Scientific American



Scientific American is, as the name suggests, an American popular science magazine which is also the oldest published magazine in the U.S., having been published continuously since 1845, when it was founded by Rufus Porter (1792–1884). The monthly magazine is the densest and most technical of popular science magazines.

Martin Gardner had an enjoyable column in the magazine for many years titled "Mathematical Games". Among many other things, he introduced Conway's Game of Life to the masses in the column.

Criticism
The March 2008 issue of Scientific American epitomizes the problems of popular science magazines. The cover makes a desperate and hilarious attempt at sensationalism ("The End of Cosmology! In 100 billion years... "). The same issue also illustrates science journalists' obsession with connecting science fiction to science, when a quantum physicist bitch-slapped a science journalist for trying to make a Star Trek connection when discussing particle teleportation.