SSS 2011-01-24

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm John Matson. Got a minute? In a laboratory vault outside Paris is a small cylinder of platinumiridium alloy that serves as the standard for all mass measurements worldwide. By an 1889 international

SSS 2011-05-27

Do you come from a country that has let's say a history of environmental disaster or conquests, and your culture probably tight that has strong social norms and doesn't tolerate much deviance from this norms, and then your culture probably autocratic

SSS 2011-05-19

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Its graduation season. And some scientists got to wondering whether the folks who shake hundreds of hands while passing out diplomas run the risk of coming

SSS 2011-06-23

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Birds and sea turtles can migrate thousands of miles, by reading the Earth's magnetic cues. But we too might have magnetic sensing abilitiesin our eyes. So say

SSS 2011-03-31

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Its been nearly 20 years since astronomers first identified a planet outside our solar system. More than 500 exoplanets have been discovered since then, ye

SSS 2011-03-30

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. 2011 is the International Year of Chemistry. So scientists at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Anaheim raised a glass. (Or a beak

SSS 2011-07-29

More than 16 mammals species like the famous fly squirrel have adapted the ability to sail from tree to tree, thrilling Yes, but what is the evolutionary advantages. One theory suggests gliding saves energy, so researchers test that idea using colugo

SSS 2011-07-19

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Medieval armor certainly looks heavy. And now researchers have demonstrated how the protection might have unwittingly put its wearers at a heavy disadvan

SSS 2011-07-25

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Think humans are at the top of the food chain? Not quite, in parts of Africa. Lions have attacked over 1000 people in Tanzania in the last 20 years. Two thirds o

SSS 2011-10-27

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Sophie Bushwick. Got a minute? West Nile virus first appeared in North America in 1999. And it quickly moved across the continent. Now a study has pinned the proliferation on a particular culprit:

SSS 2011-10-20

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? We produce nine billion food animals in the United States every year. And most of these animals are fed antibiotics throughout their life. And it's the single greatest u

SSS 2011-10-19

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? How do you know the moon is not made of green cheese? Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 17th. Well, we know

SSS 2011-08-29

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Many scientists draw their concepts.For example, if we look at the work of somebody like Maxwell or Faradywe know they drew as part of their inventing

SSS 2011-11-29

The key to a happymarriage and a happy life in retirement, according to recent study, one answeris sex. Researchers m a national data set called 2004 General Social Surveys. Theyanalyze the responses of 238 married seniors, 65 in older, about happine

SSS 2011-11-23

Confessing to a crime usually is not enough to throw you behind bars. Many states require independent evidence to corroborate a confession. But if a suspect confesses and forensic investigators know, it can cause them to favor evidence in support of

SSS 2011-08-25

This is Scientific Americans 60-SecondScience. Im John Matson, got a minute? Say you need a diamond. You could go downto the jeweler, or you could put some carbon deep underground and let it sitfor a couple billion years. Or you could hop in a starsh

SSS 2011-08-24

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Rivers today have high muddy banks, sandbars and bends. But they didnt always look that way because it wasnt until the evolution of tree-like plants, some 330 mi

SSS 2011-09-27

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Sophie Bushwick. Got a minute? The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, but try telling that to electrons: when current flows down a wire, these particles zig and zag, movin

SSS 2011-09-26

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Life requires balance. We balance work and family. We eat a balanced breakfast, sometimes. And we balance our electrolytes. That salt-water synergy is no

SSS 2011-09-29

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. They say all roads lead to Rome. Unfortunately that ain't all that roads lead to. A new study shows that roads can promote the spread of antibiotic-resis