SSS 2011-10-14

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? (The) most obvious effect of birth control pills is, well...birth control. But the pill may have subtler effects, too. Like influencing which guy a woman goes

SSS 2011-09-15

hwThe little black boxes in the aeroplanes provide useful information after a crash has taken place. Now researchers have devised a way to use black box info from planes that do not crash to prevent accidents from never happening. Some airlines alrea

SSS 2011-09-14

The little black boxes in airplanes provide useful information after a crash has taken place. Now researchers have devised a way to use black box info from planes that do not crash to help prevent accidents from ever happening. Some airlines already

SSS 2011-11-15

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? I've always thought that when I get a fever, it's my body trying to make things uncomfortable for the invading pathogen. And that's often truehigher temperatur

SSS 2011-12-07

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. It's hard to feel a sense of urgency about climate changeit feels so slow. Well, try telling that to the critters dealing with it. Because new data sugge

SSS 2011-06-20

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Youre lying in a hammock by a breezy shore. The hammock rocks softly back and forth. In no time(snoring). It turns out thats not just the relaxation of b

SSS 2011-06-14

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Apart from working and sleeping, the thing Americans do the most is watch TVfive hours a day on average. But all that time in front of the tube may up your ris

SSS 2011-06-13

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? When the internet first got kicking, some scholars of democracy and civil society thought that online discussions could create what they called a conversationa

SSS 2011-05-02

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? The story is called Appointment in Samarra. A Baghdad merchant sends a servant to buy provisions. While at the market, the servant bumps into Death, who makes a threaten

SSS 2011-09-13

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. The little black boxes in airplanes provide useful information after a crash has taken place. Now researchers have devised a way to use black box info

SSS 2011-07-07

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science.I'm Cynthia Graber . This will just take a minute. (Chirping sound.) That may not sound likemuchbut its the loudest animal in the world. For its size, that is. Theinsect called the water boatman is two m

SSS 2011-02-14

Imagine Van Gogh's paintings of yellow sunflowers. Now imagine the flowers brown. Eh, not so good. Sadly, we may someday see what that would look like. Because the bright yellow paints on the canvas are slowly turning muddy. Now, an international tea

SSS 2011-02-09

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Many of us have plenty of leisure time to devote to trying out the latest Wii game or even watching others play poker on TV. But this focus on play is

SSS 2011-02-08

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? Walking through airports, youve probably crossed paths with a few K-9 cops. But those dogs arent just following their noses. They may be led astray by where thei

SSS 2011-04-11

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Landfills produce methanewhich can be valuable as an energy source. But scientists haven't known why landfills make so much methane. The solid waste in

SSS 2011-03-14

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. This will just take a minute. The type of accident that is occurring in Japan is known as the station blackout: loss of off-site AC powerpower lines are downand then a subsequent fail

SSS 2011-03-11

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Elephants are smart, social animals. And now we know that they can organize themselves into teams to accomplish tasks. A research team that included re

SSS 2011-03-09

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. The numbers of fish and other ocean life have dropped dramatically in the past few decades. That's because of commercial overfishing, and something cal

SSS 2011-03-08

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Wine can help keep conversation flowing at a dinner party. And now it looks like that wine may aid in materials science as well. Japanese researchers dis

SSS 2011-03-04

Every villain has his Achilles' heel. And microscopic scoundrels are no exception. The challenge for those who wish to ward off microbial bad guys is to identify that weak spot. Now, scientists studying the toxoplasmosis parasite think they've done j