October 2011
Scientific American Magazine

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

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

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

Back to School

Letters; October 2011; by The Editors; 2 Page(s)

Letters to the editor from the June 2011 issue of Scientific American

Science Agenda: Ban Chimp Testing; October 2011; by The Editors; 1 Page(s)

Why it is time to end invasive biomedical research on chimpanzees

Forum: Toxins All Around Us; October 2011; by Patricia Hunt; 1 Page(s)

Exposure to the chemicals in everyday objects poses a hidden health threat

More Than Child's Play; October 2011; by Sharon Begley; 1 Page(s)

Young children think like researchers but lose the feel for the scientific method as they age

Is It Safe to Drink?; October 2011; by Melinda Wenner Moyer; 1 Page(s)

The government may not be doing enough to regulate contaminants in tap water

Patent Watch; October 2011; by Adam Piore; 1 Page(s)

Patent No. 7,947,068

What Is It?; October 2011; by Ann Chin; 1 Page(s)

Disguise genes

Outsmarting Cancer; October 2011; by Francie Diep; 1 Page(s)

A biologist talks about what makes disease-causing proteins so difficult to target with drugs

Clearing the Smoke; October 2011; by Francie Diep; 1 Page(s)

Marijuana remains tightly controlled, even though its compounds show promise

News Scans; October 2011; by George Hackett; 1 Page(s)

In Brief

"I've Got Your Back"; October 2011; by Eric Michael Johnson; 1 Page(s)

New evidence shows that chimpanzees aren't as selfish as many scientists thought

Instant Health Checks for Buildings and Bridges; October 2011; by Charles Q. Choi; 1 Page(s)

Sensors can detect damage that may be invisible to the naked eye

The Trouble with Armor; October 2011; by Michael Moyer; 1 Page(s)

The steel plates worn by medieval soldiers may have led to their wearers' demise

A Tale of Math Treasure; October 2011; by Davide Castelvecchi; 1 Page(s)

An exhibition traces the reconstruction of a long-missing collection of writings by Archimedes

Gig.U Is Now in Session; October 2011; by Larry Greenemeier; 1 Page(s)

Universities are piloting superfast Internet connections that may finally rival the speed of South Korea's

Spherical Eats; October 2011; by W. Wayt Gibbs; Nathan Myhrvold; 1 Page(s)

The chemistry of encased mussels and other edible orbs

Putting Diabetes on Autopilot; October 2011; by Elizabeth Svoboda; 1 Page(s)

New devices may spare patients from monitoring their blood glucose

The Science of Health: The Ethnic Health Advantage; October 2011; by Laura Blue; 2 Page(s)

Two populations in the U.S. tend to outlive their often richer neighbors. Why?

Technofiles: Big Progress on the Little Things; October 2011; by David Pogue; 2 Page(s)

Let's take a step back and praise three unsung trends in consumer electronics

The Dark Side of The Milky Way; October 2011; by Leo Blitz; 8 Page(s)

Dark matter is not just a puzzle. It is a solution

Atom Power; October 2011; by The Editors; 2 Page(s)

2011 is the International Year of Chemistry—a well-deserved celebration of that science's profound power

10 Unsolved Mysteries; October 2011; by Philip Ball; 6 Page(s)

Many of the most profound scientific questions—and some of humanity's most urgent problems—pertain to the science of atoms and molecules

The Scent of Your Thoughts; October 2011; by Deborah Blum; 4 Page(s)

Although we are usually unaware of it, we communicate through chemical signals just as much as birds and bees do

Afghanistan's Buried Riches; October 2011; by Sarah Simpson; 8 Page(s)

Geologists say newfound deposits in the embattled country could fulfill the world's desire for rare-earth and critical minerals and end opium's local stranglehold in the process

A New Ally against Cancer; October 2011; by Eric von Hofe; 6 Page(s)

The FDA recently okayed the first therapeutic cancer vaccine, and other drugs that enlist the immune system against tumors are under study

How Skulls Speak; October 2011; by Anna Kuchment; 2 Page(s)

New 3-D software is helping scientists identify the sex and ancestral origins of human remains with greater speed and precision

Waiting for the Higgs; October 2011; by Tim Folger; 6 Page(s)

Even as the last protons spin through the most successful particle accelerator in history, physicists hope to conjure one final triumph

The Dinosaur Baron of Transylvania; October 2011; by Gareth Dyke; 4 Page(s)

A maverick aristocrat's ideas about dinosaur evolution turn out to have been decades ahead of their time

Actuary of the Cell; October 2011; by Thea Singer; 4 Page(s)

Building on her Nobel Prize-winning research on cell function, Elizabeth H. Blackburn is trying to find a simple measure of a person's health risks

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

Books and recommendation from Scientific American

Skeptic: The Decline of Violence; October 2011; by Michael Shermer; 1 Page(s)

Be skeptical of claims that we live in an ever more dangerous world

Anti-Gravity: Surface Tension; October 2011; by Steve Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Sit down, you're rocking the stadium

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

Innovation and discovery as chronicled in Scientific American

Graphic Science: Data Theft: Hackers Attack; October 2011; by Mark Fischetti; 1 Page(s)

Crooks may seek your identity, but "hacktivists" cause the blockbuster breaches