Observations
Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions
They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior
Blogs
Observations
How a Landmark Physics Paper from the 1970s Uncannily Describes the COVID-19 Pandemic
Phil Anderson’s article “More Is Different” describes how different levels of complexity require new ways of thinking. And as the virus multiplies and spreads, that’s just what the human race desperately needs...
Observations
The Fight against COVID-19 Threatens to Cause Collateral Health Damage
The pandemic is no excuse to abandon chronic disease management and prevention
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Beyond Obamamania: Uninsured member of Congress wins reelection; Democrats take Colorado races
The big news of the night, of course, was Senator Barack Obama's historic presidential victory. But ScientificAmerican.com was following a number of other races among the hundreds across the country...
Who has a better sense of humor--Liberals or conservatives?
Are you more likely to get a joke if you lean politically left or right? That's the question New York Times columnist John Tierney asks today, extending a line of inquiry popular this campaign season: the personality characteristics of ideologues...
Election Day: Your -- and the candidates' -- votes on science
Is a sticky scientific or health dilemma holding you up from pulling the lever in the voting booth tomorrow? We've still got our trusty blow-by-blow of the presidential candidates' positions on controversial policy topics for quick reference...
Trick and Treat with "green" chocolate and spooky reading
Happy Halloween, and what better way to celebrate than by kicking back with some fair-trade chocolate and our in-depth look at the science of the occult?
Robert Furman, atom bomb spy leader, dead at 93
Robert Furman, a civil engineer who helped round up German scientists suspected of working on an atomic bomb for the Nazis during World War II, has died.
Daylight saving time: Spring forward into a heart attack, fall back into cardio health?
Here's a new reason to look forward to the switch back to standard time Sunday morning: it may lower your chance of suffering a heart attack.
Heart attacks decrease by 5 percent the first Monday after the time change, and by 1.5 percent over that week, according to an analysis in this week's New England Journal of Medicine ...
Is a new biodefense lab hardier than a hurricane?
Worried environmentalists charge that a new biodefense lab opening in Texas next month, smack in the middle of a hurricane zone, may not be able to withstand the strongest of storms.
U.S. and Soviet spooks studied paranormal powers to find a Cold War advantage
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is well known for pushing the boundaries of science and technology in search of ways to give the U.S.
Earthquake kills 150 in Pakistan
At least 150 people are dead and hundreds hurt after two strong earthquakes rattled southwest Pakistan this morning.
The first, a magnitude 6.4 quake, was centered 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Quetta at 4:09 this morning (7:09 P.M...
I'm really Rosie: Men more amorous toward ladies in red
Listen up, ladies: If you're looking to score, break out that red dress.
Men were more eager to bed women wearing red than those decked out in other colors, according to five studies involving 149 men and 32 women published today in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology ...
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Anthropology in Practice
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Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
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Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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