Scientific American Magazine

10 big advances with the potential to solve problems and improve life for all of us

Electrochemical cells could suck carbon out of the atmosphere and turn it into electricity

A method for designing novel compounds could help defeat drug-resistant bacteria

Space-based transmission of quantum cryptographic keys could make the “unhackable” Internet a reality

Remote-controlled origami robots can perform medical procedures from the inside out

Machine-learning software analyzes satellite images to find remote areas that need help

Nanoporous fabric would cool its wearers, reducing the need for air-conditioning

A rare genetic mutation might inspire the first broad-spectrum antiviral

An approach to artificial intelligence that enables computers to recognize visual patterns better than humans are able to do

Cheap, rapid screening for diseases such as Ebola and tuberculosis could save lives in remote and impoverished places

A way to design new molecules and materials that the periodic table does not allow

Our neighborhood of planets was not created slowly, as scientists once thought, but in a speedy blur of high-energy crashes, destruction and rebuilding

Investigators hope that a three-part protein that mimics a key part of HIV particularly well could lead to a long-awaited vaccine

Thawing Arctic tundra will likely speed up climate change for a century or more. The question is: How drastically?

Analyzing how stories change in the retelling down through the generations sheds light on the history of human migration going as far back as the Paleolithic period 

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria from livestock pose a deadly risk to people. But the farm lobby won't let scientists track the danger

A new seafloor microscope is revealing life-and-death battles between hair-thin creatures