This is Scientific American’s Science Talk, posted on July 30th, 2020. I’m Steve Mirsky. On this episode: ANTHES CLIP That’s Emily Anthes. She was on the podcast back in 2013 to talk about her biotech book Frankenstein’s Cat. Her new book is The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, […]
Electric buses are hitting Los Angeles streets. Low-income residents can access discounted electric car-sharing. And electric vehicle charging stations are multiplying. Those changes are part of LA’s effort to cut the number of gas-fueled vehicles from its streets. The region, famous for its traffic, wants to get more people in EVs, trains and buses and […]
Advertisement The title of this issue is a bit misleading. A fully explanatory and complete title would have gone something like: “Scientists Confirm Long-Standing Theory of Sun’s Power, but As with All Science, Many Questions Remain and New Ones Are Revealed.” Exhaustive, yes. Catchy? No. Though when it comes to attention-grabbing-if-slightly-truncated headlines, this one still […]
The biggest, most complex rover ever sent to Mars is now on its way. NASA’s Perseverance rover launched successfully on 30 July, the third of three Mars missions to launch in the space of just ten days. The rover will be the first mission ever to attempt to collect rock samples for return to Earth; […]
The latest science book recommendations from our editors Black Marlin and Two Wahoo, 1980s. Oil on mounted canvas. Credit: © 2020 Silverfish Press Advertisement For the first century of its existence, Scientific American was primarily a listing of the latest inventions and patents. But in 1948, the magazine was sold and the new owners wanted […]
Seen through the eyes of some omnipotent time traveler, our solar system—like any planetary system—is a heaving, pulsing thing. Across millions and billions of years its contents ebb and flow. Planetary orbits shift in shape and orientation, and billions of ancient asteroidal pieces shuffle through the skeletal disk that defines the major architecture of all […]
Between crop damage caused by climate change, and a rising global population and nutritional demand, it is clear the world will need to produce more food in the future. Researchers have long studied ways to help plants resist environmental stressors such as pests and drought, both through conventional breeding and genetic modification. But many questions […]
Originally published in July 1950 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “The outermost planet of the solar system has a mass 10 times smaller than hitherto supposed, according to measurements made by Gerard P. Kuiper of Yerkes Observatory, using the 200-inch telescope on Palomar Mountain. On the basis of deviations in the path of the planet Neptune, […]
Originally published in August 1908 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “It is not often that a measure of such a startling character as the Daylight Saving Bill is introduced into the English House of Commons. The fact that the momentous changes advocated are proposed by William Willett, a member of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that […]
For more than four centuries, archaeologists and geologists have sought to determine the geographical origins of the stones used to build Stonehenge thousands of years ago. Pinning down the source of the large blocks known as sarsens that form the bulk of the monument has proved especially elusive. Now researchers have resolved the mystery: 50 […]