Who is Carl Sagan

Scientific American

Love for Life? 12 Animals That Are (Mostly) Monogamous [Slide Show]

Let's face it, most animals get around. Only about 5 percent of mammals are considered to be monogamous . What a biologist means by monogamy is not necessarily what a marriage counselor might assume. In the animal kingdom, what we think of as commitment-type monogamy should really be separated out into at least three types of bonds, explained Diane Witt, who leads the Neural Systems Cluster at the National Science Foundation, in a live chat last week. There is sexual fidelity, social attachment and parental behavior. Research in a number of animal species suggests that differences in neurochemicals and receptors might influence various degrees of these sorts of pairing. [More]

Wildlife Sightings

Organize and publish nature sightings for enjoyment, education and to aid conservation efforts [More]

People Displaced by Climate Change Need Our Help, But So Do Those Who Cannot Leave

The environment is already affecting patterns of human migration. On the island of Hatia , along coastal Bangladesh, 22 percent of households have migrated to cities as a coping strategy following tidal surges. But we would be wrong to assume that our only concern should be for the millions of people who might try to leave areas of environmental stress that are affected by hazards such as droughts, floods, water scarcity and land degradation. In fact, a recent UK report has shown that a focus on populations migrating away from environmental change neglects two key groups of vulnerable people: the many millions who will actually migrate into areas of environmental threat, and those who will be trapped there by economic, social or indeed environmental challenges. The report, Foresight: Migration and Global Environmental Change , released by the U.K. Government Office for Science, has found that the decision to migrate is a complex and multi-faceted one. This two year study, which I oversaw, involved 350 leading experts from more than 30 countries. It found that migration patterns are influenced by a wide range of inter-related drivers, including social ties, political situations and the desire of individuals to earn a wage. Global-scale changes to our environments will increasingly affect these factors, for instance through further eroding rural livelihoods and eliminating income streams. Yet, paradoxically, a deteriorating environment is also likely to make migration more difficult for many of the world s most vulnerable, because it eats away the assets that local inhabitants need to make this move. This is what makes identifying environmental migrants so problematic just because a person s environment is deteriorating doesn t mean he or she will move. [More]

Discovering the Secrets of Long-Term Love

During America's most popular TV event, the Superbowl, one much-anticipated advertisement featuring supermodel Adriana Lima painted a pretty sad state of affairs with regards to love. [More]

Jumping Genes in the Brain Ensure That Even Identical Twins Are Different

Your brain is special. [More]

Jumping Genes in the Brain Are Tied to Autism [Video]

Stretches of DNA that move around the brain, colloquially known as jumping genes, may play a role in fostering one pernicious form of autism. It has long been known that a a mutation that switches off a gene called MECP2 is involved in Rett syndrome, the most physically disabling form of autism. Rett, which mostly affects girls, results in speech and motor defects that appear just after children learn to speak their first words and start walking. [More]

The Moving Mind

Is there anything more everyday and familiar (given that we all possess one) and yet still so mysterious and puzzling as our own human brain? In about three pounds of tissue with the consistency of Jell-O, it packs 100 billion neurons, tens of trillions of neural connections and the low-watt processing power that has enabled our species to dominate this planet. [More]

Your Brain in Love and Lust

This Valentine's Day, Scientific American traces the flow of chemicals in the brain during different phases of romance and describes surprising insights from the science of attraction.

Dread Reckoning: H5N1 Bird Flu May Be Less Deadly to Humans Than Previously Thought--or Not

A simple math problem lies at the heart of a heated debate over whether scientists should be allowed to publish provocative research into the transmissibility of H5N1 flu . Assuming the avian virus could spread easily among people, just how deadly would an H5N1 pandemic be for humans? [More]

The Perils and Pleasures of Online Gaming for Married Life

When a couple plays online games together, they say they are happier in their marriage than couples in which only one spouse games (Credit: Elvis untot, Wikimedia Commons) If someone asked you to sketch a portrait of a gamer who spends countless hours each week inhabiting an avatar say, an elf or a warlock in a virtual fantasy world, what kind of person would you draw? A teenage boy whose pimply forehead hovers mere centimeters from the computer screen? [More]