Free Science Info...Scientific American Online

There are a number of excellent reviews on the traditional print magazine, Scientific American, so I will limit my comments to the online
version.

Scientific American is one of those rare online publications that does not serve merely as a teaser for the magazine. On the contrary, rather than feeding you bits and pieces to whet your appetite and send you off running to the store for the latest edition, Scientific American basically gives away the store.

Full text feature articles, complete with graphics, from current and past editions are available. What's more, the text is filled with clickable references giving you additional subject information, as well as author bios, and other peripheral material, making research far easier than with the text version.

In addition, there is a section called "Ask the Experts" in which readers can email their scientific questions. And another section, "Exhibits," presents an art gallery of graphics from the publication with complete explication.

The chief advantage of the online Scientific American is of course avoiding the hefty cover price. Other less obvious ones are, not feeling guilty about not reading every article, and not having a pile of magazines to dispose of.

The chief disadvantage, of course, is losing both the tactile pleasure of reading a slick magazine, and the ability to carry it to a comfortable spot like the beach for reading at your leisure. You can print out the articles, however, they do tend to be lengthy and come out in a small column, so you end up with pages and pages of text.

Certainly, anyone interested in science who doesn't want to fork out a substantial piece of change every month, anyone doing research, or anyone who just has a passing interest in certain sciences should check out the online version of Scientific American.