If you’ve taken a research-based course, chances are you’ve learned the difference between scholarly publications and popular ones. The first is for experts in a specific field, written in discipline-specific language, and often full of technical graphs and charts. The second is for a general audience, is easy to understand, and has colorful pictures.

Slightly intimidated by that smart person on your floor, yet interested in getting to know them better? Looking to impress a Chemistry professor or potential employer with your knowledge of current scientific discoveries? Simply interested in the sciences, even if they don't have anything to do with your major?

Look no further than Scientific American, a popular science magazine that reports on recent scientific findings on a broad variety of subjects, and does it all in easy-to-understand language. Find it here. 

Here are some Scientific American topics you can read about:

• "Give Me a Break" -- A fun article detailing the evidence behind the conclusion that downtime actually actually boots productivity. 
•  "Black Holes and Wormholes and the Secrets of Quantum Spacetime" -- A good article to read if you've heard about wormholes and quantum physics before, but want to delve deeper into how the two are linked. 
•  "Species in the Making" -- An article on how killer whale populations are splitting up into different, separately-evolving groups due to cultural differences. Perfect for the animal lover. 
•  "Learning When No One is Watching" -- An article about how virtual reality may be able to show us how we learn new things without instruction.