This line from “Unweaving Science,” the opening track of the spoken word album Experimental Words, illuminates the connections between science and art. The album, an eclectic collection of 10 poems ...

We invite you to dive in and explore a database of words that appeared prominently in the print history of Scientific American. Below, each year of that historyis represented by a single word, which ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. Since at least the 17th century, science has struggled with words. Francis Bacon, ...

In the brain, language pops up everywhere. All across the wrinkly expanse of the brain’s outer layer, a constellation of different regions handle the meaning of language, scientists report online ...

One thing nerds like to argue about is what nerds are allowed to argue about. If you agree to stipulate that science fiction is often one of those things—and, hey, we could argue about that—then a ...

There’s no original isiZulu word for dinosaur. Germs are called amagciwane, but there are no separate words for viruses or bacteria. A quark is ikhwakhi (pronounced kwa-ki); there is no term for red ...

The idea is that we associate two things that have something in common. A scientist gives a test to her students: Affiliate male and female names equally—and as quickly—with science terms. Here are ...