Departments

Science Wıth a 
Common Touch

There’s an old joke: if you tell someone the universe is expanding, he’ll believe you. If you tell him there’s wet paint on the park bench, he’ll want to touch it to make sure...
by Corey S. Powell, Editor in Chief

How to Achieve Near-Immortality: Wear the Right Clothes

A cobbled-together, $10,000 suit can protect you from radiation, chemicals, bullets, and pretty much any other insult of modern life—including socializing.
by David H. Freedman; Illustration by David Plunkert

Welcome to the Multiverse

Could our universe be just one of a multitude, each with its own reality? It may sound like fiction, but there is hard science behind this outlandish idea.
by Sean Carroll

The Language Fossils Buried in Every Cell of Your Body

A British family with a bizarre speech deficit 
has led linguists to FOXP2: a gene that begins to 
explain how our ancestors acquired language.
by Carl Zimmer

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Fire

Fire makes water. Fire is a tree running in reverse. Fire is not a thing at all.
by LeeAundra Keany

Vital Signs: Far From Oakay

A body scan reveals a lemon-size mass in the chest 
of a 16-month-old boy. Fearing cancer, surgeons perform a risky operation to save his life.
by W. Roy Smythe

Hot Science: The Best New Science Culture

The huge decrease in human violence, the great risk of cyber attacks, and the paralyzing fear of pandemic disease.
by Cillian Conahan, Nicole Dyer, Valerie Ross, Eric Powell, Veronique Greenwood