Science Magazine (which one to get)

[guguma]

I am extremely bored on my way to school. I need something to read on the subway. Reading a book can be troublesome due to transfers and lack of concentration so I decided the best thing would be to read science magazines.

The question is, which one?

I am a student in physics, I got my hands on a bunch of "science" magazines (I mean the "science" magazine) but when I look through them almost in every issue it is filled with reports on medicine, biology, etc. So mostly life science.

Because I am doing physics I do want to read about the advancements on other fields, but science magazine is too advanced just to get a glimpse of the research done in those fields.

I also want to see some physics too.

I am mostly interested in advancements in physics, technology, computer science and molecular biology. I will be able understand stuff on physics but when it comes to other fields I do not want to read about "BDNF selectively regulates GABA receptor transcription by activation of the JAK/STAT pathway" or similar.

Any suggestions?

 

[waht]

Scientific American or Nature buts its too pricey

 

[signerror]

Science and Nature both have "readable" sections of short research summaries and news articles, in addition to the long peer-reviewed reports/articles. Physics Today is also very readable.

 

[Cyrus]

The newspaper! Plus, there is always one laying around on the seats or the floor. I just swoop one up and read whatever is there sometimes. People will leave it behind on the train so someone else can read it.

 

[LowlyPion]

Check the school library and look through their periodicals for science.

Also check with the physics department and maybe the Department might have magazines. Department secretaries might be able to tell you where you can get your hands on a few months past issues or which Professors read and chuck some you might be interested in.

At the very least you can discover which ones you have an interest in.

Also there are podcasts about that you could snag like these at Berkeley and listen on iPod:
http://webcast.berkeley.edu/course_details.php?seriesid=1906978373

If you have an iTouch you could download physics lectures from various sources like MIT opencourseware and even watch them on your commute.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

SciAm is always good bet. But for airplane rides I love reading Popular Science.

 

[Gokul43201]

Scientific American or Nature buts its too pricey

Are they similarly priced? I thought Nature was >$100/yr and Sci Am was somewhere around $25/yr (probably less with the PF discount).

 

[waht]

Are they similarly priced? I thought Nature was >$100/yr and Sci Am was somewhere around $25/yr (probably less with the PF discount).

Nature is over $200/yr but you get an issue every week.

 

[skeptic2]

There's also Physics Today at $79 for individuals and $59 for individuals who are members of affiliated societies.