Blown Away
Worldwide deforestation, mining, overgrazing, and the diversion of water have combined to create huge dust clouds that carry bacteria, viruses, soot, acids, radioactive isotopes, and pesticides from Asia and Africa to the United States
by Karen Wright
Think Tank
Great scientists discuss the breakthroughs of the last quarter century—and the next
A Naturalist's Paradise
In a wonderland called Madagascar, a modern-day Darwin discovers hundreds of new species
Our Preferred Poison
A little mercury is all that humans need to do away with themselves quietly, slowly, and surely
Drilling San Andreas
Despite decades of study, why earthquakes happen and when they do remains one of the great mysteries of science. A two-mile-deep tunnel boring into America's most infamous fault may soon change that
The Feynman File
His daughter's archive offers a wormhole into the secret life of a charismatic physicist
Human, Study Thyself
Race has been a surrogate for biology. We don't have that luxury anymore