Illusion Chasers
Twenty-Eight Shades of Shoes
New research using Crocs explains “the dress”
Blogs
Extinction Countdown
What A Special Black-Footed Ferret Can Teach Us about Conservation Success
When a species is critically endangered, every individual matters
Observations
Can the Universe Provide Us with the Meaning of Life?
Astronomy and space exploration might offer a new perspective on our purpose in the cosmos
Recent Posts
Select Topic
Nobel committee to climate change deniers: "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries."*
* There's no use pretending that today's announcement that Al Gore and the IPCC are to share the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on climate change is not in some way political.
Man implants "ear" in arm
posted on behalf of news editor Lisa Stein: Well isn't this special. Britain's Daily Mail reports that so-called performance artist Stelios Arcadious, a Cypriot-born Australian, had an ear implanted into his arm...
Experimental drugs or clinical research methods on trial?
[Editor's Note: The October issue contains an article entitled "Experimental Drugs on Trial" (not free) that discusses the pros and cons of approving experimental drugs for individual use in certain cases...
German chemist gets $1.5 million birthday present from Nobel committee
Gerhard Ertl turned 71 today. Unfortunately, 71 doesn't typically carry the same cache as some other ages, like 16 (driving a car, at least in the U.S.), 18 (can vote here, can drink pretty much everywhere else), 25 (no more rental car penalties), 50 (AARP card!) and all the other multiples of ten, which ring in new decades...
Last year, it was knockdown; this year, it's "knockout" for the Nobel medicine or physiology prize
Hot on the heels of the 2006 Nobel for physiology or medicine for the technology behind RNAi--a procedure for at least partially blocking the translation of a gene into a functional protein--the Nobel Foundation handed out its 2007 prize for the discovery of a procedure for knocking out a specific gene altogether...
Like your iPod? Thank this year's physics Nobelists
Getting the average person hooked on physics can pose something of a challenge. Black holes and multiple universes are an easy enough sell, but try the room temperature spin Hall effect on for size and you'll see what I mean...
Can nurture save you from your own genes? Genes, environment and depression
Welcome to Mind Matterswhere top researchers in neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry explain and discuss the findings and theories driving their fields.
Hillary brings up science, but will it stay in play?
Save for the media swarm in the wake of the hand raises by Republican candidates Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee and Tom Tancredo, it appears Hillary Clinton is the first to put science in the spotlight in the race for the White House...
Squelching the dark past: The mechanics of memory suppression
_____________________
Introduction
by David Dobbs
Editor, Mind Matters
Bad memories can seem to have their own power, as if they are independent agents infecting our thoughts and moods...
"Australian actresses are plagiarizing my quantum mechanics lecture to sell printers"
Scott Aaronson, the blogger who moonlights as an MIT quantum computation researcher, just discovered that an Australian commercial (on YouTube) has cribbed most of its script from one of his lectures on quantum mechanics posted online...
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
Eye of the Storm
The Science Behind Extreme Weather
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
