Hurricanes. Blizzards. Flooding. Drought. If extreme events like these seem to be on the rise, it’s for apparent reason. The first three-quarters of 2012 brought the worst European winter in 25 years; massive flooding in Australia, Brazil and China; a deepening drought affecting over 50% of the US; and Hurricane Sandy inflicted massive damage on the Northeast US. The likelihood of these extreme weather events are increasingly being tied to anthropogenic—or manmade, mostly through overproduction of carbon dioxide—global warming. It’s no longer an abstract idea; it’s being felt locally, on every level.

This eBook, Storm Warnings: Climate Change and Extreme Weather, gives you the tools to better understand what’s behind climate change, what might be in store during the coming decades and how we can begin to reverse the detrimental effects mankind has had on the atmosphere. The first half of the book focuses on those unprecedented weather events and the science behind them, from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy to the collapse of glacial ice shelves in the Antarctic. Chapter 5 delves into greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on global warming, including an excellent piece by leading expert James Hansen, who exposes the main culprits of climate change. The last chapters focus on addressing and reducing the problems of climate change at both the public policy and local levels. In particular, Scientific American Editor David Biello lays out 10 solutions that include small changes we all can make in our daily lives—practical, but effective, consumer choices that add up. It might be a drop in the bucket, but every drop counts.

The extreme drought in the US Southwest has brought the issues of water use and management to the forefront of media attention. Historically, arguments over water rights have plagued this area since the days of John Wesley Powell, and disputes mark the relations between states, city-dwellers, farmers, and environmentalists to this day. Add to that the challenges of climate change, which is altering rainfall patterns the world over, and the imperative to rethink water management policies becomes acute. This eBook, Battling Drought: The Science of Water Management, takes a long look at the situation in the American Southwest from the early engineering projects, such as building the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, which were designed to tame the rivers, to the recycling and restoration efforts of today. Projects like the recycling of wastewater in Santa Rosa, CA, and the restoration of the Aral Sea in Central Asia offer both optimism and lessons for change. However, the story of the Himba in Africa – who have, so far, successfully blocked building a dam on a nearby river – illustrates that changing attitudes is often like trying to change the flow of a river. It’s an upstream battle. While successful projects like these move us toward that goal, new technologies, methods and crops are still needed to combat diminishing water supplies. A common saying is that someone "spends money like water." Over the last century we've learned that water might be the more precious of the two.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and that becomes even more apparent when trying to analyze the science of politics. Pulling from an array of disciplines including social science, behavioral science and mathematics, Scientific American does just that in this timely eBook, Playing Politics: The Science of Elections. This anthology offers analyses of key factors in the process of electing a leader: from dissecting those qualities considered to be ideal, to how potential leaders are portrayed, to voter behavior, to the voting process - casting, collecting and counting the votes. In recent years especially, science has increasingly been at the center of controversies over voting methods, a voter's motivation, the geography of presidential elections -- including the introduction by the media of the terms red states and blue states -- even questions about the veracity and abilities of candidates. Of particular importance is the analysis of how the electoral process really works and whether it truly represents the majority's intentions of how the country should run. In addition to providing the tools to analyze the process, this ebook also addresses the top science issues of Election 2012. Scientific American partnered with ScienceDebate.org, an independent citizen's initiative, to engage the current presidential candidates - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney - to answer where they stand on 14 key science and technology policy questions facing the United States today. This thoughtful debate, which includes questions on climate change, sustainable energy, the economy and education, caps off an essential read for concerned voters.

As the old adage goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there is effect, there must be cause. The planet Neptune was found in 1846 because the mathematics of Newton's laws, when applied to the orbit of Uranus, said some massive body had to be there. Astronomers eventually found it, using the best telescopes available to peer into the sky. This same logic is applied to the search for the Higgs boson. One consequence of the prevailing theory of physics, called the Standard Model, is that there has to be some field that gives particles their particular masses. With that there has to be a corresponding particle, made by creating waves in the field, and this is the Higgs boson, the so-called God particle. This book chronicles the ongoing search – and demonstrates the power of a good theory. Based on the Standard Model, physicists believed something had to be there, but it wasn't until the Large Hadron Collider was built that anyone could see evidence of the Higgs – and finally in July 2012, they did. A Higgs-like particle was found near the energies scientists expected to find it. Now, armed with better evidence and better questions, the scientific process continues. This book gathers the best reporting and analysis from Scientific American to explain that process – the theories, the search, the ongoing questions. In essence, everything you need to know to separate Higgs from hype.

Pell Grants, charter schools, home schooling, SATs, report cards, and yes, even permanent records. The language of education is familiar to most everyone, but the science of education is much more elusive. Educators, academics and scientists have struggled with issues like how to make learning approachable yet challenging, what to include in the curriculum and when, what the optimal class size is and so on. In this collection Scientific American explores the many, many ways that learning is also a scientific process and offers the latest theories of teaching and learning. Section 1, The Lesson Plan, begins with how children learn, including an eye-opening piece by Scientific American Editor Ingrid Wickelgren on how honing certain psychological skills not only enhances learning but helps kids fight frustration and ward off stress. Section 2 focuses on the three Rs, including the relationship between math and language skills and effective methods to teach reading. Section 3 offers insight into the special requirements of gifted children, while sections 4 and 5 discuss the classroom itself, delving into class size and roles of teachers and parents. Finally, the book closes with an issue near and dear to Scientific American: the importance of improving science education. What is the best method to teach science? How do children think and acquire knowledge? What policy changes should be made at state and federal levels to improve the quality of education? Science in education is far more than a subject – it is an approach, an aid, and a resource. In this anthology, Scientific American has gathered some of its best reporting on the challenges, successes and the execution of a scientific approach to education. Together, they help construct a path for success for the next generation.

Our nearest planetary neighbor has been the subject of endless fascination and wide-ranging theories throughout history. Is there life on Mars? Was there ever life on Mars? What was the atmosphere like thousands or millions of years ago? From Percival Lowell, who built his own observatory so he could dedicate himself to studying the red planet, to NASA landing the car-sized Opportunity rover in 2012, this eBook, Exploring Mars: Secrets of the Red Planet, traces Scientific American's coverage of the observation and exploration of Mars. The first section outlines early 20th century theories about Mars, including the possibility of an intricate canal system built by an intelligent species. Once the space probes enter the picture, most of those ideas were debunked, but even more questions arose. The second section covers current missions, which found evidence of ancient oceans and a thicker atmosphere that has since been lost. The third section raises even more exciting possibilities with ambitious plans for future missions. In this book, you’ll follow these advances in astronomy and planetary science as better and better technology brings us incrementally closer to unlocking the secrets of Mars.

On June 5, 1981, the scientific community received a wake-up call from the CDC regarding a terrible and mysterious new illness that caused immune system failure. A year passed before it had a name: AIDS. Reported infections skyrocketed while science raced to understand a virus that hid among our own cells and mutated quickly. Three decades later, remarkable progress has been made but much more remains to be understood and to be done. In this book, HIV and AIDS: A Global Health Pandemic, Scientific American chronicles the war against the disease from its discovery by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier to the most current research on gene editing and potential drug targets. These articles explore where the disease came from, how it works, how it spreads, the search for a vaccine, and cultural and sociological factors. In this book, you’ll find not only a record of crisis and unprecedented response, but also an essential source to understand the scientific struggle against HIV/AIDS.

The Olympics are the world’s most prestigious stage for athletic competition. Fans both casual and hardcore tune in religiously every few years to watch as men and women push themselves to the limits of human performance. But what makes a champion? Is it genetics? Hours of training? A psychological advantage? Of all the athletes who dedicate their lives – and bodies – to achieving that perfect moment of triumph, why will one person or team win out over another? Science has some compelling answers, and in this book, The Science of Sports: Winning in the Olympics, Scientific American explores this topic from various angles. Beginning with Section 1: The Psychology of Winning, the book opens with a look inside the mind of an elite athlete and tackles questions of how to face a rivalry or maintain a positive attitude in the face of defeat. Other sections discuss the sticky issues surrounding genetic advantages and physical prowess, drugs and doping, injury and recovery, and – finally – the latest scientific advice for the rest of us mere mortals to be fit and healthy. You’ll find both inspiration and answers in this indispensable book from the editors of Scientific American, the leading authority on science, technology and innovation.