SSS 2009-10-15

One of the goals of regenerative medicine is to make tissue to replace our own damaged body parts. Thats still a ways off. But starting with mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers have succeeded in creating heart muscle that actually beats. The stud

SSS 2009-10-16

It's all about the meters. As any would-be installer of solar rooftop panels knows, having the right meter to count how much power your photovoltaics are producing is key. So perhaps it's no surprise that Team Germany snatched victory on the last day

SSS 2009-10-19

In 1865, Pierre Paul Broca pinpointed the part of the brain responsible for language by autopsying brains of the language-impairedthe region is now called Brocas area. But more info has been hard to get. Because most brain research is done on animals

SSS 2009-10-20

Searching the Internet can be a totally exhausting experience, as you bounce from one site to another to another, sometimes until you cant remember what you were looking for in the first place. But according to scientists at U.C.L.A., all that virtua

SSS 2009-11-02

The 12 million Americans with sleep apnea stop breathing for short periods during the night, sometimes hundreds of times. Now a new study finds that a good motivator for some apnea sufferers to get treatment could be improved athletic performance. Be

SSS 2009-11-04

With H1N1 on the rise and flu shots hard to find, few things are as terrifying as [sneeze sound]. But now a report in the journal Psychological Science suggests that coughing and sneezing can spread more than viruses. They also spread fear, of germs

SSS 2009-09-07

Can you hear the end of the daytime insect? Thats the cicada. But Im hearing crickets in the background too. And just listen for a second, listen to how many different sounds you can hear. Thats Allison Beall of the Marshlands Conservancy, a wildlife

SSS 2009-07-07

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science, I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Ever-increasing numbers of people are consuming news via the Internet and cell phones. In London last week at the World Conference of Science Journalists, Philip Hilts, t

SSS 2009-07-09

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? The results are in, and, Americans pretty much like science. Eighty-four percent of those polled think that sciences effect on society is mostly positive. Thats the resu

SSS 2009-07-10

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. It sounds like the title to a Rudyard Kipling tale: how the turtle got its shell. But its actually a question that has puzzled scientists. After all, n

SSS 2009-07-13

According to neuro scientist from Briton's Kill? University, dropping the F bomb(does he mean fuck here?) can actually relief physical pain, in the up coming August ?? issue of the Journal NeuroReport the researcher says swearing is a different pheno

SSS 2009-07-14

Anyone whos ever had a cat knows how demanding they can be. Let me out, let me in, give me food, give me different food. The list goes on. But how do these clever kitties convince us to do their bidding? A study in the July 14 issue of Current Biolog

SSS 2009-07-15

Modern humans are masters of multitasking. We eat while driving, watch TV while studying, and of course talk on our cell phones while doing, well, everything. How do we do it? A study in the July 16th issue of Neuron suggests that though we can train

SSS 2009-07-17

transcript This is Scientific Ameicans 60-Second Science. Im Karen Hopkin. Got a minute? Horse racing is a sport that's 200 years old. And a day at the track is much more exciting now than it was back then. That's because horses are faster than they

SSS 2009-07-20

This is Scientific American 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky, got a minute？ Its the 40th anniversary of the first humans setting foot on the moon. Last August, I interviewed one of them, Buzz Aldrin, in the lobby of a hotel he was staying at in

SSS 2009-07-21

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin . This will just take a minute. When you get caught in a downpour, you probably dont think about the size of the raindrops that assault you as you run for cover. But physicists do. And

SSS 2009-08-03

People swing their arms when they walk. But did you ever wonder why? Does it help us keep our balance? Is it a relic from our evolutionary past? Is it because we look like doofuses if we dont? Now, a report in the Royal Society journal Biological Sci

SSS 2009-08-05

This is Scientific American's 60 Seconds Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? In 1900 legendary physicist Max Planck described the way energy gets dissipated from any nonreflective object, called a blackbody. But even Max said if something else i

SSS 2009-11-03

The other day my 3-year old God son and I were pillow fighting when he sat down, panting, and said with surprise, I can feel my heart beating! Sometimes it takes little kids to remind us just how amazing our bodies are. Scientists believe that an are

SSS 2009-08-07

A friends four year old daughter recently complained to me about how badly her mosquito bite itched. She was about to burst into tears. The fact that an uncomfortable itchy sensation can drive many of us to distraction led many scientists to believe