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

SSS 2009-08-10

The so-called birthers cant accept that President Obama is really a natural-born American citizen. Part of whats behind this seemingly irrational belief may lie in whats called implicit social cognitionthe deep-rooted assumptions we all carry around,

SSS 2009-08-11

Its been called the vine that ate the south. Kudzu grows so fast it can completely cover a cabin in the woods in a couple of days. The invasive plant takes over another 150,000 acres every year. Which costs another $6 million to control. But plant pa

SSS 2009-08-12

Youve given some thought to oxygen, carbon, uranium. But youve probably never mused about the element ytterbium, symbol Yb. A new study by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST, says that ytterbium could find a rol

SSS 2009-08-13

Thin plastic bags are the ultimate throwaway item. Used once to tote groceries, the thin white bags often go on to second lives as permanent pollution and an eyesore. So a host of countries, cities and other governments have banned them or forced con

SSS 2009-08-14

Early modern humans didnt just chip away at stones to create their tools. They treated stone with fire in a sophisticated fashion, according to research published August 14th in the journal Science. About 72,000 years ago, our ancestors along coastal

SSS 2009-08-17

Youre not under arrest, despite the fact that you probably have some drugs in your pocket. Because theres a good chance your paper money contains trace amounts of cocaine. According to a study presented August 16th at the American Chemical Societys n

SSS 2009-08-18

How do you know if someones your friend? Ask your cell. Because your phone knows who your friends are. Sometimes even before you do. Or so says a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Scientists who study social networks have

SSS 2009-08-19

About 10 years ago, I followed some researchers waist deep into the waters of the Everglades. In the middle of the night. We kept a vigilant eye out for alligators and for venomous snakes. But the animals that actually posed the greatest danger were