Scientific American - Observations

Third-hand smoke contains carcinogens too, study says

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:01:00 EST

Anyone walking into a smoker's abode can tell you that the traces of tobacco use don't vanish when a cigarette or cigar is extinguished. But just what happens to this "third-hand" smoke once the air has cleared--and can it still be harmful? [More]

Space shuttle Endeavour blasts off after one-day delay

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:45:00 EST

The fifth-to-last mission of the space shuttle program got under way early Monday, as the shuttle Endeavour rocketed up from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin a 13-day mission to the International Space Station . The orbiter launched at 4:14 A.M. (Eastern Standard Time), after a launch opportunity Sunday morning was scrapped due to cloud cover. [More]

Moving forward with electronic health records

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST

NEW YORK--Almost a year since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which earmarked some $19 billion to get electronic health records off the ground, most of the country's medical and research institutions are still primarily pushing paper. [More]

Prehistoric patterns: A dinosaur gets color from head to feathery tail

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:15:00 EST

Last week, researchers announced that they had been able to place, for the first time, original colors on a dinosaur --painting in striking stripes on Sinosauropteryx 's tail based on new evidence of pigment particles. Today, another team reports that they have decoded the colors of a different dino from head to tail. [More]

Athlete alert: Is genetic juicing set to replace steroids?

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:58:00 EST

When Olympic medals and multi-million-dollar contracts are at stake, athletes and coaches have been known to resort to drastic measures to strike gold. But as the steroid era evolves amidst increased testing and public hectoring, what other performance booster will enter the ring? [More]

With a little help, water can freeze as it heats up

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:01:00 EST

The Celsius scale is an elegant, simple system of measurement: water freezes at 0 degree Celsius and boils at 100 degrees C. (The actual definition of the scale is a bit more complex, involving the so-called triple point of water, but that's the general idea.) But chefs at high altitudes know that the simplicity of Celsius doesn't always hold--the higher your kitchen, the lower the boiling point of water. Similarly, water's freezing point is negotiable, with " supercooled " water able to remain liquid down to around –40 degrees , and even colder at extreme pressures. Supercooling can occur if water is so pure and is kept in such uncontaminated conditions that the molecules have nothing to interact with and crystallize around. [More]

Sperm cells' swimming secrets revealed

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:20:00 EST

The predictable swimming sperm featured in health class videos are rather uncharacteristic portraits of the life of these sex cells. [More]

Low serotonin levels may prompt mysterious sudden infant death syndrome

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:01:00 EST

The most common cause of death of U.S. infants before their first birthday is the nebulous complication known as sudden infant death syndrome (or SIDS), according to the Mayo Clinic. The underlying causes of this condition , in which no immediate cause of death is revealed in an autopsy, remain unknown, vexing scientists and parents alike. [More]

Less than a pretty face: Brain scans show how a disorder leads individuals to perceive themselves as ugly

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:01:00 EST

Despite living in a culture obsessed with physical flawlessness, most people in the U.S. have a relatively realistic perception of their own form and face--blemishes, bulges and all. About one to two percent of the population, however, suffers from a recognized psychological illness, known as body dysmorphic disorder (or BDD), which causes them to be preoccupied with physical defects that they think make them look repugnant. Such tendencies can lead some people to extreme and frequent plastic surgeries and even suicide. [More]

Majority of world's countries miss Copenhagen Accord deadline

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:01:00 EST

The bulk of the world's nations ignored a January 31 deadline to submit action plans to combat climate change under the terms of the Copenhagen Accord (pdf). But the majority of the world's greenhouse gas emissions will be affected by commitments that were submitted to the United Nations in recent days, in keeping with the last-minute, non-binding accord hammered out in December. [More]

Scientific American launches "World Changing Ideas" video contest

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST

Got an idea for a better tomorrow? Enter it into our video contest . Continuing the theme of Scientific American 's December 2009 cover story, “ World Changing Ideas ,” which highlighted the power of science and technology to improve the world around us, we are encouraging readers to submit video entries about innovative ways to build cleaner, healthier, smarter ways of life. [More]

Speculation about NASA's future swirls in advance of Obama's budget request

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:25:00 EST

President Barack Obama is expected to deliver his budget request for fiscal year 2011 on February 1, but to hear many commentators tell it, the sky has already fallen on NASA. [More]

The space shuttle's 2009 mission to Hubble: Coming soon to a theater near you

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST

NEW YORK--Back in May 2009 two of the most iconic entities in space science and exploration came together--literally--in the final scheduled servicing mission of the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope. The astronauts of space shuttle Atlantis plucked Hubble from orbit and in the course of five spacewalks dramatically revitalized the 19-year-old observatory, which had been limping along for some time. [More]

New large-clawed Jurassic dinosaur sheds light on elusive lineage

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST

The dinosaur group that over the eons has brought us Tyrannosaurus rex and modern birds just got a new member in one of its more perplexing, birdlike families, the alvarezsauridae. [More]

Are courtrooms and toxic torts the new side of public health?

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:38:00 EST

NEW YORK--The inspiring story of Erin Brockovich's legal battle with Pacific Gas and Electric Company for contaminating drinking water ended with a $333-million settlement to families in Hinkley, Calif., exposed to the company's hexavalent chromium waste, not to mention blockbuster acclaim for Brockovitch. [More]

Apple introduces the iPad and iBooks

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:59:00 EST

What do you know? McGraw-Hill CEO Harold McGraw was on the money yesterday when he said Apple would announce a tablet on Wednesday . The iPad now has officially arrived, weighing in at less than a kilogram, with a 25-centimeter LED-backlit display that is just over a centimeter thick. It will be available by the end of March with a price tag starting at $499. [More]

A face for politics: New study shows we can tell Democrats from Republicans in head shots

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:40:00 EST

You can tell a lot about a person by their face--even their political affiliation , new research claims. [More]

Running barefoot is better, researchers find

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:25:00 EST

Mother Nature has outpaced science once again: the bare human foot is better for running than one cushioned by sneakers. What about those $125 high-tech running shoes with 648 custom combinations? Toss 'em, according to a new study published online January 27 in the journal Nature ( Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). [More]

What the small-brained hobbit reveals about primate evolution

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:01:00 EST

Is bigger always better? When it comes to brain size, that has long been the prevailing theory--at least among big-brained humans . But a new analysis shows that in the course of primate evolution, brains and brawn haven't always been on the rise. [More]

Apple's new gadget is a tablet, McGraw-Hill confirms

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:30:00 EST

McGraw-Hill's CEO has answered the burning question in technology for the past several months--what exactly does Apple have up its sleeve? During an interview Tuesday afternoon on CNBC, Harold McGraw confirmed on-air that Apple will introduce its tablet computer Wednesday and that it will use the iPhone operating system. TechCrunch posted video of the three-minute interview to its site this afternoon. [More]