The Best Science Magazines for Busy People
Get a Stimulating and Timely Dose of Research News and Information
Aug 5, 2009
Scientific literacy is a good thing. It helps people keep current on what's going on in the world, and allows informed citizens to participate in meaningful discussions and decisions affecting the future. It's also fun just to know and understand a lot of cool stuff.
The average non-scientist doesn't need to delve into primary research articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Fortunately, there are some great magazines that have top-notch science writers to provide just the right mix of information and entertainment for the interested reader. Many scientist also enjoy these publications, because they provide concise reports and reviews on a wide range of topics, that a researcher would not otherwise have time to keep up with.
Science News
Science News is an American publication in short newsletter format on newsprint. The articles are brief and informative. Since it comes out weekly, the articles are timely and relevant to recent developments in science and technology. The writing is crisp and to the point, but entertaining also. It's affordable too. A subscription to New Scientist costs $49.95 (for U.S. Delivery). There is a lot of free content on the website.
New Scientist
From England, New Scientist is a glossy publication in magazine format. Like Science News it is a weekly, but it has more pages, thus more information is packed into each issue. Most of the articles are short (one page or less) but each issue includes a longer piece that delves into a topic in greater detail. The quality of the writing is absolutely top notch. A print and on-line subscription is $72 and on-line only is $39. It's a little more expensive than Science News, but you get more (including some free content on the website).
ScienceDaily
Okay, it's not a magazine in the traditional sense. ScienceDaily is a website publishing the latest research news and information. Many or the articles are rewrites from press releases put out by universities and companies. It is updated everyday so there is no fresher source of science and technology information. An advantage ScienceDaily has over print magazines is that all of its content is searchable (the other magazines' websites are searchable too).
One drawback is that the writing is pretty much all the same. The authors apparently don't have a lot of leeway when it comes to voice or expression. Although the information quality is high, ScienceDaily isn't quite as much fun to read as Science News or New Scientist. It has one other thing going for it though — it's free.
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