Scientific American

A Monkey with Human Eyes and Other Links from the Brink

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:30:00 EST

A winning snail, an unusual monkey and abused manatees are among the endangered species in the news this week. Best News of the Week: The Magazine Mountain shagreen snail ( Inflectarius magazinensis ) has become the first invertebrate protected by the Endangered Species Act to fully recover. The snail has now been removed from the endangered species list , hopefully never to return. [More]

#SciAmBlogs Friday - Kirk vs. Spock, bridge failure, elephant seals, chemical intuition, predatory journals, sleep learning, and more.

Fri, 24 May 2013 22:47:00 EST

- Jag Bhalla - The Cognitive Science of Star Trek [More]

Northern Elephant Seals: Increasing Population, Decreasing Biodiversity

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:24:00 EST

By Dana Handy [caption id="attachment_4011" align="alignright" width="373" caption="The male elephant seals are known to have aggressive, bloody battles with each other to obtain dominance during mating season. They use their elephant-like noses to make a loud trumpet noise that attracts mates. Photo: NOAA"] [/caption] [More]

Net Loss: How We Continually Forget What the Oceans Really Used to Be Like [Excerpt]

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:00:00 EST

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Is Global Warming Cooler than Expected?

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:00:00 EST

LONDON – Several leading authorities on climate change have given a guarded welcome to research suggesting the Earth may warm more slowly than scientists had expected.

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#SciAmBlogs Thursday - science diagrams, mental illness art, beavers are fish, amphibian decline, cicadas, and more.

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:04:00 EST

Check out the new Video of the Week . [More]

Hip Hop Evolutionary Tales

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:07:00 EST

Video of the Week #93, May 23th, 2013: [More]

Amphibians in U.S. Declining at "Alarming and Rapid Rate"

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:08:00 EST

A new study finds that frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians in the U.S. are dying off so quickly that they could disappear from half of their habitats in the next 20 years. For some of the more endangered species, they could lose half of their habitats in as little as six years. The nine-year study, published on May 22 in PLoS One by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), examined population trends for 48 species at 34 sites across the country.The researchers found that on average amphibian populations were shrinking a surprising 3.7 percent per year. "Even though these declines seem small on the surface, they are not," lead author Michael Adams, a USGS ecologist, said in a prepared release . "Small numbers build up to dramatic declines with time. We knew there was a big problem with amphibians, but these numbers are both surprising and of significant concern." [More]

Will Great Wines Prove a Moveable Feast under Global Warming?

Thu, 23 May 2013 11:00:00 EST

MONTPELLIER, France -- South Africa, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand export their wines all over the world, a feat that was unthinkable here a few decades ago. Fatalists claim it won't be long until there will be more produced in China than in Europe. To some observers, these prognostications illustrate the wide-ranging adaptive capacity of the wine grape, Vitis vinifera.

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Marine Protected Areas and Catalina Island: Conserve, Maintain and Enrich

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:23:00 EST

By Rachel Roenfeldt [caption id="attachment_3997" align="alignright" width="353" caption="This is the logo for the US National System of Marine Protected Areas. Image courtesy of NOAA (http://www.noaa.gov/features/resources_0109/)."] [/caption] [More]

#SciAmBlogs Wednesday - niche construction, cicadas, ageing, Moon, pirates' dodo, sick caecilians, hurricane forecasts, and more.

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:33:00 EST

- David Rothenberg - Discover the Secret of the 17-Year Cicada, But It Won't Get You Tenure [More]

How to Use the Bathroom on a 20-Hour Plus Solar Airplane Flight [Video]

Wed, 22 May 2013 12:13:00 EST

In a bid to set the record for longest distance solar flight, Andre Borschberg will pilot the Solar Impulse airplane from Phoenix to Dallas. Total flying distance, barring route deviations due to weather or other factors, would be nearly 1,400 kilometers, or more than 200 kilometers farther than the previous longest flight set in 2012.On May 3, in just under 20 hours, the Solar Impulse airplane flew from Moffett Field near San Francisco to Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. After the long, slow flight, the solar airplane still had 75 percent of its battery power remaining when pilot Bertrand Piccard, who previously circumnavigated the globe in a balloon, landed the unwieldy aircraft just after midnight local time. A full breakdown of the technology that makes the manned solar airplane possible is here , including a slide show . [More]

U.S. Hurricane Forecasts Could Be Better

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:06:00 EST

It is difficult to focus on hurricane warnings right now, when Oklahoma is reeling from some of the worst tornadoes ever recorded. But the storms do raise questions about the abilities of U.S. scientists to predict severe weather, and the answers are not clear.Just last week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an internal study that judged how well its National Weather Service (NWS) did in predicting Hurricane Sandy . The report came to a curious conclusion: "The National Weather Service provided accurate forecasts for Sandy, giving people early awareness of the significant storm churning toward the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.... Forecasters performed well predicting the track of this extremely large and complex storm." [More]

USC Dornsife Scientific Diving: An Analysis of Sargassum Horneri Ecosystem Impact

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:35:00 EST

By: Richelle Tanner Introduction: [More]

#SciAmBlogs Tuesday - Oklahoma, cervical cancer, Weil's postulate, immunity and reproduction, global energy, UK wallabies, and more.

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:06:00 EST

Take a look at the newest Image of the Week ! - Hilda Bastian - Dissecting the controversy about early psychological response to disasters and trauma [More]

What unconventional fuels tell us about the global energy system

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:32:00 EST

[caption id="attachment_6181" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="The Japanese vessel Chikyu is part of research efforts to extract methane hydrates from the sea floor. Credit: IODP/JAMSTEC"] [/caption]Several days ago I finished reading Charles C. Mann's article in The Atlantic titled "What If We Never Run Out Of Oil?" , a long-form discussion of the history and technology of established sources of energy like oil and natural gas, as well as relative newcomers from hydraulic fracturing or methane hydrates. [More]

Why Are Barns Red?

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:57:00 EST

Image of the Week #92, May 21th, 2013: [More]

What Role Does Climate Change Play in Tornadoes?

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:31:00 EST

A powerful tornado as much as three-kilometers wide devastated the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on May 20. The twister reportedly boasted winds above 300 kilometers-per-hour as it tore through homes and schools, leaving a path of large-scale destruction and killing dozens of people, including many children.

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Scitable blog network just got bigger and better than ever!

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:03:00 EST

Those of you reading this are probably most familiar with this science blogging network - the Scientific American blogs . But this is just one of several blog networks hosted by Nature Publishing Group (NPG), Scientific American and/or our partners in other countries.You may remember a few months ago when Nature Network and English-language version of SciLogs fused into a much better network, which you really should be following (and it's easy, as we have a widget for them on our sidebar, scroll down a little and look to the right), the SciLogs.com . [More]

USC Dornsife Scientific Diving: A New Faculty Member on the Team

Tue, 21 May 2013 08:47:00 EST

By Kristen Weiss [caption id="attachment_3967" align="alignleft" width="427" caption="Leopard sharks are a common sight among the kelp forests and sandy bottoms surrounding Catalina Island. Photo by USC Scientific Diving Program."] [/caption] [More]