The First Subway in New York City Was a Cylindrical Car Pushed by Air

Scientific American editor Alfred Ely Beach revealed the secretly built wonder in 1870 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Reckoning with Our Mistakes

Some of the cringiest articles in Scientific American ’s history reveal bigger questions about scientific authority | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Competing Toe to Toe without Sharing an Arena

The Regeneron Science Talent Search rethinks its youth STEM competition in the face of COVID-19 | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Time's Arrow Flies through 500 Years of Classical Music, Physicists Say

A statistical study of more than 8,000 compositions shows how the flow of time distinguishes music from noise | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Visualizing 175 Years of Words in Scientific American

A graphical tour of popular words paired with key moments in the history of the magazine | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Could an Industrial Prehuman Civilization Have Existed on Earth Before Ours?

A provocative new paper suggests some ways to find out | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

No, There Wasn't an Advanced Civilization 12,000 Years Ago

Did an advanced civilization disappear more than 12,000 years ago? | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Extreme Heat Exposure Could Really Ramp Up in U.S. Cities

Unchecked climate change, urban development and population rise could all contribute to more people being exposed to punishing heat | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Warber Species Fires Up Song Diversity

Hermit warblers in California have developed 35 different song dialects, apparently as a result of wildfires temporarily driving them out of certain areas. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Warbler Species Fires Up Song Diversity

Hermit warblers in California have developed 35 different song dialects, apparently as a result of wildfires temporarily driving them out of certain areas. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Racist Legacy of Computer-Generated Humans

Moviemakers have perfected the art of rendering skin and hair—but only for white people | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How to Turn 175 Years of Words in Scientific American into an Image

A data designer explains the art and science of analyzing and charting text from 5,107 issues of this magazine | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Explore 175 Years of Words in Scientific American

Search a 4,000-word database to see how language in the magazine evolved over time  | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Language of Science

How the words we use have evolved over the past 175 years | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Celebrating Scientific American's 175th Anniversary

Enjoy some surprising history and the most dizzying discoveries | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

175 Years of Discovery

Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

New Pen-and-Ink Method Draws Health Sensors Directly on Skin

Using electronic ink and stencils, researchers created a cheap heart monitor and other health-detecting devices | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

In The Midst Of The Pandemic, Loneliness Has Leveled Out

Studies suggest that we are finding ways to connect even amid quarantine | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

In Defense of the Psychologically Rich Life

It involves complex mental engagement; a wide range of deep, intense emotions; and diverse, novel and interesting experiences | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Nine COVID-19 Myths That Just Won't Go Away

From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most persistent false claims about the pandemic | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

This Lab Aims to Prepare the U.S. Electricity Grid for a Climate Transformation

A new test bed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will explore ways to ease the shift to renewables and energy storage systems | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

This Twist on Schrödinger's Cat Paradox Has Major Implications for Quantum Theory

A laboratory demonstration of the classic “Wigner’s friend” thought experiment could overturn cherished assumptions about reality | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 Has Worsened the Ocean Plastic Pollution Problem

A drastic increase in use of masks and gloves, plus a decline in recycling programs, is threatening the health of the seas | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Costa Rica Readies Horse Antibodies for Trials as an Inexpensive COVID-19 Therapy

After neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture, scientists at the University of Costa Rica are proceeding with human testing | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Missing Neutrons May Lead a Secret Life as Dark Matter

This may be the reason experiments can’t agree on the neutron lifetime, according to a new idea | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

What if We Could Live for a Million Years?

Vastly extended life spans would bring dazzling opportunities — and daunting risks | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

In Case You Missed It

Top news from around the world | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Ocean Carries 'Memories' of SARS-CoV-2

We’ve been looking in the wrong place for a deeper understanding of the virus | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Coronavirus News Roundup, August 8-August 14

Pandemic highlights for the week | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Will 2020 Be the Hottest Year on Record?

It will certainly place in the top five—a marker of how much the world has warmed | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Trump Administration Completes Climate Dismantling with Methane Rollback

New rules provide laxer requirements for finding and repairing leaks of the potent greenhouse gas | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Invisible Qualities Such as 'Hardness' Can Pinpoint Objects

Objects’ hidden physical traits can help people locate them faster | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How to Study Racial Disparities

To understand the causes of unequal treatment, researchers need to be sensitive to the statistical, conceptual and historical complexities associated with race | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Light Pollution from Coastal Cities Reaches Seafloor

The artificial night sky brightness could harm creatures that dwell in the ocean depths | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Coming or Possibly Nearly Here Storm

Former Scientific American editor Mark Alpert talks about his latest sci-fi thriller The Coming Storm, which warns about the consequences of unethical scientific research and of ignoring the scientific findings you don't like.   | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity

Prescribing weight loss to black women ignores barriers to their health | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Disaster Program Allocates Unprecedented Funds for Climate Resilience

Communities will be able to tap into $500 million to mitigate against disasters by, for example, strengthening building codes | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A 429-Million-Year-Old Trilobite Had Eyes like Those of Modern Bees

Rare, cracked fossil shows the world through ancient eyes | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Science of Sourdough: How Microbes Enabled a Pandemic Pastime

Scientists peer into those jars on the kitchen counter to find out how what’s really happening | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Darwin, Expression, and the Lasting Legacy of Eugenics

If evolution is seen as the study of unseen development, the camera provided the illusion of quantifiable benchmarks, an irresistible proposition for the advocates of eugenics. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The 1918 Flu Faded in Our Collective Memory: We Might 'Forget' the Coronavirus, Too

The legacy of the 20th century’s deadliest pandemic shows how large groups remember—and forget—their shared past | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The 1918 Flu Faded in Our Collective Memory: We Might 'Forget' the Coronavirus, Too

The legacy of the 20th century’s deadliest pandemic shows how large groups remember—and forget—their shared past | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Why Lava Worlds Shine Brightly (It's Not The Lava)

Scientists determined that "lava world" exoplanets don't derive their brightness from molten rock, but possibly from reflective, metallic clouds. Christopher Intagliata reports. | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Have Lost Millions of Metric Tons of Ice

As these platforms are winnowed away, they imperil the continent’s glaciers and set the stage for further sea level rise | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

NASA's TESS Planet-Hunting Space Telescope Completes Its Primary Mission

The observatory has found 66 confirmed worlds, plus 2,100 additional candidates—and the search goes on | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Our Temporary Moratorium against Handshakes Should Become Permanent

The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in an overdue development | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How Climate Change Strategies That Use Biomass Can Be More Realistic

Current plans for drawing down carbon dioxide call for more trees, grasses and crop residues than Earth can spare | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Russia's Fast-Track Coronavirus Vaccine Draws Outrage Over Safety

The immunization could be dangerous because it hasn’t been tested in large trials, say researchers | Continue reading


@scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago