Scientific American Summaries and Reviews
See all summaries and reviews from Scientific American at a glance.
Machines That Translate Wants into Actions
A new generation of brain-machine interface can deduce what a person wants
Scientific American, 2019
The World’s First Virus-Proof Cell, with Redesigned DNA, Is About to Meet the Test of Its Life
Biologists are building an organism that can shrug off any virus on the planet. Impervious human cells may be next
Scientific American, 2019
Why Social Media Makes People Unhappy – And Simple Ways to Fix It
Research suggests platform designs make us lose track of time spent on them and can heighten conflicts, and then we feel upset with ourselves
Scientific American, 2022
Subverting Climate Science in the Classroom
Oil and gas representatives influence the standards for courses and textbooks, from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Scientific American, 2022
Mania May Be a Mental Illness in Its Own Right
Hundreds of thousands of people experience mania without ever getting depressed. Why does psychiatry insist on calling them bipolar?
Scientific American, 2019
Are Toxic Political Conversations Changing How We Feel about Objective Truth?
As political polarization grows, the arguments we have with one another may be shifting our understanding of truth itself
Scientific American, 2018
The New Era of Multimessenger Astronomy
Astronomers’ newfound ability to see the same cosmic events in light, particles and gravitational waves – a synthesis called multimessenger astronomy – gives them a fuller picture of some of the universe’s most mysterious phenomena
Scientific American, 2018
This Room Could Wirelessly Charge All Your Devices
New technology delivers power to electronic devices in a test space
Scientific American, 2021
Gene Therapy Tackles a Common Birth Defect: Deafness
After false starts, researchers are making progress toward treating deafness with gene therapy
Scientific American, 2018
Evolution Research Could Revolutionize Cancer Therapy
Evolutionary studies indicate that the genetic changes enabling a cancer to develop arise shockingly early within the primary tumor. This discovery points to a promising new approach to therapy
Scientific American, 2018
How the Brain ‘Constructs’ the Outside World
Neural activity probes your physical surroundings to select just the information needed to survive and flourish
Scientific American, 2022
Spark Creativity with Thomas Edison’s Napping Technique
Waking yourself from the twilight state just before sleep may help you to solve a challenging problem, a study shows
Scientific American, 2021
Humans Evolved to Exercise
Unlike our ape cousins, humans require high levels of physical activity to be healthy
Scientific American, 2019
Scrubbing Carbon from the Sky
Can we remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere to slow or even reverse climate change?
Scientific American, 2019
Spooky Quantum Action Passes Test
Recent experiments quash the hope that the unsettling phenomenon of quantum entanglement can be explained away
Scientific American, 2018
You Really Can Learn in Your Sleep
Experimental techniques demonstrate how to strengthen memories when our brains are offline
Scientific American, 2018
Forestalling a Fatal Decision
Social scientists have begun to close in on new ways to stop people from taking their own lives
Scientific American, 2018
Tiny Creatures, Part Plant and Part Animal, May Control the Fate of the Planet
Mixotrophs, tiny sea creatures that hunt like animals but grow like plants can change everything from fish populations to rates of global warming.
Scientific American, 2018
Top 10 Emerging Technologies for 2021
Innovations to help tackle societal challenges – especially climate change
Scientific American, 2021
Your Boss Wants to Spy on Your Inner Feelings
Tech companies now use AI to analyze your feelings in job interviews and public spaces. But the software is prone to racial, cultural and gender bias
Scientific American, 2021
Could the Next Big Information Technology Be ... DNA?
How DNA is used to store – and generate – information at extreme scales
Scientific American, 2019
Intelligent Machines That Learn Like Children
Machines that learn like children provide deep insights into how the mind and body act together to bootstrap knowledge and skills
Scientific American, 2018
Droughts and Floods May Level Off until 2050, but Then Watch Out
Strange waves in the jet stream foretell a future full of heat waves and floods
Scientific American, 2019
