Time's Arrow Flies through 500 Years of Classical Music, Physicists Say

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August 19, 2020

Dear Reader, What, exactly, makes music to the ears? Time will tell, according to a new study of five centuries' worth of compositions. Read today's lead story to learn more. In space news, a newly discovered car-sized asteroid just made the closest-known flyby to Earth without hitting our planet. We also have a piece on the notable changes between the Democratic platforms of 2016 and 2020 on the issue of global warming. In a story from our 175th anniversary issue, we reckon with the sexism and racism in our archives and show how science can be twisted to make bias seem like objectivity. Plus, read an interesting anecdote about the Scientific American editor who secretly built New York City's first underground train—powered by air—only to have it crushed by political opposition.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Physics Time's Arrow Flies through 500 Years of Classical Music, Physicists Say A statistical study of more than 8,000 compositions shows how the flow of time distinguishes music from noise By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

Arts & Culture Welcome to 175 Years of Discovery An orientation to our special issue By THE EDITORS

Engineering The First Subway in New York City Was a Cylindrical Car Pushed by Air Scientific American editor Alfred Ely Beach revealed the secretly built wonder in 1870 By Katherine Harmon Courage

Policy & Ethics Reckoning with Our Mistakes Some of the cringiest articles in Scientific American's history reveal bigger questions about scientific authority By Jen Schwartz,Dan Schlenoff

Policy & Ethics Three Ways to Fix Toxic Policing Accountability, demilitarization and the transfer of responsibilities to social workers are needed to remake our overly antagonistic law-enforcement agencies By THE EDITORS

Space Asteroid Makes the Closest Earth Flyby a Space Rock Has Ever Survived The car-sized object zoomed by just 1,830 miles away By Chelsea Gohd,SPACE.com

Policy & Ethics What Changed--and What Didn't--in Democrats' Climate Platform The 2020 aims on climate are more ambitious than in 2016, but don't meet all of activists' demands By Scott Waldman,E&E News

Behavior & Society Competing Toe to Toe without Sharing an Arena The Regeneron Science Talent Search rethinks its youth STEM competition in the face of COVID-19 By Amanda Baker

Conservation Cows With Eye Images Keep Predators in Arrears Butterflies, fish and frogs sport rear end eyespots that reduce predation. Painting eye markings on cows similarly seems to ward off predators. By Susanne Bard | 03:05

FROM THE STORE Scientific American Print & Full Archive For $99 per year, your Print & Full Archive subscription includes 12 print and digital issues with full digital archive access back to 1845 and Android and iOS app access.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE 175 Years of Discovery By Dan Schlenoff,Madhusree Mukerjee | August 2020

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