The Scientific American editorial team learned a lot this year. We debated why we’ll never live in space, explored the deep ocean (sort of), and asked how dinosaurs got so big. We also read a ton of books. While of course there were quite a few science fiction books (we can’t help ourselves), we also… Continue reading 55 Books Scientific American Recommends in 2023
Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging
Aging can seem like an unregulated process: As time marches along, our cells and bodies inevitably accumulate dings and dents that cause dysfunctions, failures and ultimately death. However, in 1993 a discovery upended that interpretation of events. Researchers found a mutation in a single gene that doubled a worm’s life span; subsequent work showed that… Continue reading Cells Across the Body Talk to Each Other About Aging
Astronomers Spy First Star-Forming Disk beyond the Milky Way
Making stars is a messy business. Although the process takes far longer than any human life span, we’ve sufficiently studied its various stages in stellar nurseries scattered around our galaxy to gain a decent overall grasp of how it works. It starts, in general, with a huge swirling cloud of gas and cosmic dust—like the… Continue reading Astronomers Spy First Star-Forming Disk beyond the Milky Way
Bad Science and Bad Statistics in the Courtroom Convict Innocent People
The city of New York recently witnessed a record payout to George Bell, falsely convicted of murder in 1999, after it emerged prosecutors had deliberately hidden evidence casting doubt on his guilt, giving false statements in court. Bell is the latest in a long line of people, especially Black Americans, unfoundedly convicted. More recently, Jabar… Continue reading Bad Science and Bad Statistics in the Courtroom Convict Innocent People
1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders
Podcast: Download MYS294: In 1982, 7 people suddenly died in Chicago, having taken Extra Strength Tylenol just before, and police learned the pills had been tampered with. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what happened, who was responsible, and how these events changed American permanently. Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by… Continue reading 1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders
How to Choose an Environmentally Friendly Christmas Tree
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Every year, Americans buy somewhere between 35 million and 50 million Christmas trees, and many more pull an artificial tree out of storage for the season. In all, about three-quarters of U.S. households typically have some kind of Christmas… Continue reading How to Choose an Environmentally Friendly Christmas Tree
Exposed: Moderna’s Vaccine Against Vaccine Dissent
Finances at the vaccine manufacturer Moderna began to fall almost as quickly as they had risen, as most Americans resisted getting yet another COVID booster shot. The pharmaceutical company, whose pioneering mRNA vaccine had turned it from small startup to biotech giant worth more than $100 billion in just a few years, reported a third-quarter… Continue reading Exposed: Moderna’s Vaccine Against Vaccine Dissent
‘Magical’ Error Correction Scheme Proved Inherently Inefficient
Unfortunately, the Reed-Muller code has a serious drawback: The number of bits required to encode a message increases exponentially with the number of variables. If you want a highly local code that corrects errors with just a handful of queries, you’ll need a lot of variables for long messages, and the Reed-Muller code will quickly… Continue reading ‘Magical’ Error Correction Scheme Proved Inherently Inefficient
Religious Liberty Is Fundamental to Diversity
When people complain about polarization in America, religious freedom sometimes takes the blame. How can people who disagree about such fundamental questions of life form one nation? Actually, Americans have been finding ways to live with disagreements for centuries—since before we were a nation. And the religious liberty protections of our First Amendment have… Continue reading Religious Liberty Is Fundamental to Diversity
Thunderstorm Damage Keeps Rising
December 8, 2023 2 min read Increasingly frequent thunderstorms caused insurers to pay $60 billion in claims in 2023 By Thomas Frank & E&E News Lightning strikes over Albuquerque, New Mexico. CLIMATEWIRE | Despite a small number of weather catastrophes this year, property insurers are facing huge losses and weak finances, partly from climate change, according… Continue reading Thunderstorm Damage Keeps Rising