Laelaps
What Did Dinosaurs Smell Like?
Smell was certainly an important part of dinosaur life. What do we know about it?
Blogs
Eye of the Storm
A Rogues’ Gallery of the Five Category 5 Storms of 2019
The two Atlantic Category 5 hurricanes and three Northwest Pacific Category 5 super typhoons of 2019 set records
Observations
Glutamate Built the Brain—Can It Treat It, Too?
A complex natural signaling system could help address impulse-control disorders
Recent Posts
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You Never Hear Much About Shrew-Opossums
You never really hear much about shrew-opossums or rat-opossums, the small group of living, South American marsupials properly called caenolestids or caenolestoids.
Projection
The patient was hacking sputum into a tissue when the resident and I entered his room. "How long have you had that cough?" "Oh this? As long as I can remember." "But it's been worse lately?" "Yeah." "Worse how?" "More stuff coming out each time...
Blind Justice: Biasing Moral Choices With Eye Tracking
Scientists have set out to demonstrate a causal relationship--not merely a correlation--between gaze duration and moral decision making.
Physics Week in Review: March 21, 2015
That deafening sound you heard over Wednesday and Thursday was the sound of millions of science-minded folks collectively banging their heads against their computer screens in frustration...
That Time Big Tobacco Hired a Sugar Researcher to Help Them Muddle the Science on Health
Much has been made in recent years about the beverage and food industries borrowing from the tobacco industry's playbook as they fend off increasing scrutiny about their role in preventable chronic health problems, like type II diabetes and heart disease...
Naval Attack on the Dardanelles: Prelude to a Disaster, 1915
Reported in Scientific American, This Week in World War I: March 20, 1915 The report published in this issue from a century ago delivers a robustly optimistic outlook on the Allied attack on Turkish territory at the entrance to the waterway between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean: "If the great Mahan were living to-day [...]..
Visualizing U.K. and U.S. Energy Flows
Where does it comes from? Where does it go? These two questions were asked last summer here on Plugged In with respect to the energy use in the United States.
Everyone, Even Jenny McCarthy, Has the Right to Challenge “Scientific Experts”
Years ago I was blathering to a science-writing class at Columbia Journalism School about the complexities of covering psychiatric drugs when a student, who as I recall had a medical degree, raised his hand...
With Just Six Delta Smelt Left, Controversial California Fish Species Faces Impending Extinction
Are we about to witness the extinction of the controversial delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus)? The most recent survey for the tiny fish, over which decades of battles over water rights have been fought, counted just four females and two males...
Three Reasons Not to Leave a Dead Body on the Carpet
“So many places to hide a dead body.” That's what my mom remembers thinking on her first drive cross country during honeymoon number one.
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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Guest Blog
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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