For working scientists, especially in high-tech fields, there are only a few crucial nonjournal periodicals to pore over faithfully, and Scientific American is one of them--its timely and technical features on everything from paleoarchaeology to neural nets set it apart from popular science magazines like Discover. Scientific American emphasizes a wide variety of emerging technologies, giving scientists a chance to keep up in an increasingly specialized professional world. Innovative and controversial developments such as gene patenting and the latest from the unified field gurus are front and center in every issue. It's not all business, though--regular features like Michael Shermer's "Skeptic" column, enticing book reviews, brain-busting puzzles, and James Burke's intellectual-historical meanderings add browsability to this enduring magazine, in business reporting the frontiers of scientific exploration for more than 150 years.
