Science Talk

AI, Robotics and Your Health

18 Jun 2018

Contributed by Lukas

At the second Science on the Hill event, AI, Robotics and Your Health, experts from academia and the private sector talked with Scientific American Ed...

Dinosaurs: From Humble Beginnings to Global Dominance

23 May 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Edinburgh University paleontologist Steve Brusatte talks about his May 2018 Scientific American article, "The Unlikely Triumph of the Dinosaurs," and ...

Humans Evolved but Are Still Special

30 Apr 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Brown University biologist and author Ken Miller talks about his new book The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness and Free Wi...

A Brain Deprived of Memory

30 Mar 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Lemonick, opinion editor at Scientific American, talks about his most recent book, The Perpetual Now: A Story of Amnesia, Memory and Love, abo...

Blockchain beyond Bitcoin: The Energy Sector

28 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

Freelance science journalist Kevin Begos reports from the U.S. Power and Renewable Summit in Austin, Texas, on the use of blockchain technology to mak...

Enrico Fermi: The Last Man Who Knew Everything

19 Feb 2018

Contributed by Lukas

David N. Schwartz talks about his latest book, The Last Man Who Knew Everything: The Life and Times of Enrico Fermi, Father of the Nuclear Age.   ...

A Future for American Energy

29 Jan 2018

Contributed by Lukas

At the first Science Meets Congress event, Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future, energy and innovation experts from academia, government and the ...

The Skinny on Fat

11 Dec 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Biochemist Sylvia Tara talks about her book The Secret Life of Fat: The Science behind the Body's Least-Understood Organ and What It Means for You. Le...

Your Brain Is So Easily Fooled

27 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist Erik Vance talks about his first book, Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform and Heal. Le...

Come On and Zoom (through the Universe)

11 Nov 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Caleb Scharf, director of Columbia University’s Astrobiology Center talks about his latest book, The Zoomable Universe: An Epic Tour through Cosmic ...

Monsters: Not Just for Halloween

25 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Asma, professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago and author of On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears, talks about our ...

Maryn McKenna's <i>Big Chicken,</i> Part 2

18 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning journalist Maryn McKenna talks about her latest book, Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture an...

Maryn McKenna's <i>Big Chicken,</i> Part 1

17 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Award-winning journalist Maryn McKenna talks about her latest book, Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture an...

Nobel Prize Explainer: Catching Proteins in the Act

04 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for developing cryo-electron microscopy...

Nobel Prize Explainer: Gravitational Waves and the LIGO Detector

03 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded today to Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne for their contributions to the LIGO detector and the observa...

Nobel Prize Explainer: Circadian Rhythm's Oscillatory Control Mechanism

02 Oct 2017

Contributed by Lukas

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young for discoveries of molecular mechanisms...

Does Evolution Repeat Itself?

27 Sep 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Losos, biology professor at Harvard and curator of herpetology at the university’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, talks about his latest bo...

The Great American Eclipse

08 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

In advance of the big solar eclipse on August 21, author and journalist David Baron talks about his new book American Eclipse: A Nation's Epic Race to...

Curiouser and Curiouser

01 Aug 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio ventures deep into the human mind in his new book, Why? What Makes Us Curious. Learn more about your ad choices....

The Shark That Conquered the Whorl

21 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist and author Susan Ewing talks about her new book Resurrecting the Shark: A Scientific Obsession and the Mavericks Who Solved the Mystery of ...

Undersea National Monument Could Be Left High and Dry

11 Jul 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Kraus, vice president and senior science advisor at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium in Boston, talks about ...

Wacky Florida's Weird Science

19 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times talks about his book, Oh, Florida! How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country. ...

The Gestation Equation: Testing Babies' Genes

01 Jun 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist Bonnie Rochman talks about her new Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux book, The Gene Machine: How Genetic Technologies Are Chang...

5G Wiz: What's on the Horizon for Mobile

30 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Verizon’s director of network planning, Sanyogita Shamsunder, talks with Scientific American's Larry Greenemeier about the coming 5G and EM-spectrum...

Take the Tube: Underground as a Way of Life

03 May 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Emory University paleontologist, geologist and ichnologist Anthony J. Martin talks about his new book, The Evolution Underground: Burrows, Bunkers and...

Killer Cats Bash Biodiversity

24 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Conservation biologist Peter Marra talks with journalist Rene Ebersole about the threat of outdoor cats to wild animals and to human health. Marra is ...

Dogging It: Turning Wild Foxes into Man's Second-Best Friend

18 Apr 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Evolutionary biologist and science historian Lee Dugatkin talks about the legendary six-decade Siberian experiment in fox domestication run by Lyudmil...

What's Driving the Self-Driving Cars Rush

28 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American technology editor Larry Greenemeier talks with Ken Washington, vice president of Research and Advanced Engineering at Ford, about ...

Biology's Lessons for Business

21 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Martin K. Reeves and Simon Levin talk about their Scientific American essay "Building a Resilient Business Inspired by Biology." Learn more about your...

Churchill's Extraterrestrials

15 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio writes in the journal Nature and talks to Scientific American about the recently rediscovered essay by Winston C...

Rapid-Response Vaccines for Epidemic Outbreaks

30 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Trevor Mundel, president of global health at the Gates Foundation, talks to Scientific American editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina about the Coaliti...

Exit Interview: Presidential Science Advisor John Holdren

19 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American executive editor Fred Guterl talks with Pres. Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, about climate science, space travel, the is...

We're Taking You to Bellevue

17 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

Pulitzer Prize–winning N.Y.U. historian David Oshinsky, director of the Division of Medical Humanities at the N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center, talks a...

Best Science Books of 2016

31 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Barbara Kiser, books and arts editor at Nature, talks about her favorite science books of 2016, especially three works about the little-known history ...

Getting Robots to Say No

21 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Gordon Briggs, a postdoc at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, talks about the article he and Matthias Scheutz, director of the Human Robot Interacti...

How Myths Evolve over Time and Migrations

15 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Julien d’Huy, of the Pantheon–Sorbonne University in Paris, talks about the use of evolutionary theory and computer modeling in the comparative an...

Attack On the Internet: Weak-Link Nanny Cams

26 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Rosenzweig, former deputy assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security and founder of Red Branch Consulting, PLLC, talks...

Flint's Water and Environmental Justice

17 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The University of Michigan's Paul Mohai, a leading researcher of issues related to environmental justice, talked about the Flint water crisis at a wor...

Chemistry Nobel Prize: Machines Too Small to See

05 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded today to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for the design and synthesis o...

Physics Nobel Prize: Buns, Bagels and Pretzels Help Explain Exotic Matter

04 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded today to David J. Thouless, F. Duncan Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz for theoretical discoveries of topologi...

Nobel Prize Explainer: Autophagy

03 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded today to Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan for his discoveries concerning autophagy. Following the annou...

They Do What?!: The Wide Wild World of Animal Sex

26 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Carin Bondar talks about her new book Wild Sex, which covers the strange, surreal and sometimes scary sex lives of our animal cousins.     Learn m...

Big Bang of Body Types: Sports Science at the Olympics and beyond

16 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

David Epstein talks about his 2013 bestseller The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance and his recent Scientific Amer...

Grand Canyon Rapids Ride for Evolution Education

15 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Each summer, the National Center for Science Education organizes a boat trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to bring visitors face t...

The Science of Soldiering: Mary Roach's <i>Grunt</i>

04 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Best-selling science writer Mary Roach talks about her latest book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War.   Learn more about your ad choices...

Electric Eels versus Horses: Shocking but True

27 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Kenneth Catania of Vanderbilt University talks to Cynthia Graber about electric eel research that led him to accept 19th-century naturalist Alexander ...

Tiger, Tiger, Being Tracked

16 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Wildlife Conservation Society researcher Ullas Karanth talks about his July, 2016, Scientific American article on state-of-the-art techniques for trac...

Gravitational Wave Scientists Astounded--by Your Interest

14 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Caltech’s Kip Thorne and Ronald Drever and MIT’s Rainer Weiss were the founders of the LIGO experiment that detected gravitational waves. They wer...

Sean M. Carroll Looks at The Big Picture

12 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Caltech theoretical physicist Sean M. Carroll talks about his new book The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. (Dut...

The Bowling Ball That Invaded Earth

05 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Former Scientific American editor Mark Alpert talks about his latest science fiction thriller, The Orion Plan, featuring the method whereby aliens mos...

Different Minds: The Wide World of Animal Smarts

29 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Primatologist Frans de Waal discusses his latest book, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (Norton, 2016).   Learn more about your a...

The Perfect Bet: Taking the Gambling out of Gambling

14 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematician and author Adam Kucharski talks about his new book The Perfect Bet: How Science and Math Are Taking the Luck Out of Gambling (Basic Book...

Gorilla's Hum Is a Do-Not-Disturb Sign

29 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

If a socially prominent gorilla is in the midst of a meal, it may hum or sing to tell others nearby that it's busy at the moment and will get back to ...

Bill Gates Wants a Miracle

25 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American's energy and environment editor, David Biello, met with Bill Gates on February 22 to discuss tackling carbon emissions while at th...

From AI to Zika: AAAS Conference Highlights

16 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American editors Mark Fischetti, Dina Maron and Seth Fletcher talk about the info they picked up at the just-concluded annual meeting of th...

Gravitational Waves Found: Kip Thorne Explains

11 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American's Josh Fischman talks with renowned astrophysicist and general relativity expert Kip Thorne about the discovery of gravitational w...

The Big Gath Dig: Goliath's Hometown

10 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Freelance journalist Kevin Begos talks with archaeologist Aren Maeir, from Bar Ilan University in Israel, at his dig site in Gath, thought to be Golia...

Roman Sanitation Didn't Stop Roaming Parasites

12 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The University of Cambridge's Piers Mitchell, author of the 2015 book Sanitation, Latrines and Intestinal Parasites in Past Populations, talks about t...

Evolution Still on Trial 10 Years after Dover

20 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Evolutionary biologist Nicholas Matzke talks about the Kitzmiller v. Dover evolution trial on the 10th anniversary of the decision. He advised the pla...

Lifting the Visor on Virtual Reality

15 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Ken Perlin, a New York University computer science professor and virtual reality pioneer, talks with Scientific American tech editor Larry Greenemeier...

The Epic History of the Horse

10 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Science journalist and equestrian Wendy Williams talks about her new book The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion   Learn more about you...

Math Can Equal Fun

20 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Harvey Mudd College math professor Arthur Benjamin talks about his new book The Magic of Math: Solving for x and Figuring Out Why   Learn more about...

Teaching Machines to Learn on Their Own

10 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Hoover, CEO of Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, talks with Scientific American tech editor Larry Greenemeier about the revolution underway...

Chemistry Nobel: Keeping DNA in Good Repair

07 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar for discoveries of the mechanisms by which cells maintain the in...

Physics Nobel: Neutrinos <i>Do</i> Have Mass

06 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos h...

Medicine Nobel: Sifting Nature for Antiparasite Drugs

05 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura for their discoveries of a medication against roundworm ...

The Hunt for the Fat Gene

16 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Medical researcher Richard Johnson, of the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, talks about his October Scientific American article "The Fa...

The Errors of Albert

02 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss, director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University, talks about his article "What Einstein Got Wro...

Public Health Hero Jimmy Carter; <i>SA</i> Turns 170

31 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Jimmy Carter talks about his public health efforts to eradicate guinea worm and improve global mental health and women's health. Plus, magazine collec...

Olympics Loser Boston Wins Big Economically

06 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist talks about why the Olympics is almost always a big financial hardship for the host city, a subject he...

Betting Lots of Quatloos on the Search for Alien Civilizations, Part 2

21 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Hawking and entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner announce a $100-million, 10-year initiative to look for signs of intelligent life in...

Betting Lots of Quatloos on the Search for Alien Civilizations, Part 1

20 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Hawking and entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner announce a $100-million, 10-year initiative to look for signs of intelligent life in...

Pluto Mission Finally Calls Home

15 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

At 8:52 P.M. Eastern time, July 14, 2015, an all's-well signal from the New Horizons spacecraft finished its 4.5-hour, three-billion-mile trip from ne...

Pluto, Ready for Your Close-Up!

14 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

At just before 7:50 A.M. today, July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft made its closest approach to Pluto. After a 9.5-year, three-billion-mile vo...

Restore Research to Preserve the American Dream

23 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Norman Augustine, former CEO of Lockheed Martin and former undersecretary of the Army talks about the report he co-chaired for the American Academy of...

Migratory Birds: What a Long-Range Trip It's Been

18 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Ornithologist Eduardo Inigo-Elias, senior research associate with the conservation science program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, talks abo...

Take a Bite out of the Math of Math

02 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Mathematician Eugenia Cheng, tenured in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield in the U.K. and currently Scientist in...

Animals Don't Use Facebook but They Have Social Networks, Too

16 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Lee Dugatkin, evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist at the University of Louisville, talks about his article in the June Scientific American...

Mississippi Mound Builders Meet the 33rd Legion

06 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Astronomer Alan Smale spends his days at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center exploring celestial objects, but he's also the author of Clash of Eagles, an...

The Ebola Outbreak: Past, Present and Future

26 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American’s Dina Maron talks with Keiji Fukuda, assistant director general for health security at the World Health Organization, about the...

Humans and the Amazon: A 13,000-Year Coexistence

20 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

University of Exeter archaeologist José Iriarte talks to freelance journalist Cynthia Graber about his efforts to understand human activity in and ...

The Placement Excitation: <i>Scientific American</i> on <i>The Big Bang Theory</i>

12 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

In conjunction with this magazine's inclusion on the March 12 episode of The Big Bang Theory, here's an edited version of a talk by the sitcom's scien...

<i>Science Goes to the Movies</i>: A New TV Program

20 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Heather Berlin, assistant professor of psychiatry and of neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, is the co-host of the new CU...

Every Life Has Equal Value, Part 2: Gates Foundation CEO Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann

30 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Gates Foundation CEO Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann and Scientific American Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina talk about the foundation set forth in it...

Every Life Has Equal Value, Part 1: Gates Foundation CEO Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann

30 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Gates Foundation CEO Dr. Susan Desmond-Hellmann and Scientific American Editor in-Chief Mariette DiChristina talk about the foundation set forth in it...

Best of Thanksgiving, Part 2: Let's Talk Stuffing—Your Face!

27 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Cornell University's Brian Wansink talks about eating behavior and how mindless eating has us consuming way more calories than we suspect   Learn mo...

Best of Thanksgiving, Part 1: Let's Talk Turkey!

27 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Turkey scientist Rich Buchholz of the University of Mississippi talks about the turkey on your plate and his own turkey research    Learn more abou...

Doctors Without Borders Fight on Ebola's Front Lines

14 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American health and medicine correspondent Dina Fine Maron talks with Armand Sprecher of Doctors Without Borders, who has fought Ebola in G...

Ebola Expert Update

05 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American health and medicine correspondent Dina Fine Maron talks about Ebola with tropical medicine and infectious disease expert Daniel Ba...

Let's Get Small: A Panel on Nanoscience

15 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American senior editor Josh Fischman joins nanoscience researchers Shana Kelly, Yamuna Krishnan, Benjamin Bratton, along with moderator Bri...

Building a Better Microscope: 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

08 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner for the development of super-resolved fluorescence ...

Blue Light Special: 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics

07 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura for the invention of efficient blue light–emitting diodes, w...

The Map in Your Mind: 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

06 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser for their discoveries of cells that constitut...

Kodiak Update: <i>Scientific American</i> Alaska Cruise, Part 4

02 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American Bright Horizons Cruise 22 is in port in Kodiak, Alaska, on September 2nd. We talk about our last few stops and hear from passenger...

The Juneau Tour: <i>Scientific American</i> Alaska Cruise, Part 3

31 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American Bright Horizons Cruise 22 arrives in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 31st, which allows us to post audio from a fascinating taxi trip...

Juneau Where I Am: <i>Scientific American</i> Alaska Cruise, Part 2

28 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American Bright Horizons Cruise 22 arrives in Juneau, Alaska Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Catch Me If You Ketchikan: <i>Scientific American</i> Alaska Cruise, Part 1

26 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American Bright Horizons Cruise 22 arrives in Ketchikan, Alaska. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shakespeare and Science, Part 2

19 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Falk discusses his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ...

Shakespeare and Science, Part 1

19 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Falk discusses his latest book, The Science of Shakespeare: A New Look at the Playwright's Universe    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ...

Furious New Science Fiction from Mark Alpert

03 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Scientific American editor–turned-sci-fi-writer Mark Alpert, author of Final Theory and Extinction, talks about his latest book, The Furies    Le...