What is RSS and how can it help you?
RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication" (perhaps) and enables readers to view the news from their favorite Web sites in a single place and an easy format. Most people use "feed readers" (also called an "aggregator" or "news aggregator") to view RSS feeds. News articles show up in a feed reader much like the way emails show up in an email client.
Discover RSS feeds include short previews of recent articles and links back to DISCOVERmagazine.com, where you can read the full stories. We have a General News feed that includes all our recent stories as well as RSS feeds for specific Topics (like Health & Medicine) or Departments (like Vital Signs). See the column to the right for a complete list of Discover feeds.
When you subscribe to an RSS feed, you can access the stories that interest you by simply clicking on the headline in your feed reader or bookmark toolbar. When you do, that story will open up in your browser.
You can collect RSS feeds from many different Web sites and view them in the same place, so you can easily keep track of lots of news on the Web.
How to use RSS feeds:
Feed readers are Web sites or separate programs that are designed to manage RSS feeds. There are tons of readers available on the Web or for download from the Web, many of which are free. If you don't already use an RSS reader, you might want to try My Yahoo! or Bloglines.
Most feed readers will allow you to enter a Web address (URL) directly. To do this, c the RSS feed you want to subscribe to from the column on the right and click on the name. After you arrive at the feed's Web page, copy the Web address (URL) from the address bar of the page and add it into your feed reader. You are now subscribed to the RSS feed and your reader will keep you up to date on the latest news from Discover.
