Scientific American

Newsletters April 1, 2020

No. 488: A nasal passage, a naval plussage and the on-point Pandemic Primer – Island in a global storm

Lockdown lowdown: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we hurdle our homebound humps – pardon the imagery – and slide into the second half of this latest coronavirus-shaped workweek. It’s April 1 out there – anniversary of the actual Last Supper, according to one historian, not to mention Edible Book Day, which (no fooling) is a real thing. Seriously: It appears this will be a down year for April Fool’s Day jocularity, with Google…

Newsletters July 12, 2019

No. 420: Wheels up in Suffolk, Alda’s new Discovery, a vagus wedding and the survey says…?

You win: The Friday finish line approaches and you’ve done it again, dear reader – another steamy workweek in the books, another well-earned weekend on tap. It’s July 12 out there, and if you had the Ottoman Empire capturing Euboea in Central Greece on this date in 1470, finally ending the month-long Siege of Negroponte, aferin sana! Here’s your receipt for 50 silver akçe, redeemable anywhere on the third-floor promenade. Freshly squeezed: To our…

Opinion March 12, 2019

Co-creator: U.S. must get back on the Maglev track

By JAMES POWELL // Our 20th century highways are failing us in the 21st century. The American Society of Civil Engineers grades U.S. highways as D-minus, with a cost of $2 trillion just to repair our crumbling bridges and roads, not including money to meet the ever-increasing truck and car traffic, which causes more congestion and delays. Our obsolete highway system doesn’t meet modern transport needs, and is killing us. Forty-thousand persons die annually in…

Newsletters February 27, 2019

No. 384: Inventing aspirin, Novocain and heroin – and fighting opioid addiction with feeling

All downhill from here: Over the hump we go, dear readers, as we slide into the second half of another busy week of socioeconomic innovation here on Long Island and around the world. It’s Wednesday, Feb. 27, and the second day of Ayyám-i-Há for followers of the Bahá’í faith. (Of course, this observance only falls on this date on the Gregorian calendar if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which doesn’t always happen,…

Opinion August 27, 2018

In blockchain, best chance to secure scientific data

By HENRY FOLEY // At a recent speech in Virginia, Attorney General Jeff Sessions proclaimed that undocumented immigrants in Arizona were more likely to go to jail than U.S. citizens. His source was a study by the Crime Prevention Research Center. But there was a problem. That study had a fatal flaw that undermined its conclusion. In fact, the majority of literature on the subject actually shows the reverse. This isn’t the only example of…