While many of us strive to live healthy lives, the task can be daunting and the information overwhelming. Should we be more concerned with our diet or with keeping our weight down? How important is exercise? What kinds of diseases should we really be worried about getting—or preventing? In this eBook, Eat, Move, Think: Living Healthy, we’ve assembled a number of stories on what we think sums up a healthy lifestyle, as well as some of the common obstacles faced in trying to achieve it. Some would argue that diet is the cornerstone of healthy living. To that end the first section, “Diet for Health,” opens with a story by nutritionist Marion Nestle, who sums up what it means to eat right in “Eating Made Simple.” Subsequent sections look at the efficacy of vitamins and supplements, the benefits of exercise and the importance of coping with mental stress. Because obesity cannot be ignored—it is increasing at epidemic rates worldwide—Section 3 covers “The Obesity Epidemic.” In “The World Is Fat: Obesity Outweighs Hunger Worldwide,” Steve Mirsky interviews epidemiologist Barry Popkin, who discusses the fact that obesity is growing problem in developing countries. W. Wayt Gibbs questions the “war on fat” in his piece, “An Overblown Epidemic?” while Paul Raeburn discusses “Can Fat be Fit?”We chose to include Section 4, "Diabetes," because although lifestyle can be a component of many diseases, including cancer and heart disease, diabetes, like obesity, is increasing rapidly. The eBook closes with a section called “Stress and Mental Health,” a part of the lifestyle equation often put on the back burner or ignored entirely. Included are stories on how to “Meditate that Cold Away” and how joining social groups can reduce stress and promote health.  The key to living healthfully is making informed choices, whether those involve the food you eat, where to live, your ideal weight or how to stave off depression. Armed with the right knowledge, everyone can live a healthier life—and that means a happier life.

Why can you vividly recall the day your father took you to your first baseball game many years ago, but you can’t remember where you just put the car keys? We tend not to think about it much, but memory is the seat of consciousness. The process of how we remember, how we forget, and why we remember certain things and not others is a rich subject of scientific inquiry, and a fascinating window onto who we are and what makes us tick. In our eBook, Remember When? The Science of Memory, we explore what science can and can’t tell us about memory. In an introductory section called “What Is Memory?” we define what memory is, including what makes something memorable and some common misconceptions about memory. In “You Must Remember This … Because You Have no Choice,” Gary Stix explores why some people can remember what they had for lunch on a Tuesday 20 years ago while others can’t. Nobel laureate Eric Kandel, a neuroscientist and psychiatrist, discusses a range of topics, from his groundbreaking work on how the brain acquires and holds memories to Freud’s psychoanalysis. Section 2, "The Anatomy of Memory," delves deeper into the process of memory formation from how memories are saved to how they’re transferred from short-term storage in the hippocampus to long-term storage in the cortex. Other sections explore various aspects of memory from its role in learning to the effects of trauma and age. Joe Z. Tsien discusses his technique of genetically tweaking certain receptor proteins on neurons in “Building a Brainier Mouse.” In “Erasing Painful Memories,” long-time journalist Jerry Adler looks at research into both behavioral therapies and drugs that can help to alter painful or traumatic memories after the fact. Finally, the last section looks at ways to improve your memory. One story links dreaming to improved learning. In another, R. Douglas Fields summarizes the work behind the idea of a “smart pill,” based on the relatively recent discovery that a specific protein kinase might boost memory and could be given in pill form to enhance that most mysterious process.

Since the Industrial Revolution our civilization has depended on fossil fuels to generate energy – first it was coal; then petroleum. But there are two problems: the first is that petroleum isn't an infinite resource; and the second is that burning coal and oil puts billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping heat. Temperatures have risen by about 0.8 degrees Celsius over the last 100 years, which may not sound like much, but even that small increase is showing some large effects. For one, records have been set for the seasonal loss of arctic ice. If business as usual continues, we are looking at a world where sea levels will be high enough to submerge many coastal cities and extreme weather events like 2012’s Hurricane Sandy are the new normal.

In this eBook, The Future of Energy: Earth, Wind and Fire, we review the energy problem and analyze the options from the mundane to the far out, beginning in Section One with an overview of issues and solutions, including the comprehensive “A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030” and “7 Radical Energy Solutions.” As these authors show, a multitude of possibilities exist. Renewable energy is more than photovoltaic cells and wind turbines – though these are viable options – and subsequent sections look at various sources, including solar power, hydropower, geothermal power, nuclear power and yes, wind power. For example, Section 4’s “Can Nuclear Power Compete” examines the possibilities for nuclear rebirth and Section 5’s “Turning the Tide” and “Moving Parts” discuss how tides could power coastal cities. Meanwhile, we need to power transportation, and Section 7 reviews the search for biofuels that do not negatively impact the environment. Of course, all technologies have drawbacks that must be addressed, and not every idea will succeed. That isn't the point. There's no choice but to change the way we power our lives. The question is how and when. The longer we wait, the more painful the transition will be.

Today, an infant born in the US will probably live to see his or her 78^th birthday, a 20- year-plus increase over the average lifespan a century ago. While living well into the 80s and 90s is becoming more and more attainable, how many more years can humanity expect to gain? The two main barriers are accumulated damage to cells and organs that occurs over time and age-related illnesses like cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are divided over where to pour their efforts, and in this eBook, Forever Young: The Science of Aging we take a look at what science knows—and what it’s striving to learn—about the aging process.

Both genes and environment influence how long people live and how “well” they age, as discussed in Section 1, “A Matter of Time: The Aging Process.” The eBook opens with “Why Can’t We Live Forever,” where author Thomas Kirkwood explains exactly why by way of his “disposable soma” theory. Other theories of how we age, including the role of telomeres, free radicals and caloric restriction, are discussed in subsequent sections. Recent studies have called into question long-held beliefs about the anti-aging benefits of antioxidants and reducing caloric intake. Though there are a number of age-related illnesses, few are so devastating as Alzheimer’s disease, covered in its own section. While there’s still no cure, a slew of clinical drug trials is underway. Finally, we examine the quest for longevity, featuring stories on both life-extension research and lifestyle choices. In particular, “Fit Body, Fit Mind?” looks at how to prevent age-related mental decline by staying physically fit and socially involved. So while there’s no miracle pill on the horizon that will extend our lives to 150, we can certainly make the most of the years we do have.

The term “autism” comes from the Greek word “autos,” meaning self, used to describe conditions of social withdrawal – or the isolated self. Around 1910, a Swiss psychiatrist first used the term to refer to certain symptoms of schizophrenia. Later in the 1940s physicians Leo Kanner and Hans Asperger independently used that name to describe what was a newly discovered developmental disorder whose primary symptom is social withdrawal. Today, autism is one of three diagnoses that the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) includes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While our understanding of this condition has grown exponentially, research has been fraught with controversy. Autism appears to be on the rise, depending on how you define it, and its causes more complex than imagined. In this eBook, Understanding Autism: The Search for Answers, Scientific American’s editors have gathered the most current information on autism, including how it’s diagnosed, risk factors, treatments and therapies.

Section 1 begins with the symptoms, or traits, of ASD, which include three main disabilities: lack of social skills, lack of communication skills, and repetitive behaviors. Also in this section, “The Hidden Potential of Autistic Kids” discusses the flip side of the equation – instead of focusing on the condition’s limitations, what unique capabilities might people possess – a thread that continues in the remarkable stories of Section 2, “Autistic Savants. Subsequent sections examine the complicated genetic and environmental causes, the nature of the autism “epidemic” as well as the most current therapies. Changes to the diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 caused understandable concern and are reviewed in two important stories by Ferris Jabr. Finally, in discussing available therapies, two companion pieces by Nancy Shute take us on a journey through the minds of parents, many of whom are desperate to help their autistic kids lead easier, productive and more fulfilling lives. While science rushes to offer better options, this eBook gives a synopsis of the state of the union - what we know and what we don’t know about this challenging condition.

Cyberspace has certainly transformed the world. From media and communications to banking, an increasing number of daily activities is performed online. We are living digital lifestyles. While this transformation has opened up exciting new frontiers, it also opens the door to security threats undreamed of in previous generations. In this eBook, we peer behind the cyber curtain. First, we look at the hackers—Section 1 discusses who they are, how they work, their motivations and methods. The opening article examines hardware—specifically microprocessors and why they are vulnerable to tampering. Then we turn to the internal attacks, the worms and viruses whose resulting damage ranges from merely inconvenient and attention-getting to expensive and dangerous. In the latter category falls the Stuxnet virus, which attacked Iran's nuclear facilities and is discussed in "Hacking the Lights Out." Section 2 takes a broad look at issues of privacy and the technology used to gather and track personal information. The first article, “The End of Privacy?”, analyzes how the definition of privacy has changed, often along generational lines, in the cyber age. With so much personal information volunteered on social networking and other sites, how much privacy can people expect? Most of us leave a trail of data wherever we go, and subsequent articles in this section look at how. On a positive note, Section 3 covers innovative technologies used to secure cyber networks and safeguard information. In particular, “Beyond Fingerprinting” discusses replacing identifiers like user names and passwords with biometrics—behavioral or anatomical markers including but not limited to fingerprints. This, like other technology, is becoming more widespread as inexpensive sensors and microprocessors become available, and the race between the hackers and information security professionals continues.

Sometimes All You Need Is Love; sometimes Love Is a Battlefield. Whether Love Hurts, Bites, Will Keep Us Together, Will Tear Us Apart or Is a Four-Letter Word, it seems we Want To Know What Love Is. Love – in both the abstract and the up-close-and-personal – has always provided limitless inspiration for artists, writers and musicians, but scientists are just as fascinated by these affairs of the heart, though they seldom sing about it. In this eBook, Disarming Cupid: Love, Sex and Science, our editors take a step back, analyzing romance using tools like fMRI studies instead of a paint brush or guitar. The writers examine a variety of topics, starting with the perceived sex differences between men and women discussed in Section 1, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, but are we really that different? As our opening story shows, few other questions can get at the heart of this debate like “Can heterosexual men and women ever be ‘just friends’?” (Spoiler alert: new research suggests that the answer is no.)

Subsequent sections tackle other facets of love, including the implications of the drastic rise in online dating, how we choose our romantic partners and what happens in our brains when we’re in love. In particular “All You Need Is Love” finds – or, perhaps for some, verifies – that romantic love stimulates the same pathways as an addictive drug. Section 5 focuses on issues of gender and sexuality. “Do Gays Have a Choice?” analyzes a wealth of scientific evidence and shows that sexual orientation is determined more by both genes and environment, rather than being a choice. We also don’t shy away from darker aspects of love, such as the psychology of prostitution and sex appeal of narcissists, because to ignore these aspects of love is to trivialize it. Besides, love’s paradoxes are one of the reasons why it is The Topic for cultural discourse. As Pascal said, “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” Hopefully this eBook will change the “nothing” to “at least something.”

In science fiction, artificial intelligence takes the shape of computers that can speak like people, think for themselves, and sometimes act against us. Sometimes the machines seem to know everything, and symbolize implacable and unknowable power, as in The Matrix. Such machines can also embody the limits of logic, and by extension our own powers of reason. In Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL was a computer of vast capability driven insane by the demands of his programming – to honestly and completely report information – when those instructions conflicted with orders to keep state secrets. Star Trek has given us the android, Lieutenant Commander Data, who strives to be more human. None of these visions came true in quite the way science fiction writers imagined, even though in many ways computers surpass their fictional counterparts. This eBook reviews work in the field and covers topics from chess-playing to quantum computing. The writers tackle how to make computers more powerful, how we define consciousness, what the hard problems are and even how computers might be built once the limits of silicon chips have been reached. Artificial intelligence also raises some thorny ethical questions, such as whether morality can be programmed. These are kinds of issues that make artificial intelligence and computing fascinating. Building an intelligent machine brings together the human desire to create and the question of what makes us what we are. If anyone ever builds a true thinking machine, that last question becomes much more complicated, not less. Data and HAL would probably agree.

The onset of cold weather brings out the boots, coats, gloves – and the block-lettered, stoplight-red “Flu Shots Available Here” signs in drugstore windows. And with good reason. For many scientists and public health specialists alike, flu season has become a little like Russian Roulette. The likelihood of a deadly pandemic outbreak of influenza is not far from reality considering the nature of some of the different viral strains. In this eBook, we delve into the science of the flu, starting with past pandemics and what we can learn from them. The book opens with a story on how scientists were able to analyze the viral strain that caused the 1918 pandemic, known as the “Spanish flu,” which was so shocking in symptoms and virulence that physicians first thought they were dealing with a new infection. The next sections examine the sources, transmission and surveillance of the virus, including how and why zoonoses – infectious diseases that originate from animals – are vaulting to the top of health officials’ risk lists. A universal vaccine is the Holy Grail of defense against the quickly mutating virus, and two expert interviews discuss the ongoing quest. However, with research comes controversy. Recent studies into the dreaded bird flu, or H5N1, raised serious questions about access to information versus the threat of bioterrorism. Is it possible to practice both good science, which thrives on the free flow of information, and good defense, which thrives on the opposite? While there are no definitive answers to this and other issues, these pages analyze the science behind the controversy, providing an essential resource to understanding this potentially deadly virus.

It’s hard to believe 2012 is coming to a close. Lucky for us, this year has seen some amazing science, and in this eBook, we’ve compiled Scientific American’s best stories of 2012 with an eye on content, authorship and news value. Section One kicks off with the award-winners. This year, Scientific American editors received awards from the National Association of Science Writers, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the L’Oreal Fellowships for Women in Science Program and the International Fund for Animal Welfare on stories that ranged from the role of propofol in Michael Jackson’s death to advocating support to ban research testing on chimpanzees. Subsequent sections focus on those stories that made headlines and captured our imagination – scientists found a Higgs-like particle after decades of research, NASA landed the Curiosity Rover safely on Mars and the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. Fracking was also in the media forefront this year, and the bird flu stirred up trouble when scientists created a mutated version that was contagious between ferrets, a potential precursor to human-to-human transmission. The final section is devoted to technology, sports and health – especially relevant as the world watched Oscar “Blade Runner” Pistorius become the first double-leg amputee to participate in the Olympic  Games this July. While it’s impossible to include everything, we hope you find these stories as fascinating as we do.
 

Traditionally, the four horsemen of the apocalypse are war, famine, plague and death; but while classical authors were familiar with only four horsemen, modern ones could add events such as environmental devastation and nearby supernovas. In this eBook we look at several "end of the world" scenarios – or at least, things that could make human life really difficult. Each section discusses a different horseman, from plague, famine and war to cosmic events, extreme weather and environmental collapse. Some are apocalyptic, others less so, but they show that even if one doesn’t take the Book of Revelation or the supposed Mayan prophecy as a template, thinking about our own end is fascinating – and sobering. Some endings only affect humans – mass starvation for us isn't likely to bother rats – whereas others eliminate all life on Earth. The good news is that the ability to map out the end also grants us the power to avert it, at least in some cases. Included in this book is a seminal piece outlining the possibility of "nuclear winter." Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has stated that such studies were a major impetus for him to seek to reduce tensions with the United States. As a species we've tackled ozone depletion, and there's no reason other environmental problems can't be dealt with as well. The question was never technical ability, only political will. So while much of this book might seem a gloomy exercise, there's an optimistic side too: we may not endure eternally, but stupidity or hubris doesn't have to end our world prematurely.

“What time is it?” That simple question is probably asked more often in contemporary society than ever before. In our clock-studded world, the answer is never more than a glance away, and so we can blissfully partition our days into ever smaller increments for ever more tightly scheduled tasks. Modern scientific revelations about time, however, make the question endlessly frustrating. If we seek a precise knowledge of the time, the infinitesimal flash of now dissolves into a scattering flock of nanoseconds. Because we are bound by the speed of light and the velocity of nerve impulses, our perception of the “present” reflects the world as it occurred an instant ago - for all that human consciousness pretends otherwise, we can never catch up. Even in principle, perfect synchronicity escapes us. Relativity dictates that, like a strange syrup, time flows slower on moving trains than in the stations and faster in the mountains than in the valleys. The time for our wristwatch is not exactly the same as the time for our head. This eBook, A Question of Time, summarizes what science has discovered about how time permeates and guides both our physical world and our inner selves. That knowledge should enrich the imagination and provide practical advantages to anyone hoping to beat the clock, or at least to stay in step with it. Synchronize your watches…

Hurricanes. Blizzards. Flooding. Drought. If extreme events like these seem to be on the rise, it’s for apparent reason. The first three-quarters of 2012 brought the worst European winter in 25 years; massive flooding in Australia, Brazil and China; a deepening drought affecting over 50% of the US; and Hurricane Sandy inflicted massive damage on the Northeast US. The likelihood of these extreme weather events are increasingly being tied to anthropogenic—or manmade, mostly through overproduction of carbon dioxide—global warming. It’s no longer an abstract idea; it’s being felt locally, on every level.

This eBook, Storm Warnings: Climate Change and Extreme Weather, gives you the tools to better understand what’s behind climate change, what might be in store during the coming decades and how we can begin to reverse the detrimental effects mankind has had on the atmosphere. The first half of the book focuses on those unprecedented weather events and the science behind them, from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy to the collapse of glacial ice shelves in the Antarctic. Chapter 5 delves into greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on global warming, including an excellent piece by leading expert James Hansen, who exposes the main culprits of climate change. The last chapters focus on addressing and reducing the problems of climate change at both the public policy and local levels. In particular, Scientific American Editor David Biello lays out 10 solutions that include small changes we all can make in our daily lives—practical, but effective, consumer choices that add up. It might be a drop in the bucket, but every drop counts.

The extreme drought in the US Southwest has brought the issues of water use and management to the forefront of media attention. Historically, arguments over water rights have plagued this area since the days of John Wesley Powell, and disputes mark the relations between states, city-dwellers, farmers, and environmentalists to this day. Add to that the challenges of climate change, which is altering rainfall patterns the world over, and the imperative to rethink water management policies becomes acute. This eBook, Battling Drought: The Science of Water Management, takes a long look at the situation in the American Southwest from the early engineering projects, such as building the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, which were designed to tame the rivers, to the recycling and restoration efforts of today. Projects like the recycling of wastewater in Santa Rosa, CA, and the restoration of the Aral Sea in Central Asia offer both optimism and lessons for change. However, the story of the Himba in Africa – who have, so far, successfully blocked building a dam on a nearby river – illustrates that changing attitudes is often like trying to change the flow of a river. It’s an upstream battle. While successful projects like these move us toward that goal, new technologies, methods and crops are still needed to combat diminishing water supplies. A common saying is that someone "spends money like water." Over the last century we've learned that water might be the more precious of the two.

Politics makes strange bedfellows, and that becomes even more apparent when trying to analyze the science of politics. Pulling from an array of disciplines including social science, behavioral science and mathematics, Scientific American does just that in this timely eBook, Playing Politics: The Science of Elections. This anthology offers analyses of key factors in the process of electing a leader: from dissecting those qualities considered to be ideal, to how potential leaders are portrayed, to voter behavior, to the voting process - casting, collecting and counting the votes. In recent years especially, science has increasingly been at the center of controversies over voting methods, a voter's motivation, the geography of presidential elections -- including the introduction by the media of the terms red states and blue states -- even questions about the veracity and abilities of candidates. Of particular importance is the analysis of how the electoral process really works and whether it truly represents the majority's intentions of how the country should run. In addition to providing the tools to analyze the process, this ebook also addresses the top science issues of Election 2012. Scientific American partnered with ScienceDebate.org, an independent citizen's initiative, to engage the current presidential candidates - Barack Obama and Mitt Romney - to answer where they stand on 14 key science and technology policy questions facing the United States today. This thoughtful debate, which includes questions on climate change, sustainable energy, the economy and education, caps off an essential read for concerned voters.

As the old adage goes, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there is effect, there must be cause. The planet Neptune was found in 1846 because the mathematics of Newton's laws, when applied to the orbit of Uranus, said some massive body had to be there. Astronomers eventually found it, using the best telescopes available to peer into the sky. This same logic is applied to the search for the Higgs boson. One consequence of the prevailing theory of physics, called the Standard Model, is that there has to be some field that gives particles their particular masses. With that there has to be a corresponding particle, made by creating waves in the field, and this is the Higgs boson, the so-called God particle. This book chronicles the ongoing search – and demonstrates the power of a good theory. Based on the Standard Model, physicists believed something had to be there, but it wasn't until the Large Hadron Collider was built that anyone could see evidence of the Higgs – and finally in July 2012, they did. A Higgs-like particle was found near the energies scientists expected to find it. Now, armed with better evidence and better questions, the scientific process continues. This book gathers the best reporting and analysis from Scientific American to explain that process – the theories, the search, the ongoing questions. In essence, everything you need to know to separate Higgs from hype.

Pell Grants, charter schools, home schooling, SATs, report cards, and yes, even permanent records. The language of education is familiar to most everyone, but the science of education is much more elusive. Educators, academics and scientists have struggled with issues like how to make learning approachable yet challenging, what to include in the curriculum and when, what the optimal class size is and so on. In this collection Scientific American explores the many, many ways that learning is also a scientific process and offers the latest theories of teaching and learning. Section 1, The Lesson Plan, begins with how children learn, including an eye-opening piece by Scientific American Editor Ingrid Wickelgren on how honing certain psychological skills not only enhances learning but helps kids fight frustration and ward off stress. Section 2 focuses on the three Rs, including the relationship between math and language skills and effective methods to teach reading. Section 3 offers insight into the special requirements of gifted children, while sections 4 and 5 discuss the classroom itself, delving into class size and roles of teachers and parents. Finally, the book closes with an issue near and dear to Scientific American: the importance of improving science education. What is the best method to teach science? How do children think and acquire knowledge? What policy changes should be made at state and federal levels to improve the quality of education? Science in education is far more than a subject – it is an approach, an aid, and a resource. In this anthology, Scientific American has gathered some of its best reporting on the challenges, successes and the execution of a scientific approach to education. Together, they help construct a path for success for the next generation.

Our nearest planetary neighbor has been the subject of endless fascination and wide-ranging theories throughout history. Is there life on Mars? Was there ever life on Mars? What was the atmosphere like thousands or millions of years ago? From Percival Lowell, who built his own observatory so he could dedicate himself to studying the red planet, to NASA landing the car-sized Opportunity rover in 2012, this eBook, Exploring Mars: Secrets of the Red Planet, traces Scientific American's coverage of the observation and exploration of Mars. The first section outlines early 20th century theories about Mars, including the possibility of an intricate canal system built by an intelligent species. Once the space probes enter the picture, most of those ideas were debunked, but even more questions arose. The second section covers current missions, which found evidence of ancient oceans and a thicker atmosphere that has since been lost. The third section raises even more exciting possibilities with ambitious plans for future missions. In this book, you’ll follow these advances in astronomy and planetary science as better and better technology brings us incrementally closer to unlocking the secrets of Mars.

On June 5, 1981, the scientific community received a wake-up call from the CDC regarding a terrible and mysterious new illness that caused immune system failure. A year passed before it had a name: AIDS. Reported infections skyrocketed while science raced to understand a virus that hid among our own cells and mutated quickly. Three decades later, remarkable progress has been made but much more remains to be understood and to be done. In this book, HIV and AIDS: A Global Health Pandemic, Scientific American chronicles the war against the disease from its discovery by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier to the most current research on gene editing and potential drug targets. These articles explore where the disease came from, how it works, how it spreads, the search for a vaccine, and cultural and sociological factors. In this book, you’ll find not only a record of crisis and unprecedented response, but also an essential source to understand the scientific struggle against HIV/AIDS.

The Olympics are the world’s most prestigious stage for athletic competition. Fans both casual and hardcore tune in religiously every few years to watch as men and women push themselves to the limits of human performance. But what makes a champion? Is it genetics? Hours of training? A psychological advantage? Of all the athletes who dedicate their lives – and bodies – to achieving that perfect moment of triumph, why will one person or team win out over another? Science has some compelling answers, and in this book, The Science of Sports: Winning in the Olympics, Scientific American explores this topic from various angles. Beginning with Section 1: The Psychology of Winning, the book opens with a look inside the mind of an elite athlete and tackles questions of how to face a rivalry or maintain a positive attitude in the face of defeat. Other sections discuss the sticky issues surrounding genetic advantages and physical prowess, drugs and doping, injury and recovery, and – finally – the latest scientific advice for the rest of us mere mortals to be fit and healthy. You’ll find both inspiration and answers in this indispensable book from the editors of Scientific American, the leading authority on science, technology and innovation.