Observations
Bridging a Binary Universe
Modern physicists continue to enshrine the split between the heavens and the earth perceived by our ancestors
Blogs
Observations
No, Climate Change Will Not End the World in 12 Years
Stoking panic and fear creates a false narrative that can overwhelm readers, leading to inaction and hopelessness
Observations
Is Guilt Good for Your Health?
Negative feedback helps some people make better health choices, but we need a different approach to motivate others
Recent Posts
Select Topic
Vice President Cheney found to be in violation of the law--of quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics shows up in editorial cartoons about as often as James K. Polk, which is why it's especially gratifying to see such a nuanced application of it in today's episode of This Modern World...
Thank you, Mr. Wizard
I am saddened by the news that Don Herbert, aka "Mr. Wizard" died yesterday at the age of 89. His weekly program, on NBC from 1951 to 1965, brought simple science to children—and made it fun...
Mama's boys are braver: Maternal presence as neural confidence builder
Welcome to
Mind Matters
Sciam.com's "seminar blog" on the sciences of mind and brain. Each week, top researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry explain and discuss the research driving their fields...
The Scent of a Man
Whether you find a man's smell pleasant or putrid lies in your DNA.
Savvy Animals -- Including One Who Can Putt and Dunk
Welcome to
Mind Matters
Sciam.com's "seminar blog" on the sciences of mind and brain. Each week, top researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry explain and discuss the research driving their fields...
Good-Bye Blue Monday
Good-bye Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., whose resemblance to that other great American satirist, Mark Twain, is almost uncanny. And I believe his literary doppelganger would have enjoyed visiting the Vonnegutian universe populated by Kilgore Trout, Wanda June, Eliot Rosewater, Francine Pefko, Paul Proteus, Billy Pilgrim, Howard Campbell, Jr., the planet Tralfamadore, ice nine, granfalloons, foma, Illium, N.Y., and, of course, the lovely Montana Wildhack.Call him a pessimist, a stoic, or a dark and cranky curmudgeon, Vonnegut, like Twain, supplied what any self-satisfied civilization occasionally needs to keep it honest—a good thwacking from a brilliant satirist.And thwack he did...
Selective Vision: The Brain's Spin Machine Starts Early
Welcome to
Mind Matters
With the election season hard upon us and the spin machines working overtime, we thought it sensible to rerun a post from last year about a sort of spin machine recently discovered in the brain...
What the Hex Going On at Saturn's Pole?
When it comes to where the atmospheric action is in the outer planets, move over Jupiter. As if having those gaudy rings weren't enough, Saturn is definitely hogging all the attention by sporting some bizarre atmospheric activity at opposite ends of the planet: polar storms, one with a cyclopean eye and the other shaped like a—hexagon...
Can We Control Our Fears?
Welcome to
Mind Matters
Sciam.com's "seminar blog" on the sciences of mind and bbrain. Each week, top researchers in neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry explain and discuss the research driving their fields...
Attention Must Be Paid
Welcome to the ninth installment of
Mind Matters
Mind Matters is Sciam.com's "seminar blog" on the sciences of mind and brain.
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
