SSS 2010-05-14

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. Thisll just take a minute. Bisphenol A. Also called BPA, it's used to make shatter-proof plastic known as polycarbonate, found in everything from water bottles to medical devices to

SSS 2010-06-02

After hundreds of years, the most common, basic microscopes still operate by means of the same old hardware: the lens. But what if you could do away with that lens and create a microscope that fits on a cell phone? Thats what researchers led by Aydog

SSS 2010-06-03

This is Scientific America's 60-Second Science, I am Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Most of us dont think twice about getting behind the wheel even for short hops to pick up some milk. And thats not just because cars are convenient, or b

SSS 2010-06-04

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. July is coming. Its a time to fire up the barbecue, hit the beaches and watch the fireworks. Its definitely not a time to be in the hospital. Because fa

SSS 2010-06-07

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Counterfeiters and money minters constantly try to outsmart each other. But money could become much harder to forgethanks to butterfly wings. Butterfl

SSS 2010-06-08

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Its refreshing. Its invigorating. And it leaves you feeling truly alive. No, Im not talking about a cold shower or a fruit smoothie with a mochachino ch

SSS 2010-06-09

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Bubbles. Big ones entertain children and tiny ones tickle champagne aficionados. Even witches appreciate what they bring to a boiling cauldron. If you,

SSS 2010-06-10

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. I once took part in a vodka tasting contest, in which participants tried to tell an expensive brand from a cheap one. I dont recall the exact outcome, f

SSS 2010-06-11

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? With the World Cup soccer tournament underway in South Africa, a couple of things for the science-interested audience to watch for. First, the games will feature a new

SSS 2010-06-15

When astronaut Alan Shepard took his first swing at a golf ball on the moon, he hit more dirt than ball. The dust he kicked up reinforced the idea that the moon is one big sand trap. But looks can be deceiving. Now, scientists reanalyzing lunar sampl

SSS 2010-05-04

This is Scientific American's Sixty-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got the minute? A couple million years ago, mammoths migrated north from Africa to colonize Eurasia. Sometime around then a massive ice age kicked inand it was stay warm

SSS 2010-03-01

Big cats or wolves seem like scaled-up versions of the tabby or terrier sleeping on your sofa. But the proportions do subtly change as animals get larger. For one thing, big animals feet are smaller relative to their bodies than are smaller beasts. B

SSS 2010-03-02

When an ocean liner starts taking on water, what governs whether its women and children first or every man for himself? According to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, mens altruistic versus self-serving behavior depends

SSS 2010-03-03

Sometimes scientific discoveries are hidden in museum specimen drawers and old journal articles. In two studies in the journal Science, researchers who went through the stuff in institutional attics offer new insights into the development and diversi

SSS 2010-03-04

The food industry leads the nation in pounds of waste produced annually. So, whats second? Its health care facilities. They dispose of more than four billion pounds of waste each year. Another shocker? A lot of that waste is perfectly functional. In

SSS 2010-03-08

So, theyre scanning your items at the grocery store, and when the last tomato gets bagged youre stunned at the cost. How did you spend so much? Maybe those cherries were 12 bucks a pound. Or maybe you should have paid more attention to what you put i

SSS 2010-03-09

Last week, the new Advanced Research Projects Agency for energy held its inaugural conference in Washington, D.C.a direct response to a growing sense that the U.S. is losing its technology lead when it comes to the race for cleaner ways to produce an

SSS 2010-03-10

You know how uncomfortable it feels when you really have to go to the bathroom? And you have to hold it in? If researchers get their way, disease-carrying mosquitoes will spend their last moments being that uncomfortable. Cornell University scientist

SSS 2010-03-11

Think arranged marriages are loveless? Not so, says psychologist Robert Epstein, a contributing editor for Scientific American MIND magazine. He spoke March 10 at the 92nd Street Ys Tribeca site in New York City: And theres even a study published in

SSS 2010-03-12

Dont forget to move your clocks forward this weekend. And then dont forget to be more careful in the days after you adjust your clocks. Because a recent study found that the hour of lost sleep was related to increased job-related injuries. Probably b