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Terms of Use

Terms of Use

Updated October 28th, 2022 Welcome to ScientificAmerican.com, a service of Scientific American, a division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Please read these Terms of Use. By using this website, you accept all the terms and conditions below. You may wish to print this page for your reference.

These Terms of Use apply only to individual licenses to Scientific American or to visitors without any license to the site. If you are affiliated or employed by an institution that has an Institutional License to Scientific American, please consult your librarian for the terms that govern your use, which are set forth in the Institutional License agreement.

I. General Provisions
ScientificAmerican.com includes both free and fee-based services. This document outlines Terms of Use for both free and fee-based services that you have purchased or may purchase in the future.

The subscription plans and digital products offered on ScientificAmerican.com are offered to individual customers for their personal use only. Schools, libraries, colleges, universities, hospitals, government agencies, businesses or other organizations requiring enterprise-wide access by multiple users to Scientific American digital content should request pricing for an Institutional License. The Institutional License is an unlimited-IP based subscription. For information about this institutional subscription, please contact the Institutional License team.
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Shanghai: +86 21 2422 5007
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The Web is an evolving medium; we may change these Terms of Use from time to time. By continuing to use the service after we post any such changes, you accept the Terms of Use, as modified. We may change, restrict access to, suspend, or discontinue operation of this service, or any portion of this service, at any time. Scientific American respects the privacy of our users. Please see our Privacy Policy and Use of Cookies. The Terms and Conditions of the Privacy Policy may be changed by Scientific American at its discretion; changes are then incorporated herein and included in this agreement. We invite you to bring to our attention any material on this website that you believe to be inaccurate. Please forward a copy, link, or appropriate reference of the material to Editors at editors@sciam.com, along with an explanation of the error.

II. Free Services on ScientificAmerican.com
ScientificAmerican.com features both free and fee-based content services. Non-registered site visitors have limited access to site content and features. Visitors are encouraged to register an account on ScientificAmerican.com to take advantage of additional free content and services, including the ability to comment on blog posts and to subscribe to free newsletters.

  1. Site Registration When you Register an account on ScientificAmerican.com, you become eligible for additional content and services. You will be asked to provide your first and last name, your email address (subject to verification) and a password. You will use your email address and password to sign on to ScientificAmerican.com. The password you create is for your individual use only. You are solely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any password you use to access either free- or fee-based services, and agree that Scientific American will have no obligations regarding thereto. As a registered user, you are eligible for free newsletters and announcements of special offers when opted in, as well as new products and services from Scientific American. ScientificAmerican.com registration does not accept unverifiable email addresses. Site registration is required to purchase fee-based products and services on ScientificAmerican.com.

III. Fee-Based Products and Services
Scientific American offers digital and print-digital subscriptions on ScientificAmerican.com. This section outlines the Terms and Conditions for the purchase of these products and services.

  1. Print Subscriptions Print subscriptions to Scientific American are offered on an annual basis. Print issues are delivered monthly with a combined issue in July/August. Print subscriptions include access to digital issues and articles on ScientificAmerican.com, as well as mobile issues available in our iOS and Android Apps. Scientific American print and Scientific American Digital plans include all subscription issues available in the Archive. Please contact customer service for more information.

  2. Digital Subscription Formats. Scientific American Digital Subscriptions provide flexibility. Digital subscribers may read feature articles directly on ScientificAmerican.com provided that they are logged in. They may also download PDFs of issues and/or articles included in their subscription. Scientific American subscribers are also entitled to corresponding mobile issues available in our iOS and Android Apps.

  3. Archival content may not available in all digital formats.

  4. Subscription Automatic Renewal Program for Subscriptions sold on ScientificAmerican.com You can cancel your subscription at any time. After your initial term, your subscription will automatically renew until you cancel. We will email you a reminder prior to renewal with the renewal rate and date of expected charge. If you do nothing, we will charge the card entered here and your subscription will continue. You can cancel at any time for a refund of the remaining portion of your subscription, just visit your subscription management page, email us or call us at 800-333-1199.

  5. Subscription Cancellation Policy Customers can cancel their subscription at any time and receive a refund for the unused portion of their subscription.

  6. Synching of print/digital subscription plan service For subscriptions purchased by phone or by mail, your subscription needs to be activated on ScientificAmerican.com

    . For subscriptions purchased at ScientificAmerican.com, your digital access begins immediately at the time of purchase. In the event that we must future start the print component of your subscription plan because we are out of inventory on an issue, your subscription expire date, not it’s first print issue date, determines the length of your digital access. This policy ensures that customers receive 12 months of synched print/digital service.

  7. Other Products and Services Scientific American may offer other products and services on ScientificAmerican.com, including merchandise. Unless the product or service offered specifically references the inclusion of fee-based content, the purchase of any other product or service on ScientificAmerican.com excludes any entitlement to fee-based digital or print content.

  8. Service Emails Consumers who purchase the fee-based products and services agree to receive email communications from Scientific American in connection with providing the fee-based Services ("service emails"). The service emails may include account related billing information, renewal information, and new issue/content availability notifications.

IV. Fee-Based Service Charges
Certain features of this site are available only through the purchase of individual issues or a digital subscription or print/digital subscription plan ("Fee-Based Services").

  1. You agree to pay, (by using a valid credit card accepted by Scientific American) the subscription charges set forth on the site, applicable taxes and other charges incurred on your account in order to access Fee-Based Services. Scientific American reserves the right to increase fees, surcharges, and site subscription fees, or to institute new fees at any time, upon reasonable notice by email or posted in advance on this Site. Scientific American will automatically charge your credit card for renewal of your subscription plan. Renewal rates may vary. If you subscribed through a special offer, please refer to the original offer's terms and conditions. In the event Scientific American is not able to charge your account, we reserve the right to invoice you, or terminate your access to the fee-based Services.

  2. In addition to the charges set forth above, you are responsible for all charges associated with connecting to the site, including without limitation all telephone access lines (including long-distance charges, if applicable), telephone, cellular data charges, and computer equipment and any service fees necessary to access the Fee-Based Services.

  3. You agree to promptly update your registration data under "My Account" in the event of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your subscription, or any known or suspected breach of security, including loss, theft, or unauthorized disclosure of your password or credit card information. In the event of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your subscription or a breach of security, you will remain liable for any unauthorized use of your subscription until you update your registration data. If your credit card expires, is canceled, or lost, immediately update your registration data under "My Account".

  4. Age restrictions You represent and warrant to Scientific American that you are at least thirteen (13) years of age and you possess the legal right and ability to enter into this agreement and to use the site in accordance with this agreement.

  5. Financial responsibility You agree not to assign transfer or sublicense your rights as a user to fee-based services. You agree to be financially responsible for all usage or activity on your fee-based services account.

V. Accuracy, Completeness And Timeliness Of The Site
The material that appears on Scientific American's site is for informational purposes only. Despite our efforts to provide useful and accurate information, errors may appear from time to time. Before you act on information you've found on our site, you should confirm any facts that are important to your decision. We are not responsible if information we make available on this site is not accurate, complete or current. Any reliance on the material on this site is at your own risk. This site may contain certain historical information. Historical information necessarily is not current and is provided for your reference only. We reserve the right to modify the contents of this site at any time, but we have no obligation to update any information on the site. You agree that it is your responsibility to monitor changes to the site, and to download subscription materials while your subscription is active.

VI. Ownership and Permissions
This site and the contents thereof (including but not limited to software, interfaces, files, graphics, text and data found on the site) is the property of and owned by Scientific American or its licensors and is protected by copyright, trademark and other laws of the United States and other countries. Scientific American grants you a revocable license to display and electronically copy, download and print hard copy versions of the material contained on the site for your personal and noncommercial use, provided you do not modify or delete any copyright, trademark or other proprietary notice that appears on the material you copy, download or print. No other use of any of the contents of the site is licensed, and you agree that you will not make any other use of the material on the site, including but not limited to the copying, modification, distribution, transmission, performance, broadcast, publication, licensing, reverse engineering, transfer or sale of, or the creation of derivative works from, any of the contents of the site, systematically download any content to your own or any third-party server, use routines designed to continuously and automatically search and index the content of the site (full text and meta data), such as web-crawling or spider programs or engage in any activity likely to burden the site.

All Text and Datamining (TDM) rights reserved. TDM is therefore only permitted to the extent that it is authorized by a corresponding contractual or statutory provision.

Requests for permission to reproduce or distribute materials found on our website should be sent to Scientific American, a division of Springer Nature America, Inc., Permissions Department, One New York Plaza, Suite 4500, New York, NY 10004-1562 or randp@sciam.com. No Framing. Without the prior written permission of Scientific American, you agree that you will not frame or establish inline links to any of the content of our website, nor may you incorporate into another website or other product or service any intellectual property of Scientific American or any of its licensors. Requests for permission to frame, or to establish inline links to, our content may be sent to the Permissions Department, at the email or physical address above. Trademarks. This site features trademarks, service marks and logos that are the property of Scientific American and/or its licensors. The site also may include trademarks, service marks or logos of other third parties. All of these trademarks, service marks and logos are the property of their respective owners, and you agree not to use them in any manner without the prior written permission of the applicable owner.

VII. Materials You Submit
This section applies to any materials you submit to or through this website, including, without limitation, any comment you post to the site. You acknowledge that you are responsible for any submission you make, including the legality, reliability, appropriateness, originality and copyright of any such material. You represent, warrant, and agree you own all rights to the content you post or otherwise control sufficient rights to grant the rights you grant by these Terms of Use; that the content is accurate; that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity; that you will not upload to, distribute or otherwise publish through this site any content that (i) is libelous, defamatory, obscene, threatening, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, infringing on intellectual property rights, abusive, illegal or otherwise objectionable, (ii) may constitute or encourage a criminal offense, violate the rights of any party or otherwise give rise to liability or violate any law, or (iii) may contain software viruses, political campaigning, chain letters, mass mailings, or any form of "spam." If you submit any video content through this site, you further represent, warrant and agree that you have the written consent or permission of each identifiable individual in such content to use their name and likeness and grant the rights you grant in these Terms of Use. You may not use a false email address, impersonate any person or entity, or otherwise mislead as to the origin of any content. You may not upload commercial content onto the site. We reserve the right (but are not under an obligation) to remove or edit any content you provide.

If you do submit material, and unless we indicate otherwise, you grant Scientific American and its affiliates a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, transferable and fully sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, display and perform such content throughout the world in any media now known or hereafter invented. You grant Scientific American and its affiliates the right to use the name you submit in connection with such content, if they so choose. You will retain any ownership rights you may have in the materials you submit, subject to the licenses granted to Scientific American in these Terms of Use. You also understand and agree that users of this site who may access the content you submit are granted a non-exclusive license to access, use, reproduce, distribute, display and perform your content.

Waiver: By submitting content to this site, you waive, and agree not to bring at any time, any claims of any type whatsoever against Scientific American or its affiliates, or their officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors or suppliers in any way arising from or relating to the submitted content, including without limitation any claims asserting: (a) infringement of rights of publicity or misappropriation of likeness or image; (b) invasion of privacy; (c) false light (such as any allegedly false or misleading portrayal of you); (d) infliction of emotional distress (whether intentional or negligent); (e) breach of contract; (f) copyright or trademark infringement; (g) defamation; (h) fraud; or (i) false designation of origin.

VIII. Intellectual Property Rights of Others
We respect the intellectual property rights of others, and we request that our visitors do the same. If you think your work has been copied or used in a manner that constitutes copyright infringement, you may notify our copyright agent, who can be reached at:

Scientific American
c/o Springer Nature
One New York Plaza, Suite 4500
New York, NY 10004
Attention: Legal Department
Email: copyrightagent@springernature.com
Phone: +1-212-460-0220

Please include all of the following in your notification:

a physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive copyright that is allegedly infringed;

a description of the copyrighted work you claim has been infringed;

a description of where the material you claim is infringing is located on the site;

your address, telephone number, email address and all other information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you;

a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and

a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

IX. Disclaimer
YOUR USE OF THIS SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. THE SITE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" BASIS. WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO RESTRICT OR TERMINATE YOUR ACCESS TO THE SITE OR ANY FEATURE OR PART THEREOF AT ANY TIME. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTIES THAT MATERIALS ON THE SITE ARE NONINFRINGING; THAT ACCESS TO THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE; THAT THE SITE WILL BE SECURE; THAT THE SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES THE SITE AVAILABLE WILL BE VIRUS-FREE; OR THAT INFORMATION ON THE SITE WILL BE COMPLETE, ACCURATE OR TIMELY. IF YOU DOWNLOAD ANY MATERIALS FROM THIS SITE, YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION AND RISK. YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM OR LOSS OF DATA THAT RESULTS FROM THE DOWNLOAD OF ANY SUCH MATERIALS. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OR THROUGH OR FROM THE SITE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OF THE MATERIALS ON THIS SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR COMPLETENESS, CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, ADEQUACY, USEFULNESS, TIMELINESS, RELIABILITY OR OTHERWISE.

IN CERTAIN STATES, THE LAW MAY NOT PERMIT THE DISCLAIMER OF CERTAIN WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE DISCLAIMER MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, IN WHOLE OR IN PART. IN SUCH CASES, THE DISCLAIMER WILL APPLY TO YOU TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

X. Limitation of Liability TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, YOU UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT NEITHER SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN NOR ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES OR THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES OR LOST PROFITS RELATING TO OR RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THIS SITE OR ANY OTHER SITE YOU ACCESS THROUGH A LINK FROM THIS SITE OR FROM ANY ACTIONS WE TAKE OR FAIL TO TAKE AS A RESULT OF EMAIL MESSAGES YOU SEND US. THESE INCLUDE DAMAGES FOR ERRORS, OMISSIONS, INTERRUPTIONS, DEFECTS, DELAYS, COMPUTER VIRUSES, YOUR LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO AND ALTERATION OF YOUR TRANSMISSIONS AND DATA, AND OTHER TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE LOSSES. THIS LIMITATION APPLIES REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE DAMAGES ARE CLAIMED UNDER THE TERMS OF A CONTRACT, AS THE RESULT OF NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE ARISE OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE, INABILITY TO USE, OR PERFORMANCE OF THE INFORMATION, SERVICES, PRODUCTS OR MATERIALS AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE, AND EVEN IF WE OR OUR REPRESENTATIVES HAVE BEEN NEGLIGENT OR HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON HOW LONG AN IMPLIED WARRANTY LASTS, OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, ALL OR A PORTION OF THE ABOVE LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

XI. Indemnification You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Scientific American and its affiliates, and their officers, directors, employees, contractors, agents, licensors and suppliers, from and against any and all losses, liabilities, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs, arising or resulting from any violation of these Terms of Use. If you cause a technical disruption of the site or the systems transmitting the site to you or others, you agree to be responsible for any and all losses, liabilities, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees and court costs, arising or resulting from that disruption.

XII. Links Scientific American may provide as a convenience to you, links to websites operated by other entities and persons, but makes no representations whatsoever about any other website which you may access through this one. Any link to a non-Scientific American website does not mean that Scientific American endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content, or the use of such Web site. If you use these sites, you do so at your own risk. Scientific American makes no warranty or representation regarding, and does not sponsor or endorse, any linked websites or the information or materials appearing thereon or any of products and services described thereon. Furthermore, links do not imply that Scientific American is affiliated or associated with, or that any linked site is authorized to use any trademark, trade name, logo, or copyright of Scientific American.

XIII. Jurisdiction Scientific American is organized under the laws of the State of New York in the United States of America, and this site is operated in the United States. The laws of the State of New York, without reference to the principles of conflicts of law thereof, govern these Terms of Use and your use of the site, and you irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of the courts located in the City and State of New York for any action to enforce these Terms of Use. In the event of any legal action arising from or relating to these Terms of Use or your use of the site, you hereby waive the right to a jury trial. We recognize that it is possible for you to obtain access to this site from any jurisdiction in the world, but we have no practical ability to prevent such access. This site has been designed to comply with the laws of the State of New York and of the United States. If any material on this site, or your use of the site, is contrary to the laws of the place where you are when you access it, the site is not intended for you, and we ask you not to use the site. You are responsible for informing yourself of the laws of your jurisdiction and complying with them.

XIV. Changes to These Terms of Use We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to change these Terms of Use at any time by posting revised terms on the site. It is your responsibility to check periodically for any changes we may make to these Terms of Use. Your continued use of this site following the posting of changes to these terms or other policies means you accept the changes.

XV. Miscellaneous If any provision of this agreement is unlawful, void or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of the agreement will remain in place. These Terms of Use constitute the entire agreement and understanding between you and Scientific American with respect to use of the website and the contents thereof, superseding all prior or contemporaneous communications. A printed version of these Terms of Use shall be admissible in judicial or administrative proceedings based on or relating to use of the website to the same extent and subject to the same conditions as other business documents and records originally generated and maintained in printed form.

XVI. How to Contact Us If you have any questions or comments about these Terms of Use, please write us at:

Scientific American
c/o Springer Nature
One New York Plaza, Suite 4500
New York, NY 10004
Attention: Legal Department
Email: copyrightagent@springernature.com
Phone: +1-212-460-0220