The Periodic Table, and Why Batteries Don't Work the Way You Think
The chemical elements—the varieties of atoms existing in nature and even some that are manmade—are an endless source of fascination.
Degrees of Freedom
The boundless dimensions of math and physics
Superluminal Neutrinos Would Wimp Out En Route
[Note: October 5 update and clarification added at the bottom] Neutrinos that go beyond light speed? Not so fast, say two theoretical physicists.In a terse, peremptory-sounding paper posted online on September 29, Andrew Cohen and Sheldon Glashow of Boston University calculate that any neutrinos traveling faster than light would radiate energy away, leaving a wake of slower particles analogous to the sonic boom of a supersonic fighter jet...
Archimedes and Euclid? Like String Theory versus Freshman Calculus
The archetype of the science genius didn’t use to be Albert Einstein. For centuries, the quintessential irreverent, visionary scientist, immersed in a world of his own making to the point of forgetting to put on his clothes, was instead an ancient Greek mathematician...
Why There's No Such Thing as North and South
The human mind often confuses familiarity with understanding.You've learned the basics of a field. You've memorized the rules and used them so many times they have become second nature, or "common sense"--which means that you have stopped asking yourself why they should be true...
Galactic Challenge Part III: The "Easy" Solutions
Scores of readers responded to my Galactic Challenge (proposed in Part I of this series), with lots of cool ideas. The challenge was to explain our concept of left and right to far away aliens; or to explain it to Martians over the phone, as Richard Feynman put it and as I describe in Part II.Here I will review the solutions that came up and I will discuss how one could implement them in practice...
Galactic Challenge, Part II: The Richard Feynman Files
In a recent post, I proposed a riddle on handedness and how one could communicate one's notions of left and right to faraway aliens.
The Lede Desk: Fighting the Scourge of Boring Writing
It was a dark and stormy night in New York City, so why was I instead slouching on my couch in sunny Rome? Because I was concocting a weather report-anecdote-question-postural opening for this blog post...
A Galactic Challenge: How Would You Teach Left from Right to an Alien Civilization?
The concept of handedness—of left and right, say, or of clockwise and anti-clockwise—is deceptively simple. In fact, I think it is among the most subtle in all of science and mathematics...
Fox Commentator Distorts Physics
This is not a climate science blog, nor is it a political or media critique blog. But it does cover physics, so I'd like to get some physics facts straight.
Project Polymath: Collaborative Mathematics through Blogs
[This article was originally posted on ScientificAmerican.com on March 17, 2010 and I am shamelessly recycling it here] In the mid-20th century the encyclopedic works of French mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki traced every mathematical concept back to the subject’s foundations in the theory of sets—the stuff of Venn diagrams—and changed the face of his field...
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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