Observations
The EPA's Science Restrictions Go from Bad to Worse
New rules on what studies the agency can cite in making regulations would endanger the public’s health and safety
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Voices
The Invisible Victims of Traumatic Brain Injury
Most people know it’s a problem for athletes and soldiers—but it affects victims of domestic violence even more
Observations
Trees for Peace
A Great Green Wall, planted across the breadth of Africa, could serve as a bulwark against climate change and ecological breakdown
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Monday Pets: Are Those Dogs Playing or Fighting?
The party continues! Today you get a double-dose of Monday Pets. Here’s one from the archives. Later today, you can expect a new one.
Medicine goes mobile: iPhone apps take vitals, track viruses
On tiny keypads and greasy touch screens, doctors, nurses, NPs and physicians assistants these days are doing a lot more than checking email and phone messages.
Welcome!
Welcome to the new home for The Thoughtful Animal! The main focus of this blog is animal cognition. Animals do some pretty cool things, and there are some clever ways for figuring out how an animal thinks...
Present imperfect: Is the human brain ill adapted for language?
The spy shot the cop with the revolver.
This sentence, a favorite of linguists, appears to be simple enough. It's grammatically correct, has a subject and a predicate and can even be easily understood by young children...
Scientific tricks for staying in love
A friend once told me how, as a child visiting a zoo, his eyes focused on one of the many monkeys in an enclosed exhibit. The monkey, in turn, began looking back.
Can brain scans help us understand Homer?
In recent posts, I’ve knocked neuroframing, neuroweapons and neurobics. Next up: neuro-lit-crit.
New York Times culture reporter Patricia Cohen reports that for insights and inspiration literary scholars are turning, inevitably, to neuroscience and evolutionary psychology...
Scientists say free will probably doesn't exist, but urge: "Don't stop believing!"
Suspend disbelief for a moment and imagine that you have agreed, as a secret agent in some confidential military operation, to travel back in time to the year 1894.
Animal Lovers: Zoophiles Make Scientists Rethink Human Sexuality
Out of context, many of our behaviors—if limited to the mere veneer of plain description—would raise many an eyebrow. The most innocent of things can sound tawdry and bizarre when certain facts and details are omitted...
Neuroscientists don't believe in souls--But that doesn't mean they can't sell theirs
Of all scientific fields, neuroscience has the greatest potential for revolutionary advances, philosophical and practical. Someday, brain researchers may figure out how precisely the brain encodes thoughts like the ones I’m thinking now...
Hominins lived on Flores for nearly 1 million years before the "hobbit"
Predecessors of the controversial "hobbit" ( Homo floresiensis ) discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores might have had a longer history there than researchers previously thought...
Blog Index
@ScientificAmerican
STAFFBehind the scenes at Scientific American
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Anecdotes from the Archive
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Anthropology in Practice
Exploring the human condition.
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Beautiful Minds
Insights into intelligence, creativity, personality, and well-being
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Budding Scientist
Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
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Cross-Check
Critical views of science in the news
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Dark Star Diaries
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Dog Spies
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
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Extinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
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Eye of the Storm
The Science Behind Extreme Weather
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Frontiers for Young Minds
Science by and for kids ages 8-15
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Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
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Hot Planet
Climate science in a changing world
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Illusion Chasers
Illusions, Delusions, and Everyday Deceptions
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Life, Unbounded
Discussion and news about planets, exoplanets, and astrobiology
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Observations
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
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Roots of Unity
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
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Rosetta Stones
Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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SA Visual
STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
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Talking back
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
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The Artful Amoeba
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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