Wearing masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) can slow the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone wear some kind of face covering in public places, especially where social distancing is difficult to maintain. And health workers are donning additional coverings, such as gowns. Yet all such protective […]
Flashes of radio waves lasting a thousandth of a second arrive on Earth every second from all over the sky. What makes them? We do not know. It is exciting to try and figure it out. The frequency-dependent arrival time of these fast radio Bursts (FRBs) indicates a delay by a volume of electrons greater […]
After months of being cooped up at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus, people have taken to the streets by the thousands over the past few weeks to protest against police killings of Black people and decades of systemic racism. The gatherings have some people worried about a spike in coronavirus infections—but they have […]
In late February about 175 executives from around the world came to the biotechnology company Biogen’s leadership conference in Boston. Over two days, attendees shook hands, talked among themselves and shared meals. Also in attendance: the new coronavirus. Several people at the event were unknowingly infected with the microbe that causes COVID-19, and it quickly […]
When ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. announced last week that it would transition to 100% electric vehicles by 2030, observers cheered its ambitious commitment to curbing climate pollution. But as analysts dig into the details, some are questioning whether the company can—and will—make good on its promise. “It’s a noble commitment. But it needs to be […]
Coffee flour isn’t really a flour. And although it is from the coffee plant, it doesn’t taste or smell anything like the roasted coffee beans we know and love. Coffee beans are actually seeds and, like many seeds, they grow inside a fruit. The fruit that surrounds a coffee bean is called a coffee cherry. After harvesting […]
Originally published in June 1909 Credit: Scientific American Advertisement “Moving pictures are exhibited in about ten thousand theaters and halls in the United States. With the rapid spread of this new amusement has also come a marked change in the public taste. Spectators were once quite content with a view of factory employees going to […]
This morning I had a surprisingly lengthy discussion with my wife about whether it was Wednesday or Thursday. I’m writing this in early April from New York City, currently the global epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ve already been mostly indoors for weeks, and the days have a sameness that brings to mind the movie […]
Last week, when scientists at an Italian laboratory announced that unexpected blips in their detector could be from long-sought subatomic particles known as axions, their colleagues were cautiously optimistic: In physics, alleged detections of new particles often fade to insignificance as researchers gather more data. And there are other, more prosaic explanations for the blips. […]
For all the mysteries that remain about the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease it causes, scientists have generated an incredible amount of fine-grained knowledge in a surprisingly short time. In the graphics that follow, Scientific American presents detailed explanations, current as of mid-June, into how SARS-CoV-2 sneaks inside human cells, makes […]