional spotlight during the Neuromagic 2012conference on the Island of Thought, San Simón, near Vigo, Spain, while demonstrating on neuroscientist Flip Phillips of Skidmore College. Attentional spotlight is the focus of consciousness at any given moment, and it can be directed–or, as in magic, [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Researchers Engineer Rewriteable Digital Data Storage in the DNA of Living Bacteria

    DNA

    Engineers have invented a way to store a single rewriteable bit of data within the chromosome of a living cell—a kind of cellular switch that offers precise control over how and when genes are expressed. For three years, Jerome Bonnet, Pakpoom Subsoontorn, and Drew Endy of Stanford University tinkered with the switch in Escherichia coli [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    SpaceX Trying Again Early Tuesday to Reach International Space Station

    Falcon 9 rocket on the launchpad

    SpaceX’s history-making mission to the International Space Station is on hold, following a valve malfunction Saturday morning that caused a last-minute launch abort. But the California company says its rocket is now good to go and will be ready to launch in the early hours of Tuesday, May 22. If all goes as planned, SpaceX’s [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Amazing Video of Solar Eclipse Shows Sun’s Structure

    Eclipse showing the Sun's chromosphere

    This time-lapse video of Sunday’s solar eclipse highlights the Sun’s outer layers: The photographer Cory Poole constructed the video by pasting together 700 photographs taken with a Coronado Solar Max 60 Double Stack telescope. According to Jason Kottke, Poole used a filter that only allows light from hydrogen atoms moving from the 2nd excited state [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Millennia-Old Microbes Found Alive in Deep-Ocean Muck

    mud-core

    A sparse community of microbes can persist for eons in the clay beneath the deep blue sea. When scientists drilled into the Pacific Ocean bottom and pulled up a long core of clay, they also pulled up microbes living on so little that it was hard for the scientists to tell if they were alive [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Job Killer? Try Bottom Line Booster: Workplace Safety Inspections Save Money, Jobs, Limbs

    job safety inspection osha

    Costly safety upgrades, nitpicky government inspection and resulting fines are often blamed as being bad for business. But a new study shows that when government job-safety inspectors make a surprise visit, they actually enable companies to save money—and jobs—for years to come. Occupational safety has improved immensely over the decades, but in industries with traditionally [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Paralyzed Patient Swills Coffee by Issuing Thought Commands to a Robot [Video]

    A stroke in certain parts of the brainstem, the place where brain meets spinal cord, can leave a patient aware of surroundings but able to move few if any voluntary muscles. The most advanced neurotechnologies attempt to get around the disconnection by piping electrical signals directly from a higher-level brain area, the motor cortex that [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Is Football to Blame for Players’ Suicides?

    Nedra McClyde and Ron Canada in Headstrong at the Ensemble Studio Theatre

    High-profile suicides of professional football players have mounted in the past several years—Terry Long (2005), Andre Waters (2006), Dave Duerson (2011) and Ray Easterling (2012) all killed themselves following retirement and bouts with diagnoses likely related to the thousands of hits they fearlessly underwent as players. The conditions vary but have overlapping qualities: post-concussion syndrome, [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Soot May Help Shift Tropics North

    tropics

    Soot may be responsible for the tropics expanding north, according to an analysis involving multiple computer models of the climate. By absorbing sunlight and trapping extra heat in the atmosphere, the tiny, black particles may be helping the poleward march of tropical conditions. The research will be published in Nature on May 17. (Scientific American [...]

    Keep reading »

    ShareShare

    Account Linking

    Welcome, . Do you have an existing ScientificAmerican.com account?

    Yes, please link my existing account with for quick, secure access.



    Forgot Password?

    No, I would like to create a new account with my profile information.

    Create Account
    X