Science is probably the most misquoted field in all of human conversation. Not because people are trying to be dishonest, but ...

We invite you to dive in and explore a database of words that appeared prominently in the print history of Scientific American. Below, each year of that historyis represented by a single word, which ...

An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link 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 ...

There’s no original isiZulu word for dinosaur. Germs are called amagciwane, but there are no separate words for viruses or bacteria. A quark is ikhwakhi (pronounced kwa-ki); there is no term for red ...

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 ...