Scientific's new method

0 Comments | Insight on the News, May 27, 1996 | by Gayle M.B. Hanson

In conjunction with ifs sesquicentennial Scientific American has undergone a makeover, replete with color photography as well as a new typeface -- and clear prose. It's the grande dame of periodicals, but in the past few years it has been showing its age. Colorless, dry and more than a little out of step with publishing trends, Scientific American was nobody's idea of a hot read. Now, sporting a facelift and a fresh editorial voice, the magazine is ready once more to take its place at the head of the reading room:

"Basically, I've been trying to make sure that the magazine functions the way that it always has," says John Rennie, editor in chief. "Scientific American traditionally has been the place where science authorities can explain their work directly to the public. The trouble is that many people felt that as the years went by, science was becoming more and more complicated and less and less easy for the general public to understand."

Rennie's remarks are borne out by a quick glimpse at the magazine's monthly column charting scientific advancements through the ages. Fifty years ago, Scientific American was debating whether atomic energy could compete with coal power. One hundred years ago, Alexander Bell was describing experiments with flying machines. And 150 years ago, the magazine exhorted pioneers heading West to "take wives with them. There is no supply of the article in that heathen land."

While similar exhortations are unlikely to occur in future issues, Rennie clearly is on track to create a magazine that will appeal to readers without doctoral degrees as well as scientists. But while competitors, including Science News and Popular Science, take a more reportorial approach, Scientific American always has been written by scientists.

"We want the writing to be as bright and clear as can be found anywhere," says Rennie. "And we're encouraging the scientists who are writing for us to take a personal approach to their subjects. In the 1960s and 1970s, a lot of the technical language began to become forbidding to our readers, and scientists started looking at smaller and smaller areas of research. The trend was toward specialization. The problem was that people who were specialists in one area might have a hard time reading an article in another field because the technical vocabulary was so specific. The biologist could not understand the physicist." The magazine's 700,000 subscribers couldn't understand either of them.

Rennie, who took charge in 1994, has redirected the magazine to be consumer friendly, a position made clear by the redesign. The May issue includes articles on living wills and chess champions and features a profile of naturalist Miriam Rothschild. There still are charts and equations, but color photography has a prominent place in the magazine's layout and a new typeface opens up the pages.

"We've heard from a few people who are concerned that with the new design we're just not including the same amount of information," Rennie mentions. "Well, we are. It just looks differently."

And, like many other publications, Scigntific American has a World Wide Web page, which Rennie hopes will provide readers with the opportunity to explore further topics covered in the print version of the magazine.

"We live in an age where things are changing rapidly and there will always be a place for Scientific American in that world " says Rennie. "We just want to make sure that we are fulfilling our mandate to provide our readers with good science and good writing."