Scientific American Magazine Vol 322 Issue 6

Scientific American

Volume 322, Issue 6

You are currently logged out. Please sign in to download the issue PDF.

Features

Special Report: The Coronavirus Pandemic

How it started, where it’s headed, and how scientists are fighting back

What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about the Brain

A close brush can leave a lasting mental legacy—and may tell us about how the mind functions under extreme conditions

How a 380-Million-Year-Old Fish Gave Us Fingers

A remarkable fossil reveals that the digits in our hands evolved before vertebrates emerged from the water to colonize land

Grief on the Front Line--and Beyond

In their own voices, health care workers from across the country reflect on coping with the coronavirus

Astronomers Watch as Planets Are Born

Astronomers Watch as Planets Are Born

High-resolution images of the debris disks around stars are revealing how solar systems form

How to Set a Price on Carbon Pollution

How to Set a Price on Carbon Pollution

A smart combination of math and policy choices can determine a practical tax that will cut CO2 emissions 

Three Ways to Make Coronavirus Drugs in a Hurry

With no time to make treatments from scratch, researchers search for existing compounds that deflect harm

Genetic Engineering Could Make a COVID-19 Vaccine in Months Rather Than Years

Candidates are speeding toward human trials

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Could End

Recent epidemics provide clues to ways the current crisis could stop

How China's 'Bat Woman' Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus

Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli has identified dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves, and she warns there are more out there

Psychological Trauma Is the Next Crisis for Coronavirus Health Workers

Hero worship alone doesn’t protect frontline clinicians from distress

Departments

50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: June 2020
Advances
In Case You Missed It
How to Transport Crucial Vaccines without Cooling
Genetic Diversity of Malaria in a Single Mosquito Bite May Be Huge
Multistate Disagreement over the Length of the Foot to End
Fatal Opioid Overdoses May Be More Common Than Thought
How to Dramatically Curb Extinction
Low-Tech Water Wand Finds Contaminated Drinking Water
Earliest 'Chickens' Were Actually Pheasants
Antarctic Fish Is a Blood Doping Champion
Collision on One Side of Pluto Ripped Up Terrain on the Other, Study Suggests
Reviews
Recommended Books, June 2020
From the Editor
Covering Coronavirus
Letters
Readers Respond to the February 2020 Issue
Graphic Science
Virus Mutations Reveal How COVID-19 Really Spread
Observatory
Small Numbers Can Have Huge Impacts on Climate and Health
The Science of Health
The Virtuous Side of Viruses
Forum
Ignoring Science during a Pandemic Is Poor Leadership
Anti Gravity
Misinformation and Miscalculation in the Time of the Coronavirus
The Science Agenda
Stopping Deforestation Can Prevent Pandemics
Meter
Poem: Drunken Forest