Despite the widespread belief that natural is better when it comes to sex, pregnancy, and parenting, most of us have no idea what “natural” really means; the origins of our reproductive lives remain a mystery. Why are a quarter of a billion...
Collected essays from bestselling author Michael Shermer's celebrated columns in Scientific American
For fifteen years, bestselling author Michael Shermer has written a column in Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and...
We know that each of us is unique, but science has struggled to pinpoint where, precisely, our uniqueness resides. Is it in our genes? The structure of our brains? Our genome may determine our eye color and even aspects of our personality. But our...
An exploration of mankind's fascination with worlds beyond our own-by the bestselling author of The Physics of Star Trek
Lawrence Krauss -an international leader in physics and cosmology-examines our long and ardent romance with parallel universes,...
Richard Dawkins's essays are an enthusiastic testament to the power of rigorous, scientific examination, and they span many different corners of his personal and professional life. He revisits the meme, the unit of cultural information that he named...
Early studies of the functions of the human brain used a simple method: wait for misfortune to strike-strokes, seizures, infectious diseases, lobotomies, horrendous accidents-and see how the victim coped. In many cases survival was miraculous, and...
A celebrated astronomer makes a powerful case for the harmony between two of physics’ most important and seemingly contradictory theories
The twentieth century gave us two great theories of physics. The general theory of relativity describes the...
A mathematical guide to understanding why life can seem to be one big coincidence-and why the odds of just about everything are better than we would think.
What are the chances? This is the question we ask ourselves when we encounter the strangest...
The epic story of the scientists through the ages who have sought answers to life’s biggest mystery: How did it begin?
How did life begin?
It is perhaps the most important question science has ever asked. Over the centuries, the search for an...