Laelaps
Did a Jurassic Dinosaur Smoosh a Turtle?
A smashed shell may have been crumpled by an ambling dinosaur
Blogs
Voices
The Darker Side of John Wesley Powell
Like other early American geologists, the man who explored the Colorado River did anthropological research that presupposed the racial inferiority of Native Americans
Observations
It’s Raining on the Sun
Structures in the corona called “null-point topologies” may help solve two long-standing solar mysteries
Recent Posts
Select Topic
Cyanobacteria meet again
A free-living cyanobacterium (above) lies next to its brethren from a distant past, now a chloroplast coiled up and trapped (for good) within a eukaryotic cell (bottom).
Love is Relative: An Evening with Einstein's Girl
The lights dim in the Gardenia Restaurant and Lounge, a longstanding venue for cabaret in Los Angeles, as singer/actress Gia Mora takes the stage. Clad in a slinky cocktail dress, her auburn hair pulled back and augmented with a fetching fall, she launches right into her first number...
Editorial: Chief Justices Should Not Allow DNA Collection During an Arrest Booking
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments this week about whether law enforcement officials have a constitutional right to collect DNA after an arrest and before a person has been convicted of a crime...
Neuroquotes of the Month...Maybe the Year
Christof Koch, a columnist for Scientific American MIND, a professor at the California Institute of Technology and the chief scientific officer for the Allen Institute for Brain Science, has the best characterization that I've ever seen of futurist Ray Kurzweil's speculations about the imminent merger of mind with machine and the domination of cyborgs.This is the kind of thing that should normally be confined to Tweetland, but Koch's prose, from his review of Kurzweil's new book "How to Create a Mind" for the Feb...
Is "Sociobiologist" Napoleon Chagon Really a Disciple of Margaret Mead?
Before I get to Margaret Mead, a bit of breaking news about the Napoleon Chagnon controversy, the subject of my previous post. Chagnon and his supporters have described his election last year to the National Academy of Sciences as "vindication," as The New York Times Magazine put it ...
The Wilder Side of Sex
My latest piece for BBC Future is now up, and it focuses on how the things we may think of as odd, gross, or strange when it comes to human sexual practices are perhaps entirely normal for other species...
Imagine Science Films Unveils the Fly Room Project
IMAGINE SCIENCE FILMS UNVEILS THE FLY ROOM PROJECT:A NEW EXHIBIT AND FEATURE PRODUCTION ABOUT THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN GENETICSby Alexis Gambis(writer-director of The Fly Room Project, founder of Imagine Science Films)The Fly Room Project is the latest Imagine Science Films initiative...
SciArt on Google+
A couple of years ago, when the massive and amazing all-in-one scienceblogging.org was launching, the organizers asked if I thought there were enough artists blogging about science-related artwork to make an RSS feed that would update a few times a day or week, that could collect science-based artists under one roof...
Big Neuroscience: Billions and Billions (Maybe) to Unravel Mysteries of the Brain
The era of Big Neuroscience has arrived.In late January, The Human Brain Project—an attempt to create a computer simulation of the brain at every scale from the nano nano to the macro biotic—announced that it had successfully arranged a billion Euro funding package for a 10-year run.And then on Feb...
The Fastest Spacecraft Ever?
Who's the fastest of them all? (Credit: NASA) Of all the spacecraft humans have launched, there have been some impressively fast movers. But which holds the record?It's not an entirely idle question...
Blog Index
@ScientificAmerican
STAFFBehind the scenes at Scientific American
Read
Anecdotes from the Archive
STAFF
Read
Anthropology in Practice
Exploring the human condition.
Read
Beautiful Minds
Insights into intelligence, creativity, personality, and well-being
Read
Budding Scientist
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
Read
Cross-Check
Critical views of science in the news
Read
Dark Star Diaries
STAFF
Read
Dog Spies
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
Read
Extinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
Read
Frontiers for Young Minds
Science by and for kids ages 8-15
Read
Guest Blog
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
Read
Hot Planet
Climate science in a changing world
Read
Illusion Chasers
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
Read
Life, Unbounded
Discussion and news about planets, exoplanets, and astrobiology
Read
Observations
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
Read
Roots of Unity
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
Read
Rosetta Stones
Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
Read
SA Visual
STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
Read
Talking back
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
Read
The Artful Amoeba
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
Read
Voices
Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
Read
