January 2011
Scientific American Magazine

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Cover; January 2011; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; January 2011; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

From the Editor; January 2011; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s)

Casting a Wide Net

Letters; January 2011; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

Letters to the editor from the September 2010 issue of Scientific American

Science Agenda: A Political Wish List; January 2011; by The Editors; 1 Page(s)

ÿAs a new Congress takes office, Washington will face urgent issues in science, health and the environment. Here are a few good places to start

Forum: Diplomacy's Meltdown; January 2011; by David G. Victor; 1 Page(s)

When it comes to climate change, developing nations aren't the laggards

A Whole Lot of Nothing; January 2011; by Michael Moyer; 1 Page(s)

A flurry of evidence for a new subatomic particle could help explain the mystery of dark matter

How Old Is Your Cancer?; January 2011; by Melinda Wenner Moyer; 1 Page(s)

Pancreatic tumors can germinate for a decade before turning deadly, raising hopes for early detection

Animal Instincts; January 2011; by John Allen Paulos; 1 Page(s)

Are creatures better than us at computation?

Breaching the Brain Barrier; January 2011; by Jeneen Interlandi; 1 Page(s)

Tiny bubbles may help lifesaving drugs cross a crucial boundary

Will It Float?; January 2011; by Darren Naish; 1 Page(s)

Two scientists and a computer weigh in on a long-standing mystery about giraffes

The Science of Sous Vide; January 2011; by W. Wayt Gibbs; Nathan Myhrvold; 1 Page(s)

How underwater cooking differs from the broiler method

Practically Green; January 2011; by Anna Kuchment; 1 Page(s)

As the Chevy Volt, the first extended-range electric car, rolls into showrooms, its chief engineer talks about what's under the hood and why it's not a hybrid

Why Sleep Is Good for You; January 2011; by Carrie Arnold; 1 Page(s)

See-through fish are helping neuroscientists settle a scientific debate about whether slumber improves the brain's performance

For Whom the Nobel Tolls; January 2011; by Anna Kuchment; 1 Page(s)

An evening out with James Watson and colleagues

The Bright Spots of Kids' TV; January 2011; by Lauren Rubenzahl; 1 Page(s)

Four programs may help stimulate an early interest in the sciences

Donate Your Brain, Save a Buck; January 2011; by Gary Stix; 1 Page(s)

Hard times are making tissue donation more appealing

The Science of Health: Curing the Common Cold; January 2011; by Veronique Greenwood; 2 Page(s)

Be careful what you wish for. The remedies may be far worse than the illness

Technofiles: Don't Worry about Who's Watching; January 2011; by David Pogue; 1 Page(s)

Privacy concerns are overblown, even in our always connected world

Dawn of the Deed; January 2011; by John A. Long; 6 Page(s)

Fish fossils push back the origin of copulation in backboned animals and suggest that it was a key turning point in our evolution

Contact The Day After; January 2011; by Tim Folger; 6 Page(s)

If we are ever going to pick up a signal from E.T., it is going to happen soon, astronomers say. And we already have a good idea how events will play out

Flu Factories; January 2011; by Helen Branswell; 6 Page(s)

The next pandemic virus may be circulating on U.S. pig farms, but health officials are struggling to see past the front gate

In Search of the Radical Solution; January 2011; by Mark Fischetti; 4 Page(s)

The greatest energy payoffs, says investor Vinod Khosla, will come from fundamentally reinventing mainstream technologies

Seeds of the Amazon; January 2011; by Anna Kuchment; 2 Page(s)

Botanists have collected seeds from one of the most biologically diverse places on earth

100 Trillion Connections; January 2011; by Carl Zimmer; 6 Page(s)

The noise of billions of brain cells trying to communicate with one another may hold a crucial clue to understanding consciousness

Casualties of Climate Change; January 2011; by Alex de Sherbinin; Koko Warner; Charles Ehrhart; 8 Page(s)

Shifts in rainfall patterns and shorelines will contribute to mass migrations on a scale never before seen

Rise of the Robo Scientists; January 2011; by Ross D. King; 6 Page(s)

Machines can devise a hypothesis, carry out experiments to test it and assess results—without human intervention

Radioactive Smoke; January 2011; by Brianna Rego; 4 Page(s)

The tobacco industry has known for decades how to remove a dangerous isotope from cigarettes but has done nothing about it. The government now has the power to force a change

Recommended; January 2011; by Kate Wong; 1 Page(s)

Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Skeptic: The Science of Right and Wrong; January 2011; by Michael Shermer; 1 Page(s)

Can data determine moral values?

Anti-Gravity: They're Young and They're Restless; January 2011; by Steve Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

While we fret, some college students are busy creating the future

50, 100, 150 Years Ago; January 2011; by Daniel C. Schlenoff; 1 Page(s)

Innovation and discovery as chronicled in Scientific American

Graphic Science: Money for Science; January 2011; by Mark Fischetti; 1 Page(s)

Federal R&D spending shows how government priorities stack up