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We’re Sorry, Vera Rubin
The rarity of science Nobels for women is an ongoing scandal
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Are Antibiotics Damaging Your Family’s Health?
The CDC calls their misuse “one of the most serious public health problems in the United States”
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The Darkest Side of Fossil-Fuel Extraction
It leads to violence against, and the trafficking of, Native women
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A Horse Is a Horse, of Course, of (Main) Course
Let’s talk about horses. With news of Europe’s horse meat scandal grabbing headlines last month, it’s hard not to have equine on the mind. In 1875 Scientific American published an article, “Shall We Eat the Horse?” hypothesizing the economic benefits of consuming horse meat in the U.S...
Stepping into the Twilight Zone: Day 33, or, Curiosity Killed by a Cosmic Ray
Editor’s note: Researchers exploring Mars via rover and satellite have to adapt to the longer day on the Red Planet. Katie Worth, whose Can Earthlings Adapt to the Longer Day on Mars?
A Fake Makes it to the Smithsonian's Photo Contest Finalists
I was surprised to see this as a finalist in the Smithsonian's 2012 Photo Contest :I was surprised because, to this ant biologist's eyes, the scene is obviously faked.
Best of the Blogs Video
'Best of the Blogs' is a monthly video series that highlights some of the most fascinating stories from the Scientific American blog network. Every month, Carin Bondar chooses a few of the blog posts that were published over the course of the month, has the bloggers record a brief narration, and meshes it all up into a fascinating mix of stories, images and video...
Animating Anthropomorphism: Giving Minds To Geometric Shapes [Video]
The brain has a problem. Information can only enter it through sensory apparatuses: the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin. And the information that enters the brain is fairly simple.
Bora's Picks (March 8th, 2013)
Another amazingly plentiful week. Enjoy the weekend! A Plague of Locusts Descends Upon the Holy Land, Just in Time for Passover by Rachel Nuwer: Locusts have plagued farmers for millennia...
"Chemical" Is Not a Bad Word
Say it out loud, "chem-i-cal". It flows well, and it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? What does this word mean? You'd be surprised by most definitions.
Research on TM and Other Forms of Meditation Stinks
In response to my last post, which proposed that Transcendental Meditation and other cults might be exploiting the placebo effect, some readers cited studies supposedly showing that TM has therapeutic benefits...
#SciAmBlogs Thursday - Glia smarts, sirtuins, Daylight Saving Time, Karst and Sinkholes, Lake Vostok, and more.
Today we have the brand new Video of the Week!- R. Douglas Fields - Human Brain Cells Make Mice Smart - Cory Simon - Post-Combustion CO2 Capture to Mitigate Climate Change: Separation Costs Energy - David Stipp - Thinning the Fog around Sirtuins - Bora Zivkovic - Let’s Not Spring Forward. - Dana Hunter - Living (and Sometimes Dying) with Karst - David Bressan - Down the Rabbit Hole - Caleb A...
Signs Of Life From Lake Vostok
Deep in the Antarctic (Credit: NSF) Recent efforts to extract a water sample from the ancient sub-surface Antarctic Lake Vostok seem to be yielding some promising results.
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Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
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Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
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Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
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Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
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STAFFA science blog, sans blague
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A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Voices
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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