We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. Since at least the 17th century, science has struggled with words. Francis Bacon, ...

With so many communication networks and social media channels, you hear so many more science and weather words than ever before. You might wonder which are based on science and which are misleading.

We all do our best to be accurate, responsible users of the English language, but despite our best intentions, we’ve all had the occasional slip up ("literally" or "ironic", anyone?) It's particularly ...

This is a part of Science Diction, a series digging into the scientific origin stories behind our words and language. Find all our stories and previous issues here. Words like these weren’t just ...

One thing nerds like to argue about is what nerds are allowed to argue about. If you agree to stipulate that science fiction is often one of those things—and, hey, we could argue about that—then a ...