SSS 2009-02-09

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. In the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire, the star answers game show questions correctly based on his life experiences. At least one right answer, however,

SSS 2009-02-10

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Adam Hinterthuer. Got a minute? Heres a novel potential public health measure against the flukick up the humidity. The cold, dry months of winter signal the start of flu season. But previous resear

SSS 2009-02-11

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christie Nicholson . Got a minute? The lure of gambling clearly comes from the chance of winning. But how exciting is it to almost win? A study in the February 12th issue of the journal Neuron look

SSS 2009-02-12

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky . Got a minute ? February 12th is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. But theyre linked by something else, too. Before Darwin, natural philosophers held to a poin

SSS 2009-02-13

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Sometimes you want something so badly it hurts, usually something that someone else has. Now a report in the journal Science shows that the agony of envy

SSS 2009-02-17

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky . Got a minute ? Even monkeys know when theyre getting a bad deal, said primatologist Frans de Waal at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in

SSS 2010-12-13

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Galileo first spotted Saturn's rings 400 years ago. But since then, scientists have been stumped about how they got there. Because the rings are almost pure wa

SSS 2010-10-14

That 80s power ballad had it all wrong. Love may keep you from hurting. Two researcherspain specialist Sean Mackey at Stanford and love specialist Arthur Aron at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brookmet at a neuroscience conference. They realized they were talking ab

SSS 2010-10-15

Many of our medicines originate in plants. But were not the only ones who tap into nature.Theres increasing evidence that some animals seek out specific plants for their medicinal qualities. A new study shows that monarch butterflies may be among the

SSS 2010-10-18

A noisy restaurant can distract you from your dinner conversation. But all that clatter may also drown out the taste of your food, making it more bland. That's according to a study in the journal Food Quality and Preference. Researchers recruited 48

SSS 2010-10-19

We tend to think of cavemen as pretty serious carnivores, hunting game and then roasting the yummy bits over a roaring campfire. But scientists just reported discovering traces of starch on some ancient stone tools. Which suggests that there were pro

SSS 2010-11-01

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. If youre like me, you get a jolt of energy from socializing, and hanging out with large groups of friends, because were extroverts. But if were too socia

SSS 2010-11-02

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Toss a piece of leaf onto a spider web. The spider is indifferent. Because leaves don't squirm like captured flies. But Australia's assassin bug turns the tabl

SSS 2010-11-03

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Maybe your dad said, The harder you work for something, the more youll appreciate it. Well, father really did know best, because a new study finds that the

SSS 2010-11-04

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. It's been touted for its healthful, anti-inflammatory properties. It's been recommended for helping ease the pain of arthritis, preventing cancer and s

SSS 2010-11-05

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Five very old galaxies are now known to astrophysicists, thanks to Albert Einstein. A century ago, Einstein predicted an effect called cosmic gravitational lensing. Pictur

SSS 2010-11-08

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? One of the dreams of biomedical scientists is to be able to transform adult cells into other kinds of cells. And thus avoid some of the ethical concerns of working with

SSS 2010-11-09

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Modern human babies are essentially learning machines. After birth, their brains grow in leaps and bounds, allowing infants to lay the groundwork for fut

SSS 2009-02-16

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Expectant moms can have very different ideas when it comes to where they plan to have their babies. Some women even choose to give birth in a warm tub of

SSS 2010-11-11

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Ah, daydreaming. Is there anything more pleasant than sitting back and letting your thoughts drift? Well, yes: not letting your thoughts drift, for one.