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| Title | Summary |
|---|---|
| Jan 2013 | |
| technology The Future in 50, 100, and 150 Years |
We asked leading scientists and science writers to look forward to what the world will be like in the years 2063, 2113 and 2163 and tell us what role science and technology will play in our future. |
| space Starship Humanity |
How future generations will make the voyage from our earthly home to the planets and beyond—and what it means for our species |
| quantum physics Strange and Stringy |
Newly discovered states of matter embody what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance.” They defy explanation, but lately answers have come from a seemingly unrelated corner of physics: string theory |
| medical engineering Bionic Connections |
A new way to link artificial arms and hands to the nervous system could allow the brain to control prostheses as smoothly as if they were natural limbs |
| life science Small Wonders |
Light microscopy reveals hidden marvels of the natural world |
| climate The Coming Megafloods |
Huge flows of vapor in the atmosphere, dubbed "atmospheric rivers," have unleashed massive floods every 200 years, and climate change could bring more of them |
| neuroscience A Confederacy of Senses |
Our many different senses collaborate even more than previously realized. What we hear depends a lot on what we see and feel |
| Dec 2012 | |
| innovation World Changing Ideas |
10 innovations that are radical enough to alter our lives |
| physics The Unquantum Quantum |
Quantum theorists often speak of the world as being pointillist at the smallest scales. Yet a closer look at the laws of nature suggests that the physical world is actually continuous—more analog than digital |
| climate change The Winters of Our Discontent |
Loss of Arctic sea ice is stacking the deck in favor of harsh winter weather in the U.S. and Europe |
| medical ethics Is Drug Research Trustworthy? |
The pharmaceutical industry funnels money to prominent scientists who are doing research that affects its products—and nobody can stop it |
| space Four Starry Nights |
In the driest place on Earth, one astronomer sifts through starlight to find clues about the Milky Way's evolution. Here is her account of a typical trip, based on four days in March 2011 |
| art conservation The Case of the Disappearing Daguerreotypes |
As priceless images from the earliest days of photography were dissolving in front of museumgoers' eyes, an unlikely team set out to save them |
| neuroscience Mind Theorist |
Knowledge of how the brain intuits what someone else is thinking helps Rebecca Saxe devise possible solutions to seemingly intractable political and social conflict |
| Nov 2012 | |
| particle physics The Inner Life of Quarks |
What if the smallest bits of matter actually harbor an undiscovered world of particles? |
| neuroscience Grow Your Own Eye |
Biologists have coaxed cells to form a retina, a step toward growing replacement organs outside the body |
| environment Global Warming: Faster Than Expected? |
Loss of ice, melting of permafrost and other climate effects are occurring at an alarming pace |
| paleontology The Strangest Bird |
Recent fossil discoveries reveal the surprising evolutionary history of penguins |
| science and society America's Science Problem |
The United States faced down authoritarian governments on the left and right. Now it may be facing an even greater challenge from within |
| biology Autism and the Technical Mind |
Children of scientists and engineers may inherit genes that not only confer intellectual talents but also predispose them to autism |
| quantum physics A New Enlightenment |
Quantum theory once seemed like the last nail in the coffin of pure reason. Now it's looking like its savior |
| Oct 2012 | |
| science State of The World's Science |
A Measure of the Creativity of a Nation is how Well it Works with those Beyond its Borders |
| neuroscience The Language of the Brain |
The brain makes sense of our experiences by focusing closely on the timing of the impulses that flow through billions of nerve cells |
| environment Ecosystems on the Brink |
To keep jellyfish, fungi and other creatures from overtaking healthy habitats, scientists are exploring food webs and tipping points |
| physics The Higgs at Last |
After a three-decade search, scientists appear to have found the elusive particle. Its peculiar properties suggest a new era in physics could be about to dawn |
| energy Kinetic Kite |
An airborne wind turbine turns sea breezes into electricity |
| psychology The Wisdom of the Psychopaths |
We can learn a lot from psychopaths. Certain aspects of their personalities and intellect are often hallmarks of success |
| biochemistry Journey to the Genetic Interior |
What was once known as junk DNA turns out to hold hidden treasures, says computational biologist Ewan Birney |
| Sep 2012 | |
| Beyond Limits | How will we transcend today's barriers to get smarter, live longer, and expand the power of human innovation |
| evolution Super Humanity |
Our drive to exceed our evolutionary limits sets us apart from other beasts |
| intelligence Can We Keep Getting Smarter? |
Ever rising IQ scores suggest that future generations will make us seem like dimwits in comparison |
| consciousness The Case of the Sleeping Slayer |
In the neurological netherworld between sleep and wakefulness, the mind's delirium can turn tragically real |
| aging How We All Will Live to Be 100 |
Two approaches to longevity research aim to extend the average life span out to a century or more |
| neuroengineering Mind in Motion |
The idea that paralyzed people might one day control their limbs just by thinking is no longer a Hollywood-style fantasy |
| technology The Edge of Ambition |
10 projects that push the boundaries of the engineered world |
| complexity Machines of the Infinite |
Whether or not machines can quickly answer yes-or-no questions could affect everything from national security to the limits of human knowledge |
| basic science Questions for the Next Million Years |
What would scientists learn if they could run studies that lasted for hundreds or thousands of years—or more? |
| ecology The Great Climate Experiment |
How far can we push the planet? |
| physics Beyond the Quantum Horizon |
Once viewed as imposing absolute limits on knowledge and technology, quantum theory is now expanding the power of computers and the vistas of the mind |
| Aug 2012 | |
| astrophysics The Benevolence of Black Holes |
The matter-eating beast at the center of the Milky Way may actually account for Earth's existence and habitability |
| neuroscience The Joyful Mind |
A new understanding of how the brain generates pleasure could lead to better treatment of addiction and depression—and even to a new science of happiness |
| evolutionary biology New Life for Ancient DNA |
Biotechnology reveals how the woolly mammoth survived the cold and other mysteries of extinct creatures |
| climate Lakes on Ice |
Scientists are tracking how water atop Greenland's ice sheet pools and drains. The findings could help predict future rises in sea level |
| atomosphere science Deadly Rays from Clouds |
Thunderstorms give out powerful blasts of gamma rays and x-rays, shooting beams of particles—and even antimatter—into space. The atmosphere is a stranger place than we ever imagined |
| education Building a Better Science Teacher |
Experience and degrees don't matter in the classroom nearly so much as mastery of science and math and some plain old smarts |
| health Quiet Little Traitors |
Cells that permanently stop dividing have long been recognized as one of the body's defenses against cancer. Now they are also seen as a sometime culprit in cancer and a cause of aging |
| biodiversity Which Species will Live? |
Like battlefield medics, conservationists are being forced to explicitly apply triage to determine which creatures to save and which to let go |
| bacteriology Phage Factor |
Long ignored by mainstream researchers, the viruses that infect bacteria have a role to play in modern medicine, Vincent Fischetti says |
| Jul 2012 | |
| evolution Why We Help |
Far from being a nagging exception to the rule of evolution, cooperation has been one of its primary architects |
| space Reading the Red Planet |
At 10:31 p.m. Pacific time on August 5, NASA'S Curiosity rover will begin the first direct search for habitable environments on Mars |
| health Secrets of the HIV Controllers |
A rare group of HIV-positive individuals need no medicine to keep the virus in check. Their good fortune could point the way to more powerful treatments--and perhaps a vaccine |
| engineering Fleet Foot |
Nimble robots like this Cheetah will help the military navigate terrain too rocky for wheels |
| polar science Witness to an Antarctic Meltdown |
As glaciers collapse toward the sea, scientists struggle to figure out how fast the southern continent is melting and what that means for sea-level rise |
| physics Nobel Pursuits |
The tools of science have changed since the golden age of physics, but many of the same questions remain |
| animal behavior The Rat that Laughed |
Do animals other than humans have a sense of humor? Maybe so |
| artificial intelligence Machines that Think for Themselves |
New techniques for teaching computers how to learn are beating the experts |
| Jun 2012 | |
| medicine The Ultimate Social Network |
Researchers who study the friendly bacteria that live inside all of us are starting to sort out who is in charge—microbes or people? |
| astrophysics Super Supernovae |
The largest stars die in explosions more powerful than anyone thought possible—some triggered in part by the production of antimatter |
| neuroscience The Human Brain Project |
Building a vast digital simulation of the brain could transform neuroscience and medicine and reveal new ways of making more powerful computers |
| technology Fusion's Missing Pieces |
On the road to unlimited energy, the world's most complex science experiment encounters a few potholes |
| ecology Busy Bee |
Orchid pollinators are surprisingly promiscuous about the plants they like |
| infectious disease Waiting to Explode |
By concocting bird flu viruses that could potentially spread easily among humans, researchers have ignited a debate about the need for safety versus open inquiry |
| history of science The Right Way to Get It Wrong |
Most errors are quickly forgotten. Others end up remaking the face of science |
| sociobiology Life is a Shell Game |
Like people, hermit crabs and other animals trade up by treasuring what others leave behind |
| virology Resistance Fighter |
Thumbi Ndung'u has moved from Africa to Massachusetts and back in a quest to halt the AIDS epidemic |
| May 2012 | |
| quantum physics Loops, Trees and the Search for New Physics |
Maybe unifying the forces of nature isn't quite as hard as physicists thought it would be |
| future health Tomorrow's Medicine |
A look at some of the most promising medical devices now in development |
| evolution Triumph of the Titans |
The long-necked dinosaurs known as sauropods, once seen as icons of extinction, thrived for millions of years all around the world |
| neuroscience Erasing Painful Memories |
The caustic imprint of a traumatic memory may fade or vanish with new drug and behavioral therapies |
| botany What a Plant Smells |
Botanists are getting a whiff of the ways that plants smell one another. Some plants recognize injured neighbors by scent; others sniff out a meal |
| forensic medicine Telltale Hearts |
Despite advances in medical imaging, an autopsy still gives experts the best picture of what ails us |
| meteorology A Better Eye On the Storm |
New technology that increases the warning time for tornadoes and hurricanes could potentially save hundreds of lives every year |
| photonics Nature's Color Tricks |
Understanding seven clever tactics animals use to create dazzling hues may lead to sophisticated new technologies |
| innovation Professional Seer |
The world's largest computer chipmaker employs a corporate futurist, Brian David Johnson, to guess what gadgetry and computing will look like in 2020 and beyond |
| Apr 2012 | |
| human evolution First of Our Kind |
Sensational fossils from South Africa spark debate over how we came to be human |
| physics Quantum Gravity in Flatland |
Imagine space were 2-D rather than 3-D. How would the force of gravity work? The surprising answers are guiding physicists to a unified theory of nature |
| neuroscience This Is Your Brain in Meltdown |
Neural circuits responsible for conscious self-control are highly vulnerable to even mild stress. When they shut down, primal impulses go unchecked and mental paralysis sets in |
| space science Bound for the Moon |
The next rover to roam the moon's surface may come not from NASA and its rocket scientists but from college students and private companies working on a shoestring |
| medicine Polio's Last Act |
As the number of cases of the paralytic disease fall, world health officials have to grapple with a vexing problem: a component of the most widely used polio vaccine now causes more disease than the virus it is supposed to fight |
| medicine Birth of a Cold War Vaccine |
While the superpowers were busy threatening to destroy each other with nuclear weapons, Albert B. Sabin turned to a surprising ally to test his new oral polio vaccine—a Soviet scientist |
| paleontology Time Traveler |
Artist Charles R. Knight drew on his vast experience depicting living animals to bring prehistoric creatures to life—a practice that made him keenly aware of the finality of extinction |
| physiology The Limits of Breath Holding |
It's logical to think that the brain's need for oxygen is what limits how long people can hold their breath. Logical, but not the whole story |
| Mar 2012 | |
| neuroscience What Makes Each Brain Unique |
How can identical twins grow up with different personalities? "Jumping genes" move around in neurons and alter the way they work |
| astrophysics The Far, Far Future of Stars |
Some say its glory days are long gone, but the universe has life in it yet. Brand-new types of celestial phenomena will unfold over the coming billions and trillions of years |
| paleontology Dinosaurs of the Lost Continent |
The American West once harbored multiple communities of dinosaurs simultaneously—a revelation that has scientists scrambling to understand how the land could have supported so many behemoths |
| energy Gather the Wind |
If renewable energy is going to take off, we need good ways of storing it for the times when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing |
| medicine Blocking HIV's Attack |
Scientists have rid one man of HIV by preventing the virus from entering certain immune cells. But the treatment was dangerous and likely unrepeatable. Can they figure out a safer, more broadly achievable way to help millions more? |
| info tech The Shadow Web |
Governments and corporations have more control over the Internet than ever. Now digital activists want to build an alternative network that can never be blocked, filtered or shut down |
| biotechnology Lifting the Black Cloud |
Existing antidepressants leave a lot to be desired. They can take weeks to start working, and they fail many people. Researchers are scouting for better options |
| climate Hit Them with the Hockey Stick |
Michael E. Mann set out looking for a big scientific problem and wound up at the center of a political storm over climate change. Now he tells his side of the story |
| Feb 2012 | |
| physics Is Space Digital? |
An experiment going up outside of Chicago will attempt to measure the intimate connections among information, matter and spacetime. If it works, it could rewrite the rules for 21st-century physics |
| medicine The Great Prostate Cancer Debate |
Evidence shows that screening does more harm than good. Now what? |
| environment Swept From Africa to the Amazon |
What the journey of a handful of dust tells us about our fragile planet |
| public health Sleeping With the Enemy |
Bed bugs are back. Can science stop them? |
| citizen science All Hands on Deck |
Volunteers are combing through the logbooks of World War I-era ships to help researchers fill holes in the earth's climate record |
| sustainable agriculture The Future of Chocolate |
Researchers are racing to fortify the embattled cacao tree and to meet increasing demand for cocoa made from its seeds |
| brain science The Collision Syndrome |
Football players diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease may suffer from the effect of repeated blows to the head, controversial new research says |
| anatomy Fetal Armor |
The placenta does more than nourish offspring in the womb—it actively shapes brain development |
| bioengineering The Brittle Star's Apprentice |
Chemist Joanna Aizenberg mines the deep sea and the forest wetlands for nature's design secrets and uses them to fashion new materials that may change the world |
| Jan 2012 | |
| biology A New Path to Longevity |
Researchers have uncovered an ancient mechanism that retards aging. Drugs that tweaked it could well postpone cancer, diabetes and other diseases of old age |
| cosmology Goldilocks Black Holes |
Tipping the scales at less than about a million suns in mass, middleweight black holes may hold clues to how their much larger siblings, and galaxies, first formed |
| animal behavior The Compass Within |
Animals' magnetic sense is real. Scientists are zeroing in on how it works |
| immunology The Patient Scientist |
When Ralph M. Steinman developed pancreatic cancer, he put his own theories about cancer and the immune system to the test. They kept him alive longer than expected--but three days short of learning he had won the Nobel Prize |
| health Five Hidden Dangers of Obesity |
Excess weight can harm health in ways that may come as a surprise |
| technology The Department of Pre-Crime |
In cities across the U.S. data-rich computer technology is telling cops where crimes are about to happen. Crime is down, and the technology is spreading. But does it really work? |
| physics The Science of the Glory |
One of the most beautiful phenomena in meteorology has a surprisingly subtle explanation. Its study also helps to predict the role that clouds will play in climate change |
| sustainability More Food, Less Energy |
Changes in agriculture, policy and personal behaviors can reduce the energy a nation uses to feed itself and the greenhouse gases it emits |
| environment Dust Up |
Biologist Jayne Belnap warns of the consequences for the American West if we don't preserve a home for the minute organisms that live in desert topsoil |
| Dec 2011 | |
| technology World Changing Ideas |
10 new technologies that will make a difference |
| technology The Machine That Would Predict the Future |
If you dropped all the world's data into a black box, could it become a crystal ball that would let you see the future—even test what would happen if you chose A over B? One researcher thinks so, and he could soon get a billion euros to build it |
| space exploration This Way to Mars |
By adapting ideas from robotic planetary exploration, the human space program could get astronauts to asteroids and Mars cheaply and quickly |
| biology Dazzling Miniatures |
Small worlds writ large under the microscope |
| climate change After the Deluge |
A spate of floods, droughts and heat waves is prompting city and state leaders to take bold steps to protect their people and property |
| neuroscience Hidden Switches in the Mind |
Experience may contribute to mental illness in a surprising way: by causing "epigenetic" changes—ones that turn genes on or off without altering the genes themselves |
| animal behavior Ants & the Art of War |
Battles among ants can be startlingly similar to human military operations |
| forensics Arm in the Ice |
New fingerprint- and DNA-identification techniques solve a mystery from a 60-year-old plane crash |
| education Speaking Out on the "Quiet Crisis" |
Strengthening science education is the key to securing our energy future, says Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's president |
| Nov 2011 | |
| archaeology The 1st Americans |
Humans colonized the New World earlier than previously thought—a revelation that is forcing scientists to rethink long-standing ideas about these trailblazers |
| planetary science Digging Mars |
The Mars Phoenix mission revived hopes that the Red Planet may be habitable, preparing the way for a new rover to be launched this month |
| planetary science The Smallest Astronauts |
Did space rocks seed Earth with life? To test that idea, a Russian probe is about to see whether microbes can survive a round-trip to Mars |
| experimental philosophy Thought Experiments |
Some philosophers today are doing more than thinking deeply. They are also conducting scientific experiments relating to the nature of free will and of good and evil |
| sustainability Can We Feed the World & Sustain the Planet? |
A five-step global plan could double food production by 2050 while greatly reducing environmental damage |
| geology Sleeping Giant |
The volcano beneath this calm-looking lake has grown restive, inspiring a rare collaboration between Chinese and Korean scientists |
| biotechnology The Wipeout Gene |
A new breed of genetically modified mosquitoes carries a gene that cripples its own offspring. They could crush native mosquito populations and block the spread of disease. And they are already in the air—though that's been a secret |
| computing A Formula for Economic Calamity |
Despite the lessons of the 2008 collapse, Wall Street is betting our future on flimsy science |
| energy The Truth About Fracking |
Fracturing a deep shale layer one time to release natural gas might pose little risk to drinking-water supplies, but doing so repeatedly could be problematic |
| diagnostics The Medical Sleuth |
As a disease detective at the NIH, William A. Gahl unravels the cause of illnesses that have stumped other doctors |
| Oct 2011 | |
| astrophysics The Dark Side of The Milky Way |
Dark matter is not just a puzzle. It is a solution |
| chemistry Atom Power |
2011 is the International Year of Chemistry—a well-deserved celebration of that science's profound power |
| chemistry 10 Unsolved Mysteries |
Many of the most profound scientific questions—and some of humanity's most urgent problems—pertain to the science of atoms and molecules |
| chemistry The Scent of Your Thoughts |
Although we are usually unaware of it, we communicate through chemical signals just as much as birds and bees do |
| geology Afghanistan's Buried Riches |
Geologists say newfound deposits in the embattled country could fulfill the world's desire for rare-earth and critical minerals and end opium's local stranglehold in the process |
| medicine A New Ally against Cancer |
The FDA recently okayed the first therapeutic cancer vaccine, and other drugs that enlist the immune system against tumors are under study |
| forensics How Skulls Speak |
New 3-D software is helping scientists identify the sex and ancestral origins of human remains with greater speed and precision |
| physics Waiting for the Higgs |
Even as the last protons spin through the most successful particle accelerator in history, physicists hope to conjure one final triumph |
| paleontology The Dinosaur Baron of Transylvania |
A maverick aristocrat's ideas about dinosaur evolution turn out to have been decades ahead of their time |
| biology Actuary of the Cell |
Building on her Nobel Prize-winning research on cell function, Elizabeth H. Blackburn is trying to find a simple measure of a person's health risks |
| Sep 2011 | |
| Street-Savvy | Meeting the biggest challenges starts with the city |
| The Social Nexus | The best way to harness a city's potential for creativity and innovation is to jack people into the network and get out of the way |
| Engines of Innovation | Most of humanity now lives in a metropolis. That simple fact helps to fuel our continued success as a species |
| Global Bazaar | Shantytowns, favelas and jhopadpattis turn out to be places of surprising innovation |
| Brains Over Buildings | To rejuvenate urban centers, look to teachers and entrepreneurs |
| How Green Is My City | Retrofitting is the best way to clean up urban living |
| All Climate Is Local | Mayors are often better equipped than presidents to cut greenhouse gases |
| The Efficient City | Municipalities worldwide are exploiting a host of creative solutions to reduce energy consumption, water use, waste and emissions, while also making it easier for people to get around |
| Castles in the Air | The attacks of 9/11 supposedly ended the age of the skyscraper. A decade on we're building more than ever |
| Street Talk | What innovation -- technological or otherwise -- would make any city a substantially more livable place? We put this question to urban leaders and our own readers. Here's what they said |
| Life in the Meta City | We walk a line between the anarchy of choice and Disney-fication, says the author of Neuromancer |
| Aug 2011 | |
| cosmology Does the Multiverse Really Exist? |
Proof of parallel universes radically different from our own may still lie beyond the domain of science |
| human origins The Evolution of Grandparents |
Senior citizens may have been the secret of our species' success |
| neuroscience How To Build a Better Learner |
Brain studies suggest new ways to improve reading, writing and arithmetic—and even social skills |
| energy The False Promise of Biofuels |
The breakthroughs needed to replace oil with plant-based fuels are proving difficult to achieve |
| life science Treasure in the Trees |
Nests offer clues about natural history, climate change and their owners' mating habits |
| medicine A Breath of Fresh Air |
Fundamental understanding of basic biology has set the stage for new treatments for cystic fibrosis |
| sociology How New York Beat Crime |
With its judicious use of cops and innovative methods, the Big Apple is a model for how to stem homicides, muggings and other ills |
| philosophy of science Why Math Works |
Is math invented or discovered? A leading astrophysicist suggests that the answer to the millennia-old question is both |
| archaeology Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Indiana Jones and One-Time Mubarak Ally, Tries to Cozy Up to Pro-Democracy Activists |
Egypt had a revolution, but Zahi Hawass, the larger-than-life minister of antiquities, is still calling his own shots and making no apologies |
| Jul 2011 | |
| neuroscience The Limits of Intelligence |
The laws of physics may well prevent the human brain from evolving into an ever more powerful thinking machine |
| astrophysics The Periodic Table of the Cosmos |
A simple diagram, which celebrates its centennial this year, continues to serve as the most essential conceptual tool in stellar astrophysics |
| health care The Best Medicine |
A quiet revolution in comparative effectiveness research just might save us from soaring medical costs |
| climate change The Last Great Global Warming |
Surprising new evidence suggests the pace of the earth's most abrupt prehistoric warm-up paled in comparison to what we face today. The episode has lessons for our future |
| engineering Underground Railroad |
A peek inside New York City's subway line of the future |
| biology Evolution of the Eye |
Scientists now have a clear vision of how our notoriously complex eye came to be |
| cybersecurity Hacking the Lights Out |
Computer viruses have taken out hardened industrial control systems. The electrical power grid may be next |
| disease control Scent of a Human |
Decoding how a mosquito sniffs out human targets could lead to better traps and repellents that cut malaria's spread |
| cosmology Bad Boy of Physics |
Leonard Susskind rebelled as a teen and never stopped. Today he insists that reality may forever be beyond reach of our understanding |
| Jun 2011 | |
| physics Living In A Quantum World |
Quantum mechanics is not just about teeny particles. It applies to things of all sizes: birds, plants, maybe even people |
| neuroscience A Test for Consciousness |
How will we know when we've built a sentient computer? By making it solve a simple puzzle |
| nuclear energy Planning for the Black Swan |
The surprising accident at Fukushima puts the spotlight on a new generation of U.S. nuclear reactors. Are they safe enough? |
| biology A Nobel Celebration |
As Nobel Prize winners gather this month to share their wisdom with younger researchers, Scientific American recalls some of the articles that Nobel laureates have published in our pages |
| technology Inside the Meat Lab |
A handful of scientists aim to satisfy the world's growing appetite for steak without wrecking the planet. The first step: grab a petri dish |
| microbiology The Smartest Bacteria on Earth |
One species of soil microbe makes unusually wise communal decisions |
| health The Devil's Cancer |
A contagious tumor threatens to wipe out the famous Tasmanian devil. Could similarly "catching" cancers arise in humans, too? |
| history of science Greater Glory |
In the race to the South Pole, explorer Robert F. Scott refused to sacrifice his ambitious science agenda |
| global warming "I Stick to Science" |
Why Richard A. Muller wouldn't tell House climate skeptics what they wanted to hear |
| May 2011 | |
| sustainability 7 Radical Energy Solutions |
The failure rate may be 90 percent, but if any of these exotic technologies succeeds it could significantly improve energy security and efficiency |
| cosmology The Lost Galaxies |
By the latest estimate, the observable universe contains 200 billion galaxies. Astronomers wonder: Why so few? |
| neuroscience The Hidden Organ In Our Eyes |
Our bodies adjust to the cycle of day and night thanks to specialized neurons in our eyes. Ongoing study of these cells could lead to new treatments for winter depression and other conditions |
| mathematics The Strangest Numbers in String Theory |
A forgotten number system invented in the 19th century may provide the simplest explanation for why our universe could have 10 dimensions |
| medicine Fast Track to Vaccines |
Analyzing all the layers of the immune system at once speeds design and may one day deal a decisive blow against HIV |
| physics The Space Station's Crown Jewel |
A fancy cosmic-ray detector, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is about to scan the cosmos for dark matter, antimatter and more |
| agriculture The Growing Menace from Superweeds |
Pigweed, ragweed and other monsters have begun to outsmart the advanced technologies that protect the biggest U.S. cash crops |
| natural history Masters of Disguise |
Animal mimicry takes many forms—including chemical and acoustic varieties—and offers unique insights into evolution |
| creativity Inner Sparks |
Hearing specialist and sax player Charles J. Limb says that studying the brain during flights of improvisation may provide new understanding of creativity—as well as insight into the musical genius of John Coltrane |
| Apr 2011 | |
| cosmology The Inflation Debate |
Is the theory at the heart of modern cosmology deeply flawed? |
| medicine The Enemy Within |
A new pattern of antibiotic resistance that is spreading around the globe may soon leave us defenseless against a frighteningly wide range of dangerous bacterial infections |
| imaging Neuroscience in the Courtroom |
Brain scans and other types of neurological evidence are rarely a factor in trials today. Someday, however, they could transform judicial views of personal credibility and responsibility |
| environment Can the Dead Sea Live? |
Irrigation and mining are sucking the salt lake dry, but together Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority could save the sacred sea |
| artificial intelligence Solving the Cocktail Party Problem |
Computers have great trouble deciphering voices that are speaking simultaneously. That may soon change |
| cell biology The Orderly Chaos of Proteins |
To do their magic in the cell, proteins must fold into rigid shapes—or so standard wisdom says. But a more tangled story is beginning to emerge |
| seismology Seconds Before the Big One |
Earthquake detection systems can sound the alarm in the moments before a big tremor strikes—time enough to save lives |
| sustainability Food Fight |
Genetically modified crops, says agro-research czar Roger Beachy, receive an unjustified shellacking from environmentalists |
| animal behavior Natural-Born Killer |
Lethal from day one, the tentacled snake uses surprisingly sly tactics to capture fish |
| Mar 2011 | |
| psychology The Neuroscience of True Grit |
When tragedy strikes, most of us ultimately rebound surprisingly well. Where does such resilience come from? |
| space science Journey to the Innermost Planet |
Mercury has never been orbited by a spacecraft before. That will change this month |
| medicine Diseases in a Dish |
A creative use of stem cells made from adult tissues may hasten drug development for debilitating diseases |
| imaging Signals in a Storm |
A new computer imaging technique shows researchers how brain cells communicate—one molecule at a time |
| archaeology Putting Stonehenge in Its Place |
An increasingly accepted view holds that the great stone circle may have been just part of a much larger ceremonial landscape |
| physics Demons and the Quest Entropy for Absolute Zero |
A 19th-century thought experiment has turned into a real technique for reaching ultralow temperatures, paving the way to new scientific discoveries as well as to useful applications |
| climate change A Shifting Band of Rain |
By mapping equatorial rainfall since A.D. 800, scientists have figured out how tropical weather may change through 2100 |
| public health Not Just an Illness of the Rich |
Recent global health campaigns have focused on HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Tackling the growing threat from cancer, says medical anthropologist Paul Farmer, could improve health care more broadly |
| paleontology Dinosaur Death Trap |
On a trip to the Gobi Desert, a team of fossil hunters unearths a death scene that reveals new clues about how dinosaurs lived |
| Feb 2011 | |
| health How to Fix the Obesity Crisis |
Although science has revealed a lot about metabolic processes that influence our weight, the key to success may lie elsewhere |
| space Citizen Satellites |
Tiny, standardized spacecraft are making orbital experiments affordable to even the smallest research groups |
| sustainability The Blue Food Revolution |
New fish farms out at sea, and cleaner operations along the shore, could provide the world with a rich supply of much needed protein |
| cognitive psychology How Language Shapes Thought |
The languages we speak affect our perceptions of the world |
| biology The Inner Life of the Genome |
The way our genes are arrayed and move in the 3-D space of the cell nucleus turns out to profoundly influence how they function, in both health and disease |
| ecology A Friend to Aliens |
Buckthorn, garlic mustard and many other invasive species do not pose as big a threat as some scientists think, says ecologist Mark Davis |
| astrophysics X-Ray Vision |
Thanks to amazing nested mirrors, NASA's NuSTAR telescope is set to reveal hidden phenomena in the cosmos |
| neuroprosthetics Mind Out of Body |
In an exclusive excerpt from his new book, a pioneering neuroscientist argues that brain-wave control of machines will allow the paralyzed to walk and portends a future of mind melds and thought downloads |
| history of science Jefferson's Moose |
Thomas Jefferson waged a second revolution, fighting the image created by European naturalists of a degenerate America |
| Jan 2011 | |
| evolution Dawn of the Deed |
Fish fossils push back the origin of copulation in backboned animals and suggest that it was a key turning point in our evolution |
| space Contact The Day After |
If we are ever going to pick up a signal from E.T., it is going to happen soon, astronomers say. And we already have a good idea how events will play out |
| infectious disease Flu Factories |
The next pandemic virus may be circulating on U.S. pig farms, but health officials are struggling to see past the front gate |
| energy In Search of the Radical Solution |
The greatest energy payoffs, says investor Vinod Khosla, will come from fundamentally reinventing mainstream technologies |
| ecology Seeds of the Amazon |
Botanists have collected seeds from one of the most biologically diverse places on earth |
| neuroscience 100 Trillion Connections |
The noise of billions of brain cells trying to communicate with one another may hold a crucial clue to understanding consciousness |
| environment Casualties of Climate Change |
Shifts in rainfall patterns and shorelines will contribute to mass migrations on a scale never before seen |
| computer science Rise of the Robo Scientists |
Machines can devise a hypothesis, carry out experiments to test it and assess results—without human intervention |
| public health Radioactive Smoke |
The tobacco industry has known for decades how to remove a dangerous isotope from cigarettes but has done nothing about it. The government now has the power to force a change |
| Dec 2010 | |
| innovation World Changing Ideas |
Ten thoughts, trends and technologies that have the power to transform our lives |
| physics A Geometric Theory of Everything |
Deep down, the particles and forces of the universe are a manifestation of exquisite geometry |
| paleontology Blood from Stone |
Mounting evidence from dinosaur bones shows that, contrary to common belief, organic materials can sometimes survive in fossils for millions of years |
| biology Life Unseen |
Microscopic landscapes show a surprising diversity of forms |
| health Hallucinogens as Medicine |
In a matter of hours, mind-altering substances may induce profound psychological realignments that can take decades to achieve on a therapist's couch |
| info science Long Live the Web |
The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending |
| life science Jane of the Jungle |
Primatologist Jane Goodall shares insights from her 50 years among chimpanzees |
| space exploration Jump-Starting the Orbital Economy |
Why NASA's plan to get out of the manned spaceflight business may (finally) make space travel routine |
| robotics Cyborg Beetles |
Tiny flying robots that are part machine and part insect may one day save lives in wars and disasters |
| Nov 2010 | |
| cosmology Dark Worlds |
A shadow cosmos, woven silently into our own, may have its own rich inner life |
| neuroscience Controlling the Brain with Light |
With a technique called optogenetics, researchers can probe how the nervous system works in unprecedented detail. Their findings could lead to better treatments for psychiatric problems |
| engineering How to Build the Supergrid |
The U.S. needs a new electric transmission system to deliver cleaner, more reliable power nationwide. Four steps could clear hurdles |
| ecology Phosphorus Lake |
Strip-mining Florida to fertilize the nation |
| physics Dr. Unification |
For years the cosmos and the atom have been at odds with one another. If any physicist can reconcile them, it's Steven Weinberg |
| medicine Halting the World's Most Lethal Parasite |
A new malaria vaccine, a plan to immunize mosquitoes and other "crazy" ideas have brightened prospects for vanquishing this killer |
| technology From Silk Cocoon to Medical Miracle |
Scientists are crafting arteries, ligaments, circuitry and holograms from worm yarn |
| environment Climate Heretic |
Why can't we have a civil conversation about climate? |
| Oct 2010 | |
| evolution How We Are Evolving |
New analyses suggest that recent human evolution has followed a different course than biologists would have expected |
| astronomy Origami Observatory |
NASA is building an innovative and risky space telescope that promises to surpass the hugely successful Hubble. Here's an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at the most audacious space project in decades |
| poll In Science We Trust |
Our Web survey of readers suggests that the scientifically literate public still trusts its experts—with some important caveats |
| medicine Revolution Postponed |
The Human Genome Project has failed so far to produce the medical miracles that scientists promised. Biologists are now divided over what, if anything, went wrong—and what needs to happen next |
| physics The (Elusive) Theory of Everything |
Physicists have long sought to find one final theory that would unify all of physics. Instead they may have to settle for several |
| robotics Robot Be Good |
Autonomous machines will soon play a big role in our lives. It's time they learned how to behave ethically |
| biology Sensational Sucker |
The octopus sucker can feel, taste, grip, manipulate—and act of its own accord |
| mind Desperate for an Autism Cure |
Diagnoses have soared, but valid treatments are few. Parents have turned instead to dubious, and often risky, alternative therapies |
| energy Reinventing the Leaf |
The ultimate fuel may come not from corn or algae but directly from the sun itself |
| info science Digitizer in Chief |
The first step toward transparent government, says White House information czar Vivek Kundra, is to make all its information freely available on the Web |
| Sep 2010 | |
| Eternal Fascinations with the End | Why we're suckers for stories of our own demise |
| medicine Why Can't We Live Forever |
As we grow old, our own cells begin to betray us. By unraveling the mysteries of aging, scientists may be able to make our lives longer and healthier |
| bioethics When Does Life Belong to the Living? |
With thousands of people on the waiting lists for organs, doctors are bending the rules about when to declare that a donor is dead. Is it ethical to take one life and give it to another? |
| forensics Dust to Dust |
The brief, eventful afterlife of a human corpse |
| anthropology Last of Their Kind |
The world's cultures have been disappearing, taking valuable knowledge with them, but there is reason to hope |
| technology Good Riddance |
A highly selective list of human creations the world would be better off without |
| environment How Much is Left? |
A graphical accounting of the limits to what one planet can provide |
| risk analysis Laying Odds on the Apocalypse |
Could modern civilization really come to an end? Experts take stock of eight doomsday scenarios |
| cosmology Could Time End? |
Yes. And no. For time to end seems both impossible and inevitable. Recent work in physics suggests a resolution to the paradox |
| trends What Comes Next |
The flip side to every ending is a new beginning. We asked the visionary scientists on our advisory board what new trends will shape the decades to come |
| Aug 2010 | |
| space Planets We Could Call Home |
The night skies are littered with distant planets, but what are they really like? Theoretical models suggest that a surprising number of "exoplanets" could be similar to Earth—and may even support life |
| special Origins |
Sometimes we forget where a story really starts. Are electric cars new? Were did malaria start? Who invented spaghetti? Read on, for the surprising origins of many strange and familiar things. |
| anthropology When the Sea Saved Humanity |
Shortly after Homo sapiens arose, harsh climate conditions nearly extinguished our species. Recent finds suggest that the small population that gave rise to all humans alive today survived by exploiting a unique combination of resources along the southern coast of Africa |
| medicine Robot Pills |
A voyage through the human body is no longer mere fantasy. Tiny devices may soon perform surgery, administer drugs and help diagnose disease |
| environment Threatening Ocean Life from the Inside Out |
Carbon dioxide emissions are making the oceans more acidic, imperiling the growth and reproduction of species from plankton to squid |
| imaging Filming the Invisible in 4D |
Picture this: a movie revealing the inner workings of a cell or showing a nanomachine in action. A new microscopy is making such imaging possible |
| technology The Hacker in Your Hardware |
As if software viruses weren't bad enough, the microchips that power every aspect of our digital world are vulnerable to tampering in the factory. The consequences could be dire |
| environment Plastic Surf |
Small remnants of toys, bottles and packaging have an unhealthful afterlife in the ocean |
| Jul 2010 | |
| cosmology Is The Universe Leaking Energy? |
Total energy must be conserved. Every student of physics learns this fundamental law. The trouble is, it does not apply to the universe as a whole |
| medicine DNA Drugs Come of Age |
After years of false starts, a new generation of DNA vaccines and medicines for HIV, influenza and other stubborn illnesses is now in clinical trials |
| transportation The Dirty Truth About Plug-In Hybrids |
How green is that electric car? Depends on where you plug it in |
| robotics War of the Machines |
Robots on and above the battlefield are bringing about the most profound transformation of warfare since the advent of the atom bomb |
| energy Clean Energy From Filthy Water |
California cities are pumping their treated wastewater underground to create electricity |
| evolution Winged Victory |
Modern birds, long thought to have arisen only after the dinosaurs perished, turn out to have lived alongside them |
| psychology How Babies Think |
Even the youngest children know, experience and learn far more than scientists ever thought possible |
| environment The Drillers Are Coming |
Companies and regulators are squaring off over a controversial technique that yields natural gas but threatens to pollute water supplies |
| Jun 2010 | |
| future 12 Events That Will Change Everything |
Several events, both natural and man-made, can happen suddenly and at any time, completely transforming societies. Many of these events will not unfold the way popular conceptions have imagined they will. |
| medicine Alzheimer's - Forestalling the Darkness |
Interventions before symptoms appear could be key to slowing or stopping the leading cause of dementia |
| physics Is Time An Illusion? |
The concepts of time and change may emerge from a universe that, at root, is utterly static |
| environment Washing Carbon Out of the Air |
Machines could absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, slowing or even reversing its rise and reducing global warming |
| archaeology Did Neandertals Think Like Us? |
João Zilhão defends his controversial view that our oft-maligned relatives shared our cognitive abilities |
| earth science The Earth's Missing Ingredient |
The discovery of a novel high-density mineral means that the earth's mantle is a more restless place than scientists suspected—and offers new clues to the planet's history |
| security Fake Botox, Real Threat |
A booming market for a counterfeit beauty product could put a deadly biological weapons agent in the wrong hands |
| May 2010 | |
| astrophysics Through Neutrino Eyes |
Neutrinos are no longer just a curiosity of physics but a practical tool for astronomy |
| medicine Your Inner Healers |
Reprogramming cells from your own body could give them the therapeutic power of embryonic stem cells, without the political controversy |
| transportation Revolutionary Rail |
High-speed trains are coming to the U.S. |
| neuroscience Uncanny Sight in the Blind |
Some people who are blind because of brain damage have "blindsight": an extraordinary ability to react to emotions on faces and even navigate around obstacles without knowing they can see anything |
| climate change Arctic Plants Feel the Heat |
Global warming is dramatically revamping not only the ice but also tundra and forests at the top of the world, greening some parts and browning others. The alterations could exacerbate climate change |
| innovations A Better Lens on Disease |
Computerized pathology slides may help doctors make faster and more accurate diagnoses |
| food science Breeding Cassava to Feed the Poor |
The world's third-largest source of calories has the potential to become a more productive and more nutritious crop, alleviating malnutrition in much of the developing world |
| Apr 2010 | |
| astronomy 8 Wonders of the Solar System |
Artist Ron Miller takes us on a journey to eight of the most breathtaking views that await intrepid explorers of our solar system. The scale of these natural wonders dwarfs anything Earth has to offer. What might we see and feel if we could travel to these distant domains? The artist's eye—interpreting data from probes such as NASA's Cassini, which is now exploring the Saturnian system, and MESSENGER, which has flown by Mercury three times and goes into permanent orbit next March—allows us an early visit to these unforgettable locales. |
| neuroscience Faulty Circuits |
Neuroscience is revealing the malfunctioning connections underlying psychological disorders and forcing psychiatrists to rethink the causes of mental illness |
| sustainability Boundaries for a Healthy Planet |
Humankind has fundamentally altered the planet. But new thinking and new actions can prevent us from destroying ourselves. Scientists have set thresholds for key environmental processes that, if crossed, could threaten Earth's habitability |
| sustainability Solutions to Environmental Threats |
Ominously, three thresholds for key environmental processes have already been exceeded. Experts tell Scientific American which actions will keep key processes in bounds |
| sustainability Breaking the Growth Habit |
Society can safeguard its future only by switching from reckless economic growth to smart maintenance of wealth and resources |
| medicine Regaining Balance with Bionic Ears |
Electronic implants in the inner ear may one day restore clear vision and equilibrium in some patients who experience disabling unsteadiness |
| technology The Rise of Instant Wireless Networks |
Wireless networks that do not depend on a fixed infrastructure will allow for ubiquitous connectivity regardless of the situation |
| biology The Hidden Life of Truffles |
Not just for gourmands, truffles play essential roles in the health of ecosystems |
| Mar 2010 | |
| planetary science The Moon That Would Be A Planet |
Titan, Saturn's largest natural satellite, scarcely deserves to be a called a mere moon. It has an atmosphere thicker than Earth's and a surface that is almost as varied |
| neuroscience The Brain's Dark Energy |
Brain regions active when our minds wander may hold a key to understanding neurological disorders and even consciousness itself |
| energy Fusion's False Dawn |
Scientists have long dreamed of harnessing nuclear fusion—the power plant of the stars—for a safe, clean and virtually unlimited energy supply. Even as a historic milestone nears, skeptics question whether a working reactor will ever be possible |
| geology Evolution of Minerals |
Looking at the mineral kingdom through the lens of deep time leads to a startling conclusion: most mineral species owe their existence to life |
| medicine Toxic Gas, Lifesaver |
Hydrogen sulfide, a lethal gas best known for smelling like rotten eggs, turns out to play key roles in the body—a finding that could lead to new treatments for heart attack victims and others |
| animal behavior Worm Charmers |
As Charles Darwin had suspected, earthworms that flee from ground vibrations do so to escape hungry moles—even though sometimes it is humans chasing them |
| environment Climate Change: A Controlled Experiment |
Scientists have carefully manipulated grasslands and forests to see how precipitation, carbon dioxide and temperature changes affect the biosphere, allowing them to forecast the future |
| Feb 2010 | |
| astronomy Cloudy with a Chance of Stars |
Making a star is no easy thing |
| evolution The Naked Truth |
Recent findings lay bare the origins of human hairlessness—and hint that naked skin was a key factor in the emergence of other human traits |
| transportation Better Mileage Now |
Emerging technologies could make the internal-combustion engine substantially more fuel-efficient, even as green vehicles make inroads |
| medicine The Art of Bacterial Warfare |
New research reveals how bacteria hijack our body's cells and outwit our immune system—and how we can use their own weapons against them |
| environment Fixing the Global Nitrogen Problem |
Humanity depends on nitrogen to fertilize croplands, but growing global use is damaging the environment and threatening human health. How can we chart a more sustainable path? |
| perception Seeing Forbidden Colors |
People can be made to see reddish green and yellowish blue—colors forbidden by theories of color perception. These and other hallucinations provide a window into the phenomenon of visual opponency |
| life science The Prolific Afterlife of Whales |
On the deep seafloor, the carcasses of the largest mammals give life to unique ecosystems |
| Ask the Experts | Can people ever lose their fingerprints? |
| Jan 2010 | |
| cosmology Looking for Life in the Multiverse |
Universes with different physical laws might still be habitable |
| biology The Rise and Fall of Nanobacteria |
Once believed to be the smallest pathogens known, nanobacteria have now proved to be something almost as strange. They do play a role in health—just not the one originally thought |
| earth science Violent Origins of Continents |
Did asteroid strikes during the earth's youth spawn the earliest fragments of today's landmasses? |
| info tech Real Money from Virtual Worlds |
Online fantasy games enable developing world entrepreneurs to make a living by trading stashes of make-believe gold for hard cash |
| environment Local Nuclear War, Global Suffering |
Worry has focused on the U.S. versus Russia, but a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan could blot out the sun, starving much of the human race |
| computers The Next 20 Years of Microchips |
Designers are pushing all the boundaries to make integrated circuits smaller, faster and cheaper |
| medicine A Plan to Defeat Neglected Tropical Diseases |
The poorest people are not only poor. They are also chronically sick, making it harder for them to escape poverty. A new global initiative may break the vicious cycle |
| Dec 2009 | |
| astronomy Portrait of a Black Hole |
By adapting a global network of telescopes, astronomers will soon get their first look ever at the dark silhouette of a black hole |
| innovation World Changing Ideas |
20 ways to build a cleaner, healthier, smarter world |
| origin of life Expanding the Limits of Life |
Analyses of a recently discovered type of hot vent ecosystem in the seafloor suggest new possibilities for how life evolved |
| environment Methane: A Menace Surfaces |
Arctic permafrost is already thawing, creating lakes that emit methane. The heat-trapping gas could dramatically accelerate global warming. How big is the threat? What can be done? |
| archaeology Decoding an Ancient Computer |
New explorations have revealed how the antikythera mechanism modeled lunar motion and predicted eclipses, among other sophisticated tricks |
| medicine The Double Life of ATP |
The molecule ATP, famous as an essential energy source inside cells, also carries critical messages between cells. That dual role is suggesting fresh ideas for fighting human diseases |
| microscopy Illuminating the Lilliputian |
A gallery of images captured by light microscopy reveals the high art of the natural world |
| Ask the Experts | Why did NASA decide to launch space shuttles from weather-beaten Florida? |
| Nov 2009 | |
| astronomy The Long Lost Siblings of the Sun |
The sun was born in a family of stars. What became of them? |
| neuroscience New Culprits in Chronic Pain |
Glia are nervous system caretakers whose nurturing can go too far. Taming them holds promise for alleviating pain that current medications cannot ease |
| energy A Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030 |
Wind, water and solar technologies can provide 100 percent of the world's energy, eliminating all fossil fuels. Here's how |
| human evolution Rethinking the Hobbits of Indonesia |
New analyses reveal the mini human species to be even stranger than previously thought and hint that major tenets of human evolution need revision |
| info tech The Everything TV |
Modern insights into the immune system have revived interest in adding ingredients that can supercharge old vaccines and make entirely new ones possible |
| sustainability The Rise of Vertical Farms |
Growing crops in city skyscrapers would use less water and fossil fuel than outdoor farming, eliminate agricultural runoff and provide fresh food |
| auto tech The Future of Cars |
Industry Leaders Look Way Down the Road |
| Ask the Expert | How Does the Coast Guard Find People Lost at Sea? |
| Oct 2009 | |
| astrophysics Black Stars, Not Holes |
Quantum effects may prevent true black holes from forming and give rise instead to dense entities called black stars |
| neuroscience Turbocharging the Brain |
Will a pill at breakfast improve concentration and memory—and will it do so without long-term detriment to your health? |
| energy Squeezing More Oil from the Ground |
Amid warnings of a possible "peak oil," advanced technologies offer ways to extract every last possible drop |
| archaeology Lost Cities of the Amazon |
The Amazon tropical forest is not as wild as it looks |
| medicine Boosting Vaccine Power |
Modern insights into the immune system have revived interest in adding ingredients that can supercharge old vaccines and make entirely new ones possible |
| security Privacy and the Quantum Internet |
Courtesy of some of the weirdest laws of physics, we may someday be able to search and surf the Web without anyone collecting our data |
| industry Biotech's Plans to Sustain Agriculture |
Popular movements may call for more organic methods, but the agricultural industry sees biotechnology as a crucial part of farming's future |
| Ask the Experts | Why do whales beach themselves |
| Sep 2009 | |
| cosmology Origin of the Universe |
Cosmologists are closing in on the ultimate processes that created and shaped the universe |
| neuroscience Origin of the Mind |
The first step in figuring out how the human mind arose is determining what distinguishes our mental processes from those of other creatures |
| biology Origin of Life on Earth |
Fresh clues hint at how the first living organisms arose from inanimate matter |
| info tech Origin of Computing |
The information age began with the realization that machines could emulate the power of minds |
| innovations, history Origins - The Start of Everything |
Where do rainbows come from? What about flying cars, love and LSD? |
| Aug 2009 | |
| human evolution Twilight of the Neandertals |
Paleoanthropologists know more about Neandertals than any other extinct human. But their demise remains a mystery, one that gets curiouser and curiouser |
| physics Adventures in Curved Spacetime |
The possibility of "swimming" and "gliding" in curved, empty space shows that, even after nine decades, Einstein's theory of general relativity continues to amaze |
| energy policy What Now for Nuclear Waste? |
Yucca Mountain was supposed to be the answer to the U.S.'s nuclear waste problem, but after 22 years and $9 billion, that vision is dead. Now some say that doing nothing in the near term may be the smartest solution |
| medicine Surprises from Celiac Disease |
Study of a potentially fatal food-triggered disease has uncovered a process that may contribute to many autoimmune disorders |
| electronics An Iron Key to High-Temperature Superconductivity? |
The discovery that compounds known as iron pnictides can superconduct at 50 degrees above absolute zero has reignited physicists' quest for better high-temperature superconductors and may offer clues to unlocking a 20-year mystery |
| innovations, medicine A New Kind of Drug Target |
An emerging class of medicines works its magic by targeting unusual sites on biological molecules |
| Ask the Experts | How does bathwater well below the boiling point give off steam? |
| Jul 2009 | |
| space exploration From the Moon to Mars |
The only scientist and field geologist ever to visit the moon offers some pointers to those who will one day visit Mars |
| medicine New Ways to Squash Superbugs |
Scientists are using new tools and tactics in the race to discover novel antibiotics |
| biofuels Grassoline at the Pump |
Scientists are turning agricultural leftovers, wood and fast-growing grasses into a huge variety of biofuels—even jet fuel. But before these next-generation biofuels go mainstream, they have to compete with oil at $60 a barrel |
| neuroscience Origins of the Left & Right Brain |
The division of labor by the two cerebral hemispheres—once thought to be uniquely human—predates us by half a billion years. Speech, right-handedness, facial recognition and the processing of spatial relations can be traced to brain asymmetries in early vertebrates |
| conservation The Ivory Trail |
The illegal slaughter of African elephants for ivory is now worse than it was at its peak in the 1980s. New forensic tools based on DNA analysis can help stop the cartels behind this bloody trade |
| economics The Science of Bubbles & Busts |
The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has prompted a reassessment of how financial markets work and how people make decisions about money |
| Ask the Experts | Why haven't humans evolved eyes in the back of the head?; Instead of sequestering carbon dioxide to reduce its effects on global climate, why don't we split it into harmless carbon and oxygen? |
| Jun 2009 | |
| astronomy Improbable Planets |
Astronomers are finding planets where there were not supposed to be any |
| medicine The Price of Silent Mutations |
Small changes to DNA that were once considered innocuous enough to be ignored are proving to be important in human diseases, evolution and biotechnology |
| sustainability Phosphorus: A Looming Crisis |
This underappreciated resource—a key part of fertilizers—is still decades from running out. But we must act now to conserve it, or future agriculture will collapse |
| tech leaders Scientific American 10 |
Certain researchers, politicians, business executives and philanthropists have recently demonstrated outstanding commitment to making sure that the benefits of new technologies and knowledge will accrue to humanity |
| evolution The Taming of the Cat |
Genetic and archaeological findings hint that wildcats became house cats earlier--and in a different place--than previously thought |
| info tech Data in the Fast Lanes of Racetrack Memory |
A device that slides magnetic bits back and forth along nanowire "racetracks" could pack data in a three-dimensional microchip and may replace nearly all forms of conventional data storage |
| Ask the Experts | What causes albinism? Are there any treatments for it?; Why do two things I like to eat sometimes taste so bad when eaten together? |
| May 2009 | |
| planetary science The Planetary Air Leak |
As Earth's atmosphere slowly trickles away into space, will our planet come to look like Venus? |
| evolution What Makes Us Human? |
Comparisons of the genomes of humans and chimpanzees are revealing those rare stretches of DNA that are ours alone |
| environment Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization? |
The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crises in poor countries to cause government collapse. Those crises are brought on by ever worsening environmental degradation |
| security How to Steal Secrets |
Information thieves can now do an end run around encryption, networks and the operating system |
| biotech Progress in Tissue |
Pioneers in building living tissue report important advances over the past decade |
| nanotech Powering Nanorobots |
Catalytic engines enable tiny swimmers to harness fuel from their environment and overcome the weird physics of the microscopic world |
| Ask the Experts | How does food irradiation work? Is it safe? Indoor plants tend to grow toward the light, so why do trees outdoors grow straight instead of leaning toward the equator? |
| Apr 2009 | |
| life science Saving the Honeybee |
The mysterious ailment called colony collapse disorder has wiped out large numbers of the bees that pollinate a third of our crops. The causes turn out to be surprisingly complex, but solutions are emerging |
| cosmology Does Dark Energy Really Exist? |
Maybe not. The observations that led astronomers to deduce its existence could have another explanation: that our galaxy lies at the center of a giant cosmic void |
| evolution The Evolution of Primate Color Vision |
Analyses of primate visual pigments show that our color vision evolved in an unusual way and that the brain is more adaptable than generally thought |
| psychology The Post-Traumatic Stress Trap |
A growing number of experts insist that the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder is itself disordered and that soldiers are suffering as a result |
| materials science The Dawn of the Miniature Green Lasers |
Semiconductors can generate laser light in all colors except one. But new techniques for growing laser diodes could soon make brilliant full-spectrum displays a reality |
| public health Preventing the Next Pandemic |
An international network for monitoring the flow of viruses from animals to humans might help scientists head off global epidemics |
| Ask the Experts | If galaxies are all moving apart at ever increasing speed, how can they collide? If normal body temperature is about 98 degrees Fahrenheit, why do we feel hot at that air temperature? |
| Mar 2009 | |
| physics A Quantum Threat to Special Relativity |
Entanglement, like many quantum effects, violates some of our deepest intuitions about the world. It may also undermine Einstein’s special theory of relativity |
| nanotech The World's Smallest Radio |
A single carbon nanotube can function as a radio that detects and plays songs |
| neuroscience Saving New Brain Cells |
Fresh neurons arise in the adult brain every day. New research suggests that the cells ultimately help with learning complex tasks—and the more they are challenged, the more they flourish |
| energy The Power of Renewables |
The need to tackle global climate change and energy security makes developing alternatives to fossil fuels crucial. |
| medicine New Tactics Against Tuberculosis |
The pandemic is growing in many places, and strains resistant to all existing drugs are emerging. To fight back, biologists are applying a host of cutting-edge drug development strategies |
| security Monitoring for Nuclear Explosions |
Detecting a test of a nuclear weapon has become so effective and reliable that no nation could expect to get away with secretly exploding a device having military significance |
| Insights: Escape from the Killing Fields | As the world warms up, some species cannot move to cooler climes in time to survive. Camille Parmesan thinks humans should help—even if it means creating invasive species |
| Ask the Experts | How do spacecraft orient themselves in the absence of magnetic poles? Is there any truth to the system they use on Star Trek?; How long will global uranium deposits fuel the world’s nuclear reactors at present consumption rates? |
| Feb 2009 | |
| physics Naked Singularities |
The black hole has a troublesome sibling, the naked singularity. Physicists have long thought--hoped--it could never exist. But could it? |
| medicine, nanotech Nanomedicine Targets Cancer |
Viewing each human body as a system of interacting molecular networks and targeting disruptions in the system with nanoscale technologies can transform how disease is understood, attacked and possibly prevented |
| earth science The Origin of the Land Under the Sea |
The deep basins under the oceans are carpeted with lava that spewed from submarine volcanoes and solidified. Scientists have solved the mystery of how, precisely, all that lava reaches the seafloor |
| space science New Dawn for Electric Rockets |
Efficient electric plasma engines are propelling the next generation of space probes to the outer solar system |
| neuroscience Sculpting the Brain |
New studies are revealing how the brain’s convolutions take shape—findings that could aid the diagnosis and treatment of autism, schizophrenia and other mental disorders |
| climate change The Greenhouse Hamburger |
Producing beef for the table has a surprising environmental cost: it releases prodigious amounts of heat-trapping greenhouse gases |
| Insights: Chaos and the Catch of the Day | There are fewer fish in the sea than ever. Complexity theory, argues mathematician George Sugihara, provides a counterintuitive way to revitalize the world’s fisheries |
| Working Knowledge: Smart Phones | Touch Screens Redefine the Market |
| Ask the Experts | Why do wind turbines have three narrow blades, whereas my fan at home has five wide blades?; What happens to the donor’s DNA in a blood transfusion? |
| Jan 2009 | |
| evolution Darwin's Living Legacy |
A Victorian amateur undertook a lifetime pursuit of slow, meticulous observation and thought about the natural world, producing a theory 150 years ago that still drives the contemporary scientific agenda |
| evolution Testing Natural Selection |
Biologists working with the most sophisticated genetic tools are demonstrating that natural selection plays a greater role in the evolution of genes than even most evolutionists had thought |
| evolution From Atoms to Traits |
Charles Darwin saw that random variations in organisms provide fodder for evolution. Modern scientists are revealing how that diversity arises from changes to DNA and can add up to complex creatures or even cultures |
| evolution The Human Pedigree |
Some 180 years after unearthing the first human fossil, paleontologists have amassed a formidable record of our forebears |
| evolution This Old Body |
Evolutionary hand-me-downs inherited from fish and tadpoles have left us with hernias, hiccups and other maladies |
| evolution What Will Become of Homo sapiens? |
Contrary to popular belief, humans continue to evolve. Our bodies and brains are not the same as our ancestors’ were—or as our descendants’ will be |
| evolution Four Fallacies of Pop Evolutionary Psychology |
Some evolutionary psychologists have made widely popularized claims about how the human mind evolved, but other scholars argue that the grand claims lack solid evidence |
| evolution Evolution in the Everyday World |
Understanding of evolution is fostering powerful technologies for health care, law enforcement, ecology, and all manner of optimization and design problems |
| evolution The Science of Spore |
A computer game illustrates the difference between building your own simulated creature and real-life natural selection |
| evolution The Latest Face of Creationism |
Creationists who want religious ideas taught as scientific fact in public schools continue to adapt to courtroom defeats by hiding their true aims under ever changing guises |
| Insights: A Theory of a Deadly Fusion | The ability to spread underlies the killing power of cancer. The process occurs, John Pawelek thinks, when tumor cells fuse with white blood cells— an idea that, if right, could yield new therapies |
| Working Knowledge: New Designs Going Up | Elevators |
| Ask The Experts | How does solar power work? Why does my voice sound so different when it is recorded and played back? |
| Dec 2008 | |
| planetary science The Restless World of Enceladus |
Wrinkled landscapes and spouting jets on Saturn’s sixth-largest moon hint at underground waters |
| biotech A New Molecule of Life |
Peptide nucleic acid, a synthetic hybrid of protein and DNA, could form the basis of a new class of drugs—and of artificial life unlike anything found in nature |
| neuroscience The Magic and the Brain |
Magicians have been testing and exploiting the limits of cognition and attention for hundreds of years. Neuroscientists are just beginning to catch up |
| microscopy The Light Fantastic |
Biological specimens yield extraordinary images in the hands of talented light microscopists |
| auto tech Driving Toward Crashless Cars |
Next-generation automotive safety technology could give us vehicles that are difficult to crash—and eventually may not need drivers at all |
| biology Taking Wing |
At last, fossil and genetic findings elucidate the evolution of bats--and settle a long-standing debate over the origins of flight and echolocation |
| info tech Can Phishing be Foiled? |
Understanding the human factors that make people vulnerable to online criminals can improve both security training and technology |
| Insights: Turning Back the Cellular Clock | Shinya Yamanaka discovered how to revert adult cells to an embryonic state. These induced pluripotent stem cells might soon supplant their embryonic cousins in therapeutic promise |
| Working Knowledge: Global Positioning System | Where on Earth You Are |
| Nov 2008 | |
| geoengineering A Sunshade for Planet Earth |
Global warming has become such an overriding emergency that some climate experts are willing to consider schemes for partly shielding the planet from the sun’s rays. But no such scheme is a magic bullet |
| neuroscience Jacking into the Brain |
How far can science advance brain-machine interface technology? Will we one day pipe the latest blog entry or NASCAR highlights directly into the human brain as if the organ were an outsize flash drive? |
| physics The Long Arm of the Second Law |
In seeming defiance of the second law of thermodynamics, nature is filled with examples of order emerging from chaos. A new theoretical framework resolves the apparent paradox |
| medicine The Vaccine Search Goes On |
The unfinished quest for an AIDS vaccine has become a search for new approaches to the problem |
| medicine Can HIV Be Cured? |
Eliminating HIV from the body would require flushing the virus out of its hiding places and preventing those reservoirs from being refilled. A tall order but perhaps not impossible |
| information science DNA Computers for Work and Play |
Logic gates made of DNA could one day operate in your bloodstream, collectively making medical decisions and taking action. For now, they play a mean game of in vitro tic-tac-toe |
| innovations The Incredible Shrinking Scanner |
A portable version of a room-size nuclear magnetic resonance machine can probe the chemistry and structure of objects ranging from mummies to tires |
| Insights: The Christian Man's Evolution | A geneticist ordained as a Dominican priest, Francisco J. Ayala sees no conflict between Darwinism and faith. Convincing most of the American public of that remains the challenge |
| Working Knowledge: Dinner and a Show | Microwave Ovens |
| Oct 2008 | |
| cosmology Follow the Bouncing Universe |
Our universe may have started not with a big bang but with a big bounce—an implosion that triggered an explosion, all driven by exotic quantum-gravitational effects |
| neuroscience Lighting Up the Brain |
A clever combination of optics and genetics is allowing neuroscientists to map—and even control—brain circuits with unprecedented precision |
| geology Birth of an Ocean |
Formation of an ocean is a rare event, one few scientists have ever witnessed. Yet this geophysical nativity is unfolding today in one of the hottest and most inhospitable corners of the globe. Visit the site in safety through this extraordinary photographic essay |
| neuroscience The Search for Intelligence |
IQ is easy to measure and reflects something real. But scientists hunting among our genes for the factors that shape intelligence are discovering they are more elusive than expected |
| info tech Web Science Emerges |
Studying the Web will reveal better ways to exploit information, prevent identity theft, revolutionize industry and manage our ever growing online lives |
| life science Barcode of Life |
Inspired by commercial barcodes, DNA tags could provide a quick, inexpensive way to identify species |
| innovations With Open-Source Arms |
A community of engineers, designers and innovators is collaborating online to make better prosthetic hands and arms for amputees. One of the lead engineers lost his own arm in Iraq |
| Insights: Outcalculating the Competition | How did self-replicating molecules come to dominate the early earth? Using the mathematics of evolutionary dynamics, Martin A. Nowak can explain the change from no life to life |
| Working Knowledge: Competing Candidates | Voting machines |
| Sep 2008 | |
| technology Privacy in an Age of Terabytes and Terror |
Our jittery state since 9/11, coupled with the Internet revolution, is shifting the boundaries between public interest and "the right to be let alone" |
| technology Reflections on Privacy 2.0 |
Many issues posing as questions of privacy can turn out to be matters of security, health policy, insurance or self-presentation. It is useful to clarify those issues before focusing on privacy itself |
| technology Brave New World of Wiretapping |
As telephone conversations have moved to the Internet, so have those who want to listen in. But the technology needed to do so would entail a dangerous expansion of the government’s surveillance powers |
| medicine Keeping Your Genes Private |
In spite of recent legislation, tougher laws are needed to prevent insurers and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic tests |
| surveillance Tools of the Spy Trade |
Night-vision cameras, biometric sensors and other gadgets already give snoops access to private spaces. Coming soon: palm-size "bug-bots" |
| technology RFID Tag--You're It |
Tiny radio-frequency identification tags, long used for tracking supplies and inventory, are now appearing in a growing range of consumer items. A privacy activist argues that the devices pose new security risks to those who carry them, often unwittingly |
| biometrics Beyond Fingerprinting |
Security systems based on anatomical and behavioral characteristics may offer the best defense against identity theft |
| computing Information of the World, Unite |
Mashing everyone’s personal data, from credit-card bills to cell phone logs,into one all-encompassing digital dossier is the stuff of Orwellian nightmares. But it is not as easy as most people assume |
| cryptography How to Keep Secrets Safe |
A versatile range of software solutions can protect the privacy of your information and online activities to any desired degree |
| Improving Online Security | To protect against more numerous and sophisticated attacks by hackers, security professionals call for upgraded technology along with more attention to human and legal factors |
| The End of Privacy | Young people share the most intimate details of personal life on social-networking Web sites, portending a realignment of the public and the private |
| Insights: Safety Dance over Plastic | Just how harmful are baby bottles, eyeglasses and other bisphenol-A plastics? Patricia Hunt, who helped to bring the issue to light a decade ago, is still trying to sort it all out |
| Working Knowledge: Dry Dyes | Instant photo developing |
| Aug 2008 | |
| environment Facing the Freshwater Crisis |
As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable. Existing technologies could avert a global water crisis, but they must be implemented soon |
| medicine Why Migraines Strike |
Biologists finally are unraveling the medical mysteries of migraine, from aura to pain |
| quantum physics Quantum Computing with Ions |
Researchers are taking the first steps toward building ultrapowerful computers that use individual atoms to perform calculations |
| public health China's Children of Smoke |
Epidemiologists find molecular clues to air pollution's impact on youngsters |
| planetary science Bracing for a Solar Superstorm |
A recurrence of the 1859 solar superstorm would be a cosmic Katrina, causing billions of dollars of damage to satellites, power grids and radio communications |
| materials science Self-Cleaning Materials |
The lotus plant's magnificent ability to repel dirt has inspired a range of self-cleaning and antibacterial technologies that may also help control microfluidic "lab-on-a-chip" devices |
| innovations Magnifying Taste |
Compounds that enhance the sweet and salty flavors of foods could combat obesity and heart disease |
| Insights: No More Cloning Around | Like many stem cell pioneers, Ian Wilmut, the creator of Dolly the sheep, has jumped to an alternative approach. Is this the beginning of the end for embryonic cloning? |
| Working Knowledge: Warming and Cooling | Home heat pumps |
| Jul 2008 | |
| physics The Self-Organizing Quantum |
A new approach to the decades-old problem of quantum gravity goes back to basics and shows how the building blocks of space and time pull themselves together |
| medicine New Jobs for Ancient Chaperones |
Protective heat shock proteins present in every cell have long been known to counteract stress. Newly recognized roles in cancer and immunity make them potential therapeutic allies |
| anthropology Traces of a Distant Past |
DNA furnishes an ever clearer picture of the multimillennial trek from Africa all the way to the tip of South America |
| innovations Hands On Computing |
Multi-touch screens could improve collaboration without a mouse or keyboard |
| agriculture No-Till: The Quiet Revolution |
The age-old practice of turning the soil before planting a new crop is a leading cause of farmland degradation. Many farmers are thus looking to make plowing a thing of the past |
| neuroscience The Neuroscience of Dance |
Recent brain-imaging reveal some of the complex neural choreography behind our ability to dance |
| mathematics Simple Groups at Play |
A new set of puzzles inspired by Rubik’s Cube offers puzzle lovers the chance to get acquainted with the secret twists and turns of mathematical entities called sporadic simple groups |
| Going with His Gut Bacteria | The body and its intestinal flora produce chemicals with hidden health information, Jeremy Nicholson has found. Someday treating disease may mean treating those bacteria |
| Working Knowledge: Nimble Skyscrapers at Sea | Cruise ships |
| Jun 2008 | |
| cosmology The Cosmic Origins of Time's Arrow |
One of the most basic facts of life is that the future looks different from the past. But on a grand cosmological scale, they may look the same |
| medicine Gaining Ground on Breast Cancer |
The newest targeted therapies are helping doctors to tailor increasingly effective treatments to individual patients |
| info tech Digital Image Forensics |
Modern software has made manipulation of photographs easier to carry out and harder to uncover than ever before, but the technology also enables new methods of detecting doctored images |
| biology What Is a Species? |
To this day, scientists struggle with that question. A better definition can influence which animals make the endangered list |
| astronomy The Tunguska Mystery |
Finding a piece of the elusive cosmic body that devastated a Siberian forest a century ago could help save the earth in the centuries to come |
| neuroscience The Neurobiology of Trust |
Our inclination to trust a stranger stems in large part from exposure to a small molecule known for an entirely different task: inducing labor |
| policy The Ethics of Climate Change |
Weighing our own prosperity against the chances that climate change will diminish the well-being of our grandchildren calls on economists to make hard ethical judgments |
| Insights: Beating the Flu in a Single Shot | Walter Fiers found a protein segment on the influenza virus that could lead to a universal flu vaccine, which would end seasonal shots and provide pandemic protection |
| Working Knowledge: Library to Go | E-Book Readers |
| May 2008 | |
| astronomy The Genesis of Planets |
Theorists long imagined that the formation of young solar systems was a serene process with a stately progression, in which the eventual appearance of planets was a foregone conclusion. The latest evidence, however--including observations of worlds circling other stars--argues that planet formation is startlingly chaotic |
| evolution Regulating Evolution |
Most animals share similar genes. The staggering diversity in their physical forms springs from switches in the DNA that govern where and when those genes are active |
| info tech Science 2.0 |
Is posting raw experimental data online, for all to see, a great tool or a great risk? |
| biology How Cells Clean House |
Autophagy, a process that normally keeps cells in good working order, seems to be linked to aging and diseases such as Alzheimer's |
| neuroscience Hooked from the First Cigarette |
Cigarette addiction can arise astonishingly fast. New research could help make quitting easier |
| nuclear policy Rethinking Nuclear Fuel Recycling |
Plans are afoot to reuse spent reactor fuel in the U.S. But the advantages of the scheme pale in comparison with its dangers |
| health Fighting Killer Worms |
Bloodsucking worms called schistosomes are among the world's most worrisome human parasites. A new genome sequence and powerful genetic tools promise to help crack their secrets |
| Insights: Dark Forces at Work | The universe will expand forever at an ever faster rate, thanks to an unseen energy. Astronomer Saul Perlmutter expects that new observations will soon illuminate the universe's dark side |
| Working Knowledge: Living Cover | Green roofs |
| Apr 2008 | |
| space science The Color of Plants on Other Worlds |
If it isn't easy being green on Earth, where chlorophyll is well tuned to absorb most of the energy in our sun's yellow light, imagine the difficulties elsewhere in the galaxy. Plants growing on worlds around cooler, brighter or more tempestuous stars would need to rely on red, blue or even black pigments to survive. That insight offers astronomers new clues about what to look for in their search for extraterrestrial life |
| medicine Regrowing Human Limbs |
The ability to regenerate lost body parts--salamander-style--could revolutionize the treatment of amputations and major wounds |
| ecology Reclaiming the Aral Sea |
Mismanagement turned the world's fourth-largest lake into a dry, toxic wasteland. Now the northern part, at least, is coming back |
| physics Rulers of Light |
A kind of laser light called an optical frequency comb can make atomic clocks and other instruments much more precise |
| psychology The Doping Dilemma |
Game theory suggests how to stop the pervasive abuse of drugs in cycling, baseball and other sports |
| materials science Carbon Wonderland |
A newly recognized form of carbon--single sheets of atoms--provides a rich lode of novel theoretical physics and practical applications |
| national security Detecting Nuclear Smuggling |
Radiation monitors at U.S. ports cannot reliably detect highly enriched uranium, which onshore terrorists could assemble into a nuclear bomb |
| Insights: At the Edge of Life's Code | What happens in the black box between DNA and the proteins it produces? Chris Wiggins uses machine-learning techniques to peer inside |
| Working Knowledge: Weapons Revealed | Whole-body scanning for airline passengers |
| Mar 2008 | |
| economics When Markets Beat the Polls |
Internet-based financial markets may predict elections more reliably than polls do. They can augur future box-office returns and flu seasons, too. |
| cosmology The End of Cosmology? |
"Will the big bang be forgotten? The accelerating cosmic expansion is wiping away every trace of the universe's origin." |
| neuroscience White Matter Matters |
Long regarded as passive support for cogitating neurons, the brain's white matter shows that it actively affects learning and mental illness. |
| info tech The Limits of Quantum Computers |
Futuristic quantum computers could be exceptionally fast at certain tasks, but for most problems they would only modestly outclass today's conventional machines. |
| environment The Bluefin in Peril |
The only way to save the bluefin tuna, a marvelous but dwindling ocean fish, may be to domesticate it. |
| defense Space Wars |
Recent pronouncements and actions by the U.S. and China threaten to ignite a new arms race in space that would be contrary to everyone's interests. |
| public health Soliving the Massive Worker Health Puzzle |
A sophisticated industrial health study--the largest one ever--struggles with an apparent cancer cluster and highlights why science cannot always protect workers on the job. |
| Insights: Not Tonight, Dear, I Have to Reboot | Is love and marriage with robots an institute you can disparage? Computing pioneer David Levy doesn't think so--he expects people to wed droids by midcentury. Is that a good thing? |
| Working Knowledge: The Switch Is On | The switch is on to compact fluorescents. |
| Feb 2008 | |
| physics The Discovery Machine |
The Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most complicated particle physics experiment ever seen, is nearing completion and is scheduled to start colliding protons this year |
| physics The Coming Revolutions in Particle Physics |
No matter what the Large Hadron Collider finds, it is going to take physics into new territory |
| physics Building the Next-Generation Collider |
To further investigate the intricacies of high-energy particle physics, researchers must construct a more powerful electron-positron collider |
| climate change The Unquiet Ice |
Abundant liquid water discovered underneath the great polar ice sheets could catastrophically intensify the effects of global warming on the rise of sea level around the world |
| innovations RFID Powder |
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags label all kinds of inventoried goods and speed commuters through toll plazas. Now tiny RFID components are being developed with a rather different aim: thwarting counterfeiters |
| medicine Your Cells Are My Cells |
Many, perhaps all, people harbor a small number of cells from genetically different individuals--from their mothers and, for women who have been pregnant, from their children. What in the world do these foreigners do in the body? |
| science and society Building a Future on Science |
Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel A. L. Nicolelis taps into the chatter of neurons to drive robotic prosthetics. Now he hopes to tap the potential of his country's population by building a network of "science cities" |
| Insights: Maverick against the Mendelians | Autistic people generally do not have children, so why do autism genes persist? Michael Wigler thinks that he knows |
| Working Knowledge: Leap of Faith | The video magic of blue screen |
| Jan 2008 | |
| tech leaders The SciAm 50 |
Which researchers, companies and architects of industrial and government policy are leading the most important trends shaping tomorrow's technologies? Our annual roundup of world shakers gives credit where it is due |
| medicine Taming Vessels to Treat Cancer |
Drugs that restore order to the chaotic blood vessels inside a tumor open a window of opportunity for attacking it |
| energy A Solar Grand Plan |
An ambitious scheme would enable solar power to end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 |
| public health Second Thoughts about Fluoride |
New research indicates that a cavity-fighting treatment could be risky if overused |
| nanotech Self-Powered Nanotech |
Tiny systems that draw waste energy from their surroundings could power nanosize machines |
| earth science Hotspots Unplugged |
Long considered fixed founts of molten material from deep within the planet, the hotspots that raise islands now join the list of the earth's moving parts |
| physiology The Human Instrument |
When judged by its size, our vocal system fails to impress as a musical instrument. How, then, can it produce all those remarkable sounds? |
| Insights: Cooking Up Bigger Brains | Our hominid ancestors could never have eaten enough raw food to create our large, calorie-hungry brains, Richard Wrangham claims. The secret to our evolution, this anthropologist says, is cooking |
| Working Knowledge: Perpetual Reset Machine | The striking mechanics of bowling pinsetters |
| Dec 2007 | |
| astronomy Window on the Extreme Universe |
The GLAST satellite is about to open up an unexplored region of the electromagnetic spectrum, where dark matter and other mysteries might be seen |
| biology Are Aliens among Us? |
All life on Earth is generally understood to have descended from a common ancestor. But if cells evolved independently more than once, some microbes radically different from all known organisms might still survive in extreme environments of our planet. The search is on for evidence of these strangers |
| environment Making Carbon Markets Work |
Limiting climate change without damaging the world economy depends on stronger and smarter market signals to regulate carbon dioxide |
| gallery Radiant Information |
State-of-the-art light microscopy from the Olympus BioScapes competition illuminates life exquisitely |
| genetics Diet Advice from DNA? |
Are personalized diets based on genetic tests cutting-edge science or high-tech horoscopes? |
| info tech The Semantic Web in Action |
Networks that handle data more intelligently are already here |
| physics The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett |
Whatever became of the creator of the now celebrated quantum theory of multiple universes? |
| Working Knowledge: Progress Accelerates | Adaptive cruise control |
| Nov 2007 | |
| cosmology The Great Cosmic Roller-Coaster Ride |
Could cosmic inflation be a sign that our universe is in a far vaster realm? |
| biology Cell Defenses and the Sunshine Vitamin |
Scientists now recognize that vitamin D does much more than build strong bones and that many people are not getting enough of it |
| weaponry Nuclear Weapons in a New World |
Countries are altering their nuclear arsenals, prompting the U.S. to refurbish its own warheads |
| weaponry The Nuclear Threat |
A look at strike capabilities worldwide, and how a bomb would affect single cities and people |
| weaponry A Need for New Warheads? |
The U.S. government's proposal to build the first new muclear warhead in two decades raises a host of questions |
| medicine Playing Defense against Lou Gehrig's Disease |
Researchers have proposed potential therapies for a paralyzing disorder once thought to be untreatable |
| info tech Brilliant Displays |
A new technology can make cell phone and other displays bright and clear, even in the sun's glare |
| science and society The Science of Doing Good |
Information technology, satellite imaging and research carried out in disaster-relief areas have begun to transform humanitarian aid into a more efficient endeavor |
| Working Knowledge: Two Technologies Shine | Digital projectors shine |
| Oct 2007 | |
| environment Conservation for the People |
Pitting nature and biodiversity against people makes little sense. Many conservationists now argue that human health and well-being should be central to conservation efforts |
| space exploration The Future of Space Exploration |
The launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite half a century ago inaugurated the Space Age. What comes next? |
| space exploration To the Moon and Beyond |
Humans are returning to the moon. This time the plan is to stay a while |
| space exploration Five Essential Things to Do in Space |
Planetary scientists have a quintet of goals for exploring the solar system |
| psychology How Does Consciousness Happen? |
One of the greatest mysteries in science is how brain activity gives rise to subjective experience. Two leading neuroscientists compare their differing theories |
| physics The Diamond Age of Spintronics |
Revolutionary electronic devices can harness the spins of electrons instead of their charge. Such devices might one day enable room-temperature quantum computers--made of diamond |
| medicine Experimental Drugs on Trial |
A controversial lawsuit challenges the FDA's system of controlling access to experimental drugs and, some say, the scientific basis of drug approval |
| innovations Big Lab on a Tiny Chip |
Squeezing a chemistry lab down to fingernail size could provide instant medical tests at home and on the battlefield |
| Working Knowledge: Heating Up | Geothermal energy |
| Sep 2007 | |
| sustainability A Question of Sustenance |
Globalization ushered in a world in which more than a billion are overfed. Yet 800 million or so still suffer from hunger's persistent scourge |
| nutrition Eating Made Simple |
How do you cope with a mountain of conflicting diet advice? Also: Paul Raeburn reviews the best scientific guidance on weight loss |
| health Can Fat Be Fit? |
Popular books have questioned the ill effects of being overweight. They are probably wrong |
| physiology What Fuels Fat |
Understanding obesity as a breakdown in the body's weight regulation could yield new ways to fight fat |
| nutrition This Is Your Brain on Food |
Neuroimaging reveals what chocoholics have in common with drug addicts. Interview with Nora D. Volkow |
| public health The World Is Fat |
How can the poorest countries fight obesity? |
| nutrition Still Hungry |
One eighth of the world does not have enough to eat |
| biotech Sowing a Gene Revolution |
A new green revolution based on genetically modified crops could help reduce poverty and hunger, but only if formidable institutional challenges are met |
| security Is Your Food Contaminated? |
New approaches to protect the food supply |
| Working Knowledge: Fresh from the Sea | Desalination of seawater |
| Aug 2007 | |
| policy Race in a Bottle |
Drugmakers are eager to develop medicines targeted at ethnic groups, but so far they have made poor choices based on unsound science |
| modelling Predicting Wildfires |
Fires are burning more acres than ever. Where will the next blazes ignite? Can we prevent them? Should we? |
| neuroscience Windows on the Mind |
Tiny flicks of the eyes underpin much of our ability to see. They may also reveal subliminal thoughts |
| environment The Physical Science behind Climate Change |
Why climatologists are now so confident that human activity is to blame for a warming world |
| biology The Shark's Electric Sense |
An astonishingly sensitive detector of electric fields helps sharks zero in on prey |
| agriculture Future Farming: A Return to Roots? |
Agriculture would become more sustainable if major crop plants built deep, lasting root systems |
| innovations Data Center in a Box |
A shipping container stuffed with servers could usher in the era of cloud computing |
| Working Knowledge: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD | High-definition video |
| Jul 2007 | |
| climate change Warmer Oceans, Stronger Hurricanes |
Evidence is mounting that global warming enhances a cyclone's damaging winds and flooding rains |
| neuroscience The Memory Code |
Researchers are closing in on the rules that the brain uses to lay down memories. Discovery of this memory code could lead to new ways to peer into the mind |
| medicine A Malignant Flame |
Understanding chronic inflammation, which contributes to heart disease, Alzheimer's and other ailments, may be a key to unlocking the mysteries of cancer |
| genetics The Evolution of Cats |
Genomic paw prints in the DNA of the world's wild cats have clarified the feline family tree and uncovered several remarkable migrations in their past |
| environment An Earth without People |
Interview with Alan Weisman. One way to examine humanity's impact on the environment is to consider how the world would fare if all the people disappeared |
| info tech Broadband Room Service by Light |
Encoded light transmissions can provide the wireless devices in a room with multimedia Web services |
| science and society Should Science Speak to Faith? |
Two prominent defenders of science discuss how scientists ought to approach believers |
| Working Knowledge: In or Out? | Hawkeye on the tennis court |
| Jun 2007 | |
| biology A Simpler Origin for Life |
Energy-driven networks of small molecules may be more likely first steps for life than the commonly held idea of the sudden emergence of large self-replicating molecules such as RNA |
| medicine Lifting the Fog around Anesthesia |
Learning why current anesthetics are so potent and sometimes dangerous will lead to a new generation of safer targeted drugs |
| cosmology When Fields Collide |
The history of particle cosmology shows that science can benefit from wrenching changes |
| ecosystems Restoring America's Big, Wild Animals |
Pleistocene rewilding--a proposal to bring back animals that disappeared from North America 13,000 years ago--offers an optimistic agenda for 21st-century conservation |
| info tech Breaking Network Logjams |
Network coding could dramatically enhance the efficiency of communications networks |
| innovations Seeing Triple |
Anticipated for decades, machines are finally displaying objects in three true dimensions |
| game theory The Traveler's Dilemma |
People playing this simple game consistently reject the rational choice. In fact, by acting illogically, they end up reaping a larger reward--an outcome that demands a new kind of formal reasoning |
| Working Knowledge: The Write Type | Optical character recognition finds the write type |
| May 2007 | |
| space science The Mystery of Methane on Mars and Titan |
Could the methane in the atmospheres of Mars and Titan be caused by unusual geologic activity--or life? |
| medicine Chromosomal Chaos and Cancer |
Current wisdom on the role of genes in malignancy may not explain some of the features of cancer, but stepping back to look at the bigger picture inside cells reveals a view that just might |
| energy Preventing Blackouts |
A smarter power grid that automatically responds to problems could reduce the rising number of debilitating blackouts |
| paleontology South America's Missing Mammals |
An unexpected menagerie of unique mammal fossils is overturning long-held ideas about South America's geologic history |
| info tech, nanotech Carbon Nanonets Spark New Electronics |
Random networks of tiny carbon tubes could make possible low-cost, flexible devices such as "electronic paper" and printable solar cells |
| neuroscience Eyes Open, Brain Shut |
Brain-imaging techniques yield a better understanding of patients in the vegetative state |
| physics A Do-It-Yourself Quantum Eraser |
Carry out a home experiment to illustrate one of the weirdest effects in quantum mechanics |
| Working Knowledge: Psst ... Hey, You | Beams of sound |
| Apr 2007 | |
| astronomy The Ghosts of Galaxies Past |
Strangely moving stars may be the remnants of past galaxies devoured by our Milky Way |
| biotech Seeking the Connections: Alcoholism and Our Genes |
Identifying the genetic influences on vulnerability to alcohol addiction can lead to more targeted treatments and help individuals make better-informed choices |
| info tech The Promise of Plasmonics |
A technology that squeezes electromagnetic waves into minuscule structures may yield superfast computer chips, ultrasensitive molecular detectors and perhaps even invisibility cloaks |
| animal behavior Just How Smart Are Ravens? |
Recent experiments show that these birds use logic to solve problems and that some of their abilities approach or surpass those of the great apes |
| neuroscience The Movies in Our Eyes |
The retina processes information much more than anyone has ever imagined, sending a dozen different movies to the brain |
| energy Gassing Up with Hydrogen |
Researchers are working on ways for fuel-cell vehicles to hold the hydrogen they need for long-distance travel |
| medicine A Cure for Rabies? |
The survival of a Wisconsin teenager who contracted rabies may point the way to a treatment for this horrifying disease |
| Working Knowledge: Steer Clear | Electronic stability control for autos |
| Technicalities: The Car Doctor Is In | A way to diagnose engine problems without ever having to look under the hood |
| Mar 2007 | |
| astrophysics Black Hole Blowback |
A single black hole, smaller than the solar system, can control the destiny of an entire cluster of galaxies |
| biotech Mapping the Cancer Genome |
The Cancer Genome Atlas will help chart a new course across the complex landscape of human malignancies |
| info tech A Digital Life |
New systems may allow people to record everything that has touched their lives and to store all these data in a personal digital archive |
| environment Down Go the Dams |
Many dams are being torn down these days, allowing rivers and the ecosystems they support to rebound. But ecological risks abound as well. Can they be averted? |
| medicine New Predictors of Disease |
Predictive autoantibodies appear in the blood years before people show symptoms of various disorders. Tests that detected these molecules could warn of the need to take preventive action |
| energy Diesels Come Clean |
Improved engines and exhaust scrubbers, combined with a new fuel, will make energy-efficient diesels nearly as green as hybrids |
| neuroscience Illusory Color and the Brain |
The brain may not separate perception of color from perception of form and depth |
| Working Knowledge: Restoring Flow | Left ventricular assist devices |
| Feb 2007 | |
| cosmology The Universe's Invisible Hand |
Dark energy does more than hurry along the expansion of the universe. It also has a stranglehold on the shape and spacing of galaxies |
| paleontology Tracking an Ancient Killer |
The case was cold--the bones in the mass grave were 70 million years old. But critical clues pointed to the killer's identity |
| climate change Methane, Plants and Climate Change |
The surprising discovery that living plants produce a potent greenhouse gas poses new questions for managing global warming |
| info tech Making Silicon Lase |
Scientists have at last persuaded silicon to emit laser beams. In a few years, computers and other devices will handle light as well as electrons |
| innovations Spice Healer |
An ingredient in curry shows promise for treating Alzheimer's, cancer and other diseases |
| consumer electronics Digital TV at Last? |
Analog TV broadcasting is set to end in two years, but its legacy could make the digital transition anything but smooth |
| nanotech Molecular Lego |
Small molecular building blocks that snap together rigidly enable chemists to design and manufacture nanometer-scale structures in virtually any shape |
| Working Knowledge: Song Beams | Satellite radio |
| Technicalities: Power Walker | Nothing could match the Segway's initial hype, but how far has it come since? |
| Jan 2007 | |
| astrophysics What Is a Planet? |
The controversial new official definition of "planet," which banished Pluto, has its flaws but by and large captures essential scientific principles |
| energy Is Ethanol for the Long Haul? |
Ethanol could displace gasoline, but it won't pay off until we find a way to distill cornstalks, not corn. |
| molecular biology The Power of Riboswitches |
Recently discovered RNA segments that act like on-off switches for genes may be targets for new classes of drugs |
| info tech A Robot in Every Home |
Microsoft's founding CEO predicts that robotics is on the verge of a grand awakening and that intelligent mobile devices will soon be everywhere |
| life science Evolved for Cancer? |
Some scientists hope to find new clues to help fight cancer by studying the evolutionary history of the disorder in our species |
| earth science The Mississippi's Curious Origins |
Mountains once blocked the interior of North America from the south. Geologic sleuthing reveals how that barrier was breached, allowing the Mississippi to reach the Gulf of Mexico |
| innovations Better Ways to Target Pain |
Improved understanding of the chemical pathway on which aspirin and Vioxx act may lead to superior analgesics |
| Working Knowledge: Grass vs. Plastic | High-tech turf |
| Dec 2006 | |
| tech leaders The Scientific American 50 |
Nanotech viruses, global warming, greener cars, stem cells and innovative funding all take a bow in our fifth annual salute to the research, business and policy leaders of technology |
| planetary science The Red Planet's Watery Past |
For a billion years, liquid water may have covered much of Mars |
| neuroscience Seeking the Neural Code |
How does a storm of electrical pulses in the brain translate into information? |
| paleontology Lucy's Baby |
An amazing skeleton from 3.3 million years ago renews debate over the evolution of upright walking |
| photonics The Ultimate White Light |
"Supercontinuum" laser light could drive optical data transmission to record speeds |
| medicine Cancer Clues from Pet Dogs |
Studies of canine malignancies could improve medical care for humans and man's best friend alike |
| metrology Weighty Matters |
Replacing the century-old standard reference for mass measurement is a heavy challenge |
| Working Knowledge: Hot Commodity | Why lithium batteries can overheat |
| Nov 2006 | |
| cosmology The Dark Ages of the Universe |
Between the big bang and the formation of the first stars, the cosmos was utterly lightless. But astronomers can finally start peering into the darkness |
| neuroscience Mirrors in the Mind |
Mirror neurons, a special class of cells in the brain, may mediate our ability to mimic, learn and understand the actions and intentions of others |
| neuroscience Broken Mirrors: A Theory of Autism |
When the brain's mirror neuron system malfunctions, perhaps lack of empathy and other characteristics of autism are the result |
| info tech Malware Goes Mobile |
Consumers, phone makers and security companies must move quickly to quash the threat of new viruses targeting mobile devices |
| ecology Reviving Dead Zones |
Around the world, nutrients in runoff are turning coastal sea areas into oxygen-deprived dead zones hostile to life. But the example of the Black Sea shows these regions can be saved |
| technology Seeing with Superconductors |
Sensors made of superconducting material can detect individual photons and have applications ranging from antiterrorism to astronomy |
| astronomy The Origin of the Greek Constellations |
Was the Great Bear constellation named before hunter nomads first reached the Americas more than 13,000 years ago? |
| Working Knowledge: Gunk-Free Fiber | The sticky problem of paper recycling |
| Oct 2006 | |
| astrophysics How to Blow Up a Star |
It is not as easy as you would think. Models of supernovae have failed to reproduce these explosions--until recently |
| info tech, nanotech Viral Nanoelectronics |
Viruses that coat themselves in selected substances can self-assemble into such devices as liquid crystals, nanowires and electrodes |
| cell biology Peacekeepers of the Immune System |
Regulatory T cells keep the immune system from attacking the body itself. Therapies using these cells could ease conditions from diabetes to transplant rejection |
| earth science Impact from the Deep |
Strangling heat and gases from the earth and sea, not asteroids, most likely caused several ancient mass extinctions. Could the same conditions build again? |
| robotics Ballbots |
A new mode of locomotion would enable robots to stand tall and move gracefully through busy everyday environments |
| anthropology Hydraulic Engineering in Prehistoric Mexico |
Three thousand years ago precursors of the Aztecs built the first large-scale water management systems in the New World |
| biotech The Promise of Molecular Imprinting |
Tiny plastic imprints and mimics of biological molecules could speed drug discovery, warn of bioterror attacks and remove toxins from the environment |
| Working Knowledge: Steady Cam | Image stabilization in digital cameras |
| Sep 2006 | |
| energy A Climate Repair Manual |
Coping with global warming will take innovations in both energy technology and policy |
| energy A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check |
Multiple technologies, each taking a slice out of carbon dioxide emissions, could slow warming |
| energy Fueling Our Transportation Future |
New technologies, lighter vehicles and alternative fuels can lower greenhouse gas releases from cars and trucks |
| energy An Efficient Solution |
In buildings and in industrial processes, using power more judiciously is the quickest, cheapest solution |
| energy What to Do about Coal |
Coal is plentiful, but we must manage its environmental dark side |
| energy The Nuclear Option |
Nuclear power could stave off more than a billion tons of carbon emissions annually |
| energy The Rise of Renewable Energy |
Solar cells, wind turbines and biofuels are poised to become major energy sources |
| energy High Hopes for Hydrogen |
Hydrogen-fueled cars could slash carbon emissions, but it won't happen soon |
| energy Plan B for Energy |
Eventually, even more radical energy sources will be needed. Here are some possibilities under consideration |
| Working Knowledge: Tall Task | A tall task for water towers |
| Aug 2006 | |
| astronomy The Strangest Satellites in the Solar System |
With peculiar orbits that often move against the grain of the rest of the solar system, an odd breed of planetary satellites is reshaping ideas about the formation of the solar system |
| life science The Real Life of Pseudogenes |
Disabled genes, once dismissed as detritus on the genomic landscape, trace the path of evolution--and may not always be entirely dead |
| space science Power for a Space Plane |
Creating a revolutionary hypersonic jet engine that could propel a space plane to orbit affordably and routinely is a tough but seemingly achievable task |
| psychology, neuroscience The Expert Mind |
The mental processes of chess grandmasters are unlike those of novices, a fact that illuminates the development of expertise in other fields |
| earth science Climate and the Evolution of Mountains |
New studies of the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau suggest that climate and geology can be partners in a long, slow dance |
| info tech A Great Leap in Graphics |
Soon even home computers should be able to produce quick, high-quality 3-D graphics, thanks to speedier new ways to simulate the flight of light |
| ecology The Fish and the Forest |
Salmon carcasses left behind by predatory bears are unexpectedly important sources of nutrients for forests |
| Working Knowledge: Going Vertical | How disk-drive makers raise storage capacities by making bits stand on end |
| Technicalites: Weather Gets Personal | Here's the five-day forecast for your backyard |
| Jul 2006 | |
| astronomy Hubble's Top 10 |
As they wait for the space telescope to be serviced one last time, astronomers reflect on its discoveries over the past 16 years |
| medicine Stem Cells: The Real Culprits in Cancer? |
A dark side of stem cells--their potential to turn malignant--is at the root of a handful of cancers and may be the cause of many more. Eliminating the disease could depend on tracking down and destroying these elusive killer cells |
| physics, optics The Quest for the Superlens |
Built from "metamaterials" with bizarre, controversial optical properties, a superlens could produce images that include details finer than the wavelength of light that is used |
| life science What Birds See |
Evolution has endowed birds with a system of color vision that surpasses that of all mammals, including humans |
| energy A Power Grid for the Hydrogen Economy |
Cryogenic, superconducting conduits could be connected into a "SuperGrid" that would simultaneously deliver electrical power and hydrogen fuel |
| forensics CSI: Reality |
Attorneys, investigators and educators have felt the impact of television's popular forensics programs |
| info tech A Farewell to Keywords |
The reigning obsession with search technology has elicited new ways of using images to track down information on the Web |
| Working Knowledge: Expanding Use | Vascular stents |
| Jun 2006 | |
| earth science The Secrets of Supervolcanoes |
Microscopic crystals of volcanic ash are revealing surprising clues about the world's most devastating eruptions |
| biotech Engineering Life: Building a Fab for Biology |
Principles and practices learned from engineering successes can help transform biotechnology from a specialized craft into a mature industry |
| ecology Wading in Waste |
Thanks to unchecked development along America's coasts, disease-causing microbes are increasingly fouling beaches and shellfish beds |
| medicine Toward Better Pain Control |
Advances in understanding the cells and molecules that transmit pain signals are providing new targets for drugs that could relieve various kinds of pain--including those poorly controlled by existing therapies |
| info tech Dependable Software by Design |
Computers fly our airliners and run most of the world's banking, communications, retail and manufacturing systems. Now powerful analysis tools will at last help software engineers ensure the reliability of their designs |
| medicine, pharmacology A New Assault on HIV |
The constant search for weak points in the virus yields ideas for a wholly new class of drug |
| mathematics The Science behind Sudoku |
Solving a Sudoku puzzle requires no math, not even arithmetic. Even so, the game poses a number of intriguing mathematical problems |
| Working Knowledge: Carbon Hooch | Oil refineries |
| Technicalities: The Ultimate Blood Test | A pricey way to determine health risks: 250 tests at once |
| May 2006 | |
| physics, cosmology The First Few Microseconds |
In recent experiments, physicists have replicated conditions of the infant universe--with startling results |
| info tech, nanotech Bringing DNA Computer to Life |
Tapping the computing power of biological molecules gives rise to tiny machines that can speak directly to living cells |
| earth science The Birth of the Mighty Amazon |
Insight into how the world's largest river formed is helping scientist explain the extraordinary abundance of plant and animal life in the Amazon rain forest |
| biotech Blockbuster Dreams |
New understanding of the biology behind a successful cancer therapy may lead to a drug that can treat an array of solid tumors |
| astronomy Giant Telescopes of the Future |
The astronomical version of Moore's law says that telescopes double in size every few decades. But today's designers think they can build a telescope three, five or even 10 times bigger within a decade |
| medicine Shutting Down Alzheimer's |
New research reveals strategies for blocking the molecular processes that lead to this memory-destroying disease |
| mathematics When Slide Rules Ruled |
Before electronic calculators, the mechanical slide rule dominated scientific and engineering computation |
| Working Knowledge: Cutting Work | Robot mowers |
| Apr 2006 | |
| astrophysics The Mysterious Origins of Solar Flares |
New observations are beginning to reveal what triggers these huge explosions of the sun's atmosphere |
| medicine New Hope for Defeating Rotavirus |
Although its name is unfamiliar to many, rotavirus is the leading cause of severe childhood diarrhea worldwide and a frequent killer of young children in developing nations. Now--after 30 years of investigation--vaccines that may well conquer it are ready for market |
| info tech Computing with Quantum Knots |
A machine based on bizarre particles called anyons that represents a calculation as a set of braids in spacetime might be a shortcut to practical quantum computation |
| evolution Why Are Some Animals So Smart? |
The unusual behavior of orangutans in a Sumatran swamp suggests a surprising answer |
| transportation Hybrid Vehicles Gain Traction |
As car buyers turn to fuel-sipping gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, a new generation of greener hybrids is just coming over the horizon |
| biotech An Antibiotic Resistance Fighter |
A compound that tweaks a pivotal protein may quell development of antibiotic resistance |
| economics Does Globablization Help or Hurt the World's Poor? |
The answer is: both. The real question is how to maximize the help and minimize the hurt |
| Working Knowledge: Big Squeeze | Jet engines |
| Technicalities: Sharp Shooter | Sony's R1 combines near pro-quality images with live preview |
| Mar 2006 | |
| space science Shielding Space Travelers |
The perils of cosmic rays pose severe, perhaps insurmountable, hurdles to human spaceflight to Mars and beyond |
| biotech Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity Genes |
A handful of genes that control the body's defenses during hard times can also dramatically improve health and prolong life in diverse organisms. Understanding how they work may reveal the keys to extending human life span while banishing diseases of old age |
| ecology The Dangers of Ocean Acidification |
Much of the carbon dioxide given off from the burning of fossil fuels goes into the ocean, where it changes the acid balance of seawater. The repercussions for marine life may be enormous |
| info tech Cognitive Radio |
Smart radios and other new wireless devices will avoid transmission bottlenecks by switching instantly to nearby frequencies that they sense are clear |
| mathematics The Limits of Reason |
Ideas of complexity and randomness originally suggested by Gottfried W. Leibniz in 1686, combined with modern information theory, imply that there can never be a "theory of everything" for all mathematics |
| chemistry Little Green Molecules |
Chemists have invented a new class of catalysts that can destroy some of the worst pollutants before they get into the environment |
| innovations, computing The Elusive Goal of Machine Translation |
Statistical methods hold tha promise of moving computerized translation out of the doldrums |
| Working Knowledge: Spin and Swing | Tiny motors |
| Feb 2006 | |
| physics Plasma Accelerators |
A new method of particle acceleration in which the particles "surf" on a wave of plasma promises to unleash a wealth of applications |
| physiology, immunology Intrigue at the Immune Synapse |
Images of interacting immune cells reveal structured connections similar to the ones neurons use to communicate. Studying these synapses is providing new insights into how the cells form an information-sharing network to fight disease |
| defense Thwarting Nuclear Terrorism |
Many civilian research reactors contain highly enriched uranium that terrorists could use to build nuclear bombs |
| engineering Protecting New Orleans |
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast. The storm season starts again this June--and every June. Can coastal communities ever be safeguarded? |
| innovations, nanotech Miniaturized Power |
With nanobatteries, power sources finally shrink with the rest of electronics |
| biotech Owning the Stuff of Life |
Patents on DNA have not caused the severe disruption of biomedical research and societal norms anticipated by critics. But the deluge may be yet to come |
| info tech Putting a Face on the First President |
Solving a surprisingly long-standing mystery, a forensic anthropologist reconstructs what George Washington looked like as a young man |
| Working Knowledge: Into the Breach | Levees |
| Technicalities: My Virtual War | A disturbing stroll through a simulated battlefield |
| Jan 2006 | |
| astrophysics The Mystery of Brown Dwarf Origins |
By throwinig a wrench into the theories of planet and star formation, brown dwarfs may help fix them |
| biotech Genomes for All |
Next-generation technologies that make reading DNA fast, cheap and widely accessible are coming in less than a decade. Their potential to revolutionize research and bring about the era of truly personalized medicine means the time to start preparing is now |
| earth science Tsunami: Wave of Change |
In the tragic aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, scientists and warning centers are now better equipped to forecast and model these monstrous waves |
| robotics Innovations from a Robot Rally |
This year's Grand Challenge competition spurred advances in laser sensing, computer vision and autonomous navigation--not to mention a thrilling race for the $2-million prize |
| neuroscience The Maternal Brain |
Pregnancy and motherhood change the structure of the female mammal's brain, making mothers attentive to their young and better at caring for them |
| info tech Recognition Engines |
New computer designs process networked "streams" of data for better spam and virus detection |
| toxicology Protecting More than Animals |
Reducing animal suffering often has the unexpected benefit of yielding more rigorous safety tests |
| Working Knowledge: No More Gears | Continuously variable transmission |
| Dec 2005 | |
| tech leaders The Scientific American 50 |
Flu preparedness, flexible electronics and stem cells all star in our fourth annual salute to the research, business and policy leaders of technology |
| physics An Echo of Black Holes |
Sound waves in a fluid behave uncannily like light waves in space. Black holes even have acoustic counterparts. Could spacetime literally be a kind of fluid, like the ether of pre-Einsteinian physics? |
| medicine Tackling Malaria |
Interventions available today could lead to decisive gains in prevention and treatment--if only the world would apply them |
| energy Smarter Use of Nuclear Waste |
Fast-neutron reactors could extract much more energy from recycled nuclear fuel, minimize the risks of weapons proliferation and markedly reduce the time nuclear waste must be isolated |
| public health Sick of Poverty |
New studies suggest that the stress of being poor has a staggeringly harmful influence on health |
| evolution Getting a Leg Up on Land |
Recent fossil discoveries cast light on the evolution of four-limbed animals from fish |
| neuroscience Inside the Mind of a Savant |
Kim Peek possesses one of the most extraordinary memories ever recorded. Until we can explain his abilities, we cannot pretend to understand human cognition |
| Working Knowledge: Better Exposure | Digital x-rays |
| Technicalities: Easy Rider | Automatic transmission makes cycling a breeze |
| Nov 2005 | |
| medicine Preparing for a Pandemic |
One day a highly contagious and lethal strain of influenza will sweep across all humanity, claiming millions of lives. It may arrive in months or not for years--but the next pandemic is inevitable. Are we ready? |
| physics The Illusion of Gravity |
The force of gravity and one of the dimensions of space might be generated out of the peculiar interactions of particles and fields existing in a lower-dimensional realm |
| planetary science Did Life Come from Another World? |
New research indicates that microorganisms could have survived a journey from Mars to Earth |
| info tech, nanotech Crossbar Nanocomputers |
Crisscrossing assemblies of defect-prone nanowires could succeed today's silicon-based circuits |
| earth science The Workings of an Ancient Nuclear Reactor |
Two billion years ago parts of an African uranium deposit spontaneously underwent nuclear fission. The details of this remarkable phenomenon are just now becoming clear |
| neuroscience The Neurobiology of the Self |
Biologists are beginning to tease out how the brain gives rise to a constant sense of being oneself |
| biotech The Land of Milk and Money |
The first drug from a transgenic animal may be nearing approval |
| Working Knowledge: Case Cracked | Nuts |
| Oct 2005 | |
| astrophysics Ripples in a Galactic Pond |
Astronomers are coming to realize that the beautiful shapes of galaxies are not merely incidental. They are essential to the galaxies' growth and development |
| biotech New Bull's-Eyes for Drugs |
A familiar class of cell-surface receptors turns out to offer an array of fresh targets that could yield new treatments for disorders ranging from HIV to obesity |
| earth science A Cool Early Earth? |
The textbook view that the earth spent its first half a billion years drenched in magma could be wrong. The surface may have cooled quickly--with oceans, nascent continents and the opportunity for life to form much earlier |
| neuroscience The Forgotten Era of Brain Chips |
The work of Jose Delgado, a pioneering star in brain-stimulation research four decades ago, goes largely unacknowledged today. What happened? |
| innovations Better Than a Dog |
The search is on for a sensor that bests a canine at detecting explosives |
| genetics Founder Mutations |
A special class of genetic mutations that often cause human disease is enabling scientists to trace the migration and growth of specific human populations over thousands of years |
| info tech Smart Wi-Fi |
Wireless access to the Internet via Wi-Fi is increasingly popular, so the technology is being upgraded to ensure that users get prompt, reliable service |
| Working Knowledge: Paving the Way | Roads |
| Technicalities: Heavy-Metal Sweat | Does an infrared sauna really detoxify the body? |
| Sep 2005 | |
| anthropology The Climax of Humanity |
Demographically and economically, our era is unique in human history. Depending on how we manage the next few decades, we could usher in environmental sustainability--or collapse |
| anthropology Human Population Grows Up |
As we swell toward nine billion in the next half a century, humanity will undergo historic changes in the balance between young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural. Our choices now and in years ahead will determine how well we cope with our coming of age |
| anthropology Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated? |
Market economics and globalization are lifting the bulk of humanity out of extreme poverty, but special measures are needed to help the poorest of the poor |
| ecology Sustaining the Variety of Life |
A new understanding of how species become extinct suggests how to preserve them--and at a cost that doesn't break the bank |
| energy More Profit with Less Carbon |
Focusing on energy efficiency will do more than protect Earth's climate--it will make businesses and consumers richer |
| agriculture The Big Potential of Small Farms |
With the help of affordable irrigation and access to markets, farmers in the developing world can grow more food and climb out of poverty |
| public health Public Health in Transition |
Chronic disorders such as heart disease and diabetes, once common only in the industrial nations, are now sweeping the rest of the globe. Meanwhile the threat of infectious diseases still looms large. New public health priorities are urgently needed |
| economics Economics in a Full World |
The global economy is now so large that society can no longer safely pretend it operates within a limitless ecosystem. Developing an economy that can be sustained within the finite biosphere requires new ways of thinking |
| policy How Should We Set Priorities? |
The world faces no shortage of problems--or of good ideas to solve them. Which should we tackle next? Even as leaders converge on some answers, new markets are being set up to preempt politics |
| Working Knowledge: Private and Cool | Smart glass |
| Aug 2005 | |
| biotech Test-Tube Teeth |
More complicated than they look, teeth are actually tiny organs. If tissue engineers can manufacture living replacement teeth, they would blaze a trail for engineering larger organs while leading dentistry into the age of regenerative medicine |
| paleontology The Early Evolution of Animals |
Tiny fossils reveal that complex animal life is older than we thought--by at least as much as 50 million years |
| cosmology Is the Universe Out of Tune? |
Like the discord of key instruments in a skillful orchestra quietly playing the wrong piece, mysterious discrepancies have arisen between theory and observations of the "music" of the cosmic microwave background. Either the measurements are wrong or the universe is stranger than we thought |
| info tech Morphware |
Magnetic logic may usher in an era in which computing devices can change instantly from one type of hardware to another |
| medicine Beating a Sudden Killer |
When a young woman nearly died from a ruptured aneurysm, the author and the woman's husband began searching for ways to save other aneurysm patients from catastrophe |
| psychology Mindful of Symbols |
On the way to learning that one thing can represent another, young children often conflate the real item and its symbol. These errors show how difficult it is to start thinking symbolically |
| innovations, nanotech Nanobodies |
Antibodies, often described as magic bullets, are actually more like tanks: big, complicated and expensive. Tinier "nanobodies," derived from camels and llamas, may be able to infiltrate a wider range of diseases at lower cost. That is the hope, at least, of one small start-up in Belgium |
| Working Knowledge: Ease the Grind | Ball bearings |
| Technicalities: Heavenly Music in Your Hand | Portable satellite radio is a palmtop cornucopia of music |
| Jul 2005 | |
| planetary science The Many Faces of Mars |
One rover found an ancient desert; the other, a once watery world. The Red Planet's diversity rivals Earth's |
| physics The Mysteries of Mass |
Physicists are hunting for an elusive particle that would reveal the presence of a new kind of field that permeates all of reality. Finding that Higgs field will give us a more complete understanding about how the universe works |
| medicine The Future of Stem Cells |
A special report from Scientific American and Financial Times |
| climate change Can We Bury Global Warming? |
Pumping carbon dioxide underground to avoid warming the atmosphere is feasible, but only if several key challenges can be met |
| paleontology How Dinosaurs Grew So Large--and So Small |
Overlooked clues to how fast the creatures grew and how long they lived lurk in their bones |
| info tech Shrinking Circuits with Water |
Semiconductor manufacturers are giving their products a dousing in the name of faster, smaller, cheaper |
| biotech New Movement in Parkinson's |
Recent genetic and cellular discoveries are among the advances pointing to improved treatments for this increasingly common disorder |
| archaeology Simulating Ancient Societies |
Computer modeling is helping unravel the archaeological mysteries of the American Southwest |
| Working Knowledge: Make It Quick | Rapid prototyping |
| Jun 2005 | |
| biotech Buying Time in Suspended Animation |
An ability to put the human body on hold could safeguard the critically injured or preserve donor organs for transport. Does the power to reversibly stop our biological clocks already lie within us? |
| cosmology Inconstant Constants |
Do the inner workings of nature change with time? |
| info tech Conversational Computers |
Efforts to make computers speak naturally will let machines better communicate meaning |
| health Obesity: An Overblown Epidemic? |
A growing number of dissenting researchers accuse government and medical authorities--as well as the media--of misleading the public about the health consequences of rising body weights |
| physics Making Cold Antimatter |
Low-energy atoms of antihydrogen will enable researchers to test a fundamental property of the universe |
| archaeology The Morning of the Modern Mind |
Controversial discoveries suggest that the roots of our vaunted intellect run far deeper than is commonly believed |
| policy Doubt Is Their Product |
Industry groups are fighting government regulation by fomenting scientific uncertainty |
| Working Knowledge: Lean and Mean | Hybrid vehicles |
| Technicalities: The Multipath to Clarity | Receiving HDTV over the air takes luck and lots of patience |
| May 2005 | |
| neuroscience His Brain, Her Brain |
It turns out that male and female brains differ quite a bit in architecture and activity. Research into these variations could lead to sex-specific treatments for disorders such as depression and schizophrenia |
| physics Quantum Black Holes |
Physicists could soon be creating black holes in the laboratory |
| info tech Neuromorphic Microchips |
Compact, efficient electronics based on the brain's neural system could yield implantable silicon retinas to restore vision, as well as robotic eyes and other smart sensors |
| meteorology A Bolt out of the Blue |
New research shows that lightning is a surprisingly complex and mystifying phenomenon |
| medicine Can Chlamydia Be Stopped? |
Chlamydia is a rampant sexually transmitted disease, the world's leading cause of preventable blindness and a possible contributor to heart disease. Recent discoveries are suggesting new ways to curtail its spread |
| planetary science What Heated the Asteroids? |
Collisions among asteroids in the early history of the solar system may help explain why many of these rocky bodies reached high temperatures |
| biotech Molecular Treasure Hunt |
A software tool elicits previously undiscovered gene or protein pathways by combing through hundreds of thousands of journal articles |
| Working Knowledge: Thin Is In | Slim TV |
| Apr 2005 | |
| info tech Stopping Spam |
What can be done to stanch the flood of junk e-mail messages? |
| earth science Probing the Geodynamo |
Scientists have long wondered why the polarity of the earth's magnetic field occasionally reverses. Recent studies of our planet's churning interior are offering intriguing clues about how the next reversal may begin |
| biotech, genetics The Alternative Genome |
The old axiom "one gene, one protein" no longer holds true. The more complex an organism, the more likely it became that way by extracting multiple protein meanings from individual genes |
| policy Shaping the Future |
Scientific uncertainty often becomes an excuse to ignore long-term problems, such as climate change. It doesn't have to be so |
| psychology How Animals Do Business |
Humans and other animals share a heritage of economic tendencies--including cooperation, repayment of favors and resentment at being shortchanged |
| materials science Low-Temperature Superconductivity Is Warming Up |
Magnesium diboride defies the once conventional wisdom about what makes a good superconductor. It becomes superconducting near the relativity warm temperature of 40 kelvins--which promises a variety of applications |
| innovations A Toxin against Pain |
For years, scientists have promised a new wave of drugs derived from sea life. A recently approved analgesic that is a synthetic version of a snail toxin has become one of the first marine pharmaceuticals |
| Working Knowledge: Uniform Variety | Tennis balls |
| Technicalities: Hot Stuff | New thermal cameras show the world in infrared |
| Mar 2005 | |
| cosmology Misconceptions about the Big Bang |
Baffled by the expansion of the universe? You're not alone. Even astronomers frequently get it wrong |
| climate change How Did Humans First Alter Global Climate? |
A bold new hypothesis suggests that our ancestors' farming practices kicked off global warming thousands of years before we started burning coal and driving cars |
| info tech If Smallpox Strikes Portland… |
"EpiSims" unleashes virtual plagues in real cities to see how social networks spread disease. That knowledge might help stop epidemics |
| innovations On the Road to Fuel-Cell Cars |
Although fleets of fuel-cell prototypes are hitting the streets, basic technical and market obstacles must be hurdled before the clean, hydrogen-powered cars reach dealer showrooms |
| biotech Taming Lupus |
Teasing out the causes of this autoimmune disorder is a daunting challenge. But the payoff should be better, more specific treatments |
| biography Inventor of Dreams |
Nikola Tesla, the father of today's AC electrical system and other key inventions, often failed to bring his visionary ideas to real-world fruition |
| ecology Endangered Wild Equids |
Wild zebra, asses and horses are being killed for meat, medicine and money. Combined with vanishing habitats and naturally slow reproduction, such predation threatens remaining populations |
| Working Knowledge: Take My Pixel | Digital photography |
| Feb 2005 | |
| biotech An Endangered Species in the Stomach |
Is the decline of Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium living in the human stomach since time immemorial, good or bad for public health? |
| physics Atom Chips |
Magnetic fields on a microchip can produce tiny, coherent clouds of atoms called Bose-Einstein condensates. The chips could have uses n ultraprecise sensors for aircraft and in quantum computing |
| anthropology The Littlest Human |
A spectacular find in Indonesia reveals that a strikingly different hominid shared the earth with our kind in the not so distant past |
| info science Seeking Better Web Searches |
Deluged with superfluous responses to online queries, users will soon benefit from improved search engines that deliver customized results |
| neuroscience Making Memories Stick |
Some moments become lasting recollections while others just evaporate. The reason may involve the same processes that shape our brains to begin with |
| innovations, nanotech Nanotubes in the Clean Room |
Talismans of a thousand graduate projects may soon make their way into electronic memories |
| technology The New College Try |
Innovation is alive and kicking on campus |
| Working Knowledge: Reducing a Roar | Noise-canceling headphones |
| Technicalities: Every Breath You Take | Now a high-tech shirt can record your vital signs all day and night |
| Jan 2005 | |
| life science Immunity's Early-Warning System |
The innate immune response constitutes the first line of defense against invading microbes and plays a role in inflammatory disease. Surprising insights into how this system operates could lead to new therapies for a host of infectious and immune-related disorders |
| astrophysics The Midlife Crisis of the Cosmos |
Although it is not as active as it used to be, the universe is still forming stars and building black holes at an impressive pace |
| info science Considerate Computing |
Digital gadgets demand ever more of our attention with their rude and thoughtless interruptions. Engineers are now testing computers, phones and cars that sense when you're busy and spare you from distraction |
| biotech Capturing a Killer Flu Virus |
The deadliest flu strain in history has been resurrected. What can the 1918 virus reveal about why it killed millions and where more like it may be lurking? |
| gallery Eye of the Beholder |
Wonders under the lens of the optical microscope |
| innovations, cryptography Best-Kept Secrets |
Quantum cryptography has marched from theory to laboratory to real products |
| psychology Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth |
Boosting people's sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, research shows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior |
| Working Knowledge: Open Sesame | Keyless entry |
| Dec 2004 | |
| tech leaders The Scientific American 50 |
Our third annual salute to the people and institutions brightening our future recognizes accomplishments in stem cells, nanocomputers, mini fuel cells and more |
| medicine The Brain's Own Marijuana |
Research into natural chemicals that mimic marijuana's effects in the brain could help to explain--and suggest treatments for--pain, anxiety, eating disorders, phobias and other conditions |
| science and art Optics and Realism in Renaissance Art |
A much publicized assertion holds that 15th-century painters achieved a new level of realism with the help of lenses and mirrors. But recent findings cast doubt on that idea |
| paleontology The Dinosaurs of Arctic Alaska |
Seventy-five million years ago, a group of hardy dinosaurs thrived in the harsh climate of what is now northern Alaska |
| astronomy The Case of the Pilfered Planet |
Did the British steal Neptune? |
| biology Are Viruses Alive? |
Although viruses challenge our concept of what "living" means, they are vital members of the web of life |
| Working Knowledge: Crowded Skies | Air traffic control |
| Technicalities: More Than Just Music | Accessories can enhance the iPod music player |
| Nov 2004 | |
| biotech Rebuilding Broken Hearts |
Biologists and engineers working together in the fledgling field of tissue engineering are within reach of one of their greatest goals: constructing a living human heart patch |
| physics Black Hole Computers |
In keeping with the spirit of the age, researchers can think of the laws of physics as computer programs and the universe as a computer |
| climate change Abrupt Climate Change |
Winter temperatures plummeting six degrees Celsius and sudden droughts scorching farmland around the globe are not just the stuff of scary movies. Such striking climate jumps have happened before--sometimes within a matter of years |
| defense Holes in the Missile Shield |
The national missile defense now being deployed by the U.S. should be replaced with a more effective system |
| info tech Computing at the Speed of Light |
Emerging ways to make photonic connections to electronic microchips may dramatically change the shape of computers in the decade ahead |
| neuroscience Music and the Brain |
What is the secret of music's strange power? Seeking an answer, scientists are piecing together a picture of what happens in the brains of listeners and musicians |
| innovations A Split at the Core |
Physics is forcing the microchip industry to redesign its most lucrative products. That is bad news for software companies |
| Working Knowledge: Keep the Beat | Pacemakers |
| Oct 2004 | |
| astrophysics A Universe of Disks |
New research reveals the dynamics of the spinning disks of gas that surround young stars and gargantuan black holes |
| molecular biology The Hidden Genetic Program of Complex Organisms |
Biologists assumed that proteins alone regulate the genes of humans and other complex organisms. But an overlooked regulatory system based on RNA may hold the keys to development and evolution |
| meteorology Controlling Hurricanes |
Can hurricanes and other severe tropical storms be moderated or deflected? |
| info tech The Internet of Things |
The principles that gave rise to the Internet are now leading to a new kind of network of everyday devices, an "Internet-0" |
| physiology Dying to See |
Studies of the lens of the eye not only could reveal ways to prevent cataracts but also might illuminate the biology of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases in which cells commit suicide |
| policy Fixing the Vote |
Electronic voting machines promise to make elections more accurate than ever before, but only if certain problems--with the machines and the wider electoral process--are rectified |
| biotech Hitting the Genetic Off Switch |
A host of start-ups is speeding development of a new class of drugs that block the action of RNA |
| Working Knowledge: Shock Absorbed | Earthquake protection |
| Technicalities: Gadget Envy | All-in-one cell phones can do just about anything |
| Sep 2004 | |
| physics The Patent Clerk's Legacy |
In 1905 the musings of a functionary in the Swiss patent office changed the world forever. His intellectual bequest remains for a new generation of physicists vying to concoct a theory of everything |
| consumer electronics Everyday Einstein |
Finding your way out of the woods with GPS? Hanging a picture frame with a laser level? Making photocopies? Better thank Einstein |
| technology Atomic Spin-offs for the 21st Century |
A new generation of technologies aims to put Einstein's theories to work in computers, hospitals - even submarines |
| physics Einstein's Compass |
What was it about the magnetism of an iron bar that could divert Einstein from perfecting his celebrated theory of general relativity? |
| physics A Cosmic Conundrum |
A new incarnation of Einstein's cosmological constant may point the way beyond general relativity |
| physics The String Theory Landscape |
The theory of strings predicts that the universe might occupy one random "valley" out of a virtually infinite selection of valleys in a vast landscape of possibilities |
| physics Was Einstein Right? |
Unlike nearly all his contemporaries, Albert Einstein thought quantum mechanics would give way to a classical theory. Some researchers nowadays are inclined to agree |
| physics The Search for Relativity Violations |
To uncover evidence for an ultimate theory, scientists are looking for infractions of Einstein's once sacrosanct physical principle |
| physics A Century of Einstein |
Scientific American has covered Einstein's theories - and the refinements and reactions to them - ever since scientists began to grasp the import of his landmark 1905 papers. Read on for a sampling of our reports, some by leading physicists of their times |
| Working Knowledge: String Theory | Yo-yo |
| Aug 2004 | |
| biotech Back to the Future of Cereals |
Genomic studies of the world's major grain crops, together with a technology called marker-assisted breeding, could yield a new green revolution |
| space science Electrodynamic Tethers in Space |
By exploiting fundamental physical laws, tethers may provide low-cost eletrical power, drag, thrust, and artificial gravity for spaceflight |
| medicine Virtual-Reality Therapy |
Patients can get relief from pain or overcome their phobias by immersing themselves in computer-generated worlds |
| weaponry Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs |
New burrowing nuclear weapons could destroy subterranean military facilities - but their strategic and tactical utility is questionable |
| info tech Next Stretch for Plastic Electronics |
Organic semiconductor devices can make more than just bendable displays. They will find use in wearable electronics, chemical sensors, skin for robots and innumerable other applications |
| cosmology Questions That Plague Physics |
Lawrence M. Krauss speaks about unfinished business |
| public health Arsenic Crisis in Bangladesh |
Arsenic in drinking water could severly poison 50 million people worldwide. Strategies being tested in Bangladesh might help prevent the problem |
| Working Knowledge: Seeing Inside | Medical imaging |
| Technicalities: Crippled but Not Crashed | Neural networks can help pilots land damaged planes |
| Jul 2004 | |
| astronomy The Extraordinary Deaths of Ordinary Stars |
The demise of the sun in five billion years will be a spectacular sight. Like other stars of its ilk, the sun will unfurl into nature's premier work of art: a planetary nebula |
| genetics Gene Doping |
Gene therapy for restoring muscle lost to age or disease is poised to enter the clinic, but elite athletes are eyeing it to enhance performance. Can it be long before gene doping changes the nature of sport? |
| info tech, nanotech Magnetic Field Nanosensors |
Tiny devices that take advantage of a recently discovered physical effect called extraordinary magnetoresistance could be used in blazingly fast computer disk drives with huge capacities and in dozens of other applications involving the sensing of magnetic fields |
| earth science When Methane Made Climate |
Today methane-producing microbes are confined to oxygen-free settings, such as the guts of cows, but in Earth's distant past, they ruled the world |
| biotech Detecting Mad Cow Disease |
New tests can rapidly identify the presence of dangerous prions - the agents responsible for the malady - and several compounds offer hope for treatment |
| mathematics The Shapes of Space |
A Russian mathematician has proved the century-old Poincaré conjecture and completed the catalogue of three-dimensional spaces. He might earn a $1-million prize |
| cryptography The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript |
New analysis of a famously cryptic medieval document suggests that it contains nothing but gibberish |
| Working Knowledge: Big Air | Pipe organs |
| Jun 2004 | |
| planetary science Saturn at Last! |
After a seven-year journey, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is preparing to unveil the mysteries of Saturn, its rings and its giant moon, Titan |
| nanotech Nanotechnology and the Double Helix |
DNA is more than just the secret of life - it is also a versatile component for making nanoscopic structures and devices |
| ecology Lessons from the Wolf |
Bringing the top predator back to Yellowstone has triggered a cascade of unanticipated changes in the park's ecosystem |
| info tech Smart Sensors to Network the World |
An emerging class of pillbox-size computers, outfitted with sensors and linked together by radios, can form perceptive networks able to monitor a factory, a store - even an ecosystem. Such devices will more intimately connect the cyberworld to the real world |
| biotech The Stem Cell Challenge |
What hurdles stand between the promise of human stem cell therapies and real treatments in the clinic? |
| weaponry Nuclear Explosions in Orbit |
The spread of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles raises fears of atomic attacks on the global satellite system |
| Technicalities: Security at Your Fingertips | Fingerprint sensors can guard your computer data |
| May 2004 | |
| cosmology The Myth of the Beginning of Time |
String theory suggests that the big bang was not the origin of the universe but simply the outcome of a preexisting state |
| energy Questions about a Hydrogen Economy |
Much excitement surrounds the progress in fuel cells, but the quest for a hydrogen economy is no trivial pursuit |
| biotech Synthetic Life |
Biologists are crafting libraries of interchangeable DNA parts and assembling them inside microbes to create programmable, living machines |
| neuroscience Freud Returns |
Neuroscientists are finding that their biological descriptions of the brain may fit together best when integrated by psychological theories Freud sketched a century ago. Also: Counterpoint from J. Allan Hobson, who argues that Freud's thinking is still highly suspect |
| info tech Retooling the Global Positioning System |
From hikers navigating with handheld locators to pilots landing in zero-visibility conditions, the Global Positioning System now serves more than 30 million users. See what's coming next |
| planetary science The Transit of Venus |
When Venus crosses the face of the sun this June, scientists will celebrate one of the greatest stories in the history of astonomy |
| Working Knowledge: Clear Favorite | Laser eye surgery |
| Puzzling Adventures: Jump Snatch | Jumping to a conclusion |
| Apr 2004 | |
| neuroscience The Other Half of the Brain |
Mounting evidence suggests that glial cells, overlooked for half a century, may be nearly as critical to thinking and learning as neurons are |
| planetary science The Hidden Members of Planetary Systems |
The solar system consists of more than just planets; it is also a beehive of asteroids and comets. Is that the case for other planetary systems, too? |
| psychology The Tyranny of Choice |
Logic suggests that having options allows people to select precisely what makes them happiest. But, as studies show, abundant choice often makes for misery |
| info tech The First Nanochips |
As scientists and engineers continue to push back the limits of chipmaking technology, they have quietly entered into the nanometer realm |
| biotech Evolution Encoded |
New discoveries about the rules governing how genes encode proteins have revealed nature's sophisticated "programming" for protecting life from catastrophic errors while accelerating evolution |
| space science Blastoffs on a Budget |
Private ventures seeking to make routine access to space affordable see big potential in going small |
| Working Knowledge: Complete Burn | Fuel injection |
| Technicalities: Plug-and-Play Robots | Personal robots may soon be as cheap and customizable as personal computers |
| Puzzling Adventures: Bluffhead | The game of Bluffhead |
| Mar 2004 | |
| planetary science The Spirit of Exploration |
NASA's rover fights the curse of the Angry Red Planet |
| info tech, robotics A New Race of Robots |
Around the U.S., engineers are finishing one-year crash projects to create robots able to dash 200 miles through the Mojave Desert in a day, unaided by humans. Scientific American tailed the odds-on favorite team for 10 months and found that major innovations in robotics are not enough to win such a contest. Obsession is also required |
| climate change Defusing the Global Warming Time Bomb |
Global warming is real, and the consequences are potentially disastrous. Nevertheless, practical actions, which would also yield a cleaner, healthier atmosphere, could slow, and eventually stop, the process |
| biotech The Addicted Brain |
Drug abuse produces long-term changes in the reward circuitry of the brain. Knowledge of the cellular and molecular details of these adaptations could lead to new treatments for the compulsive behaviors that underlie addiction |
| earth science The Threat of Silent Earthquakes |
A lack of rumbling does not necessarily make an earthquake harmless. Some of the quiet types could presage devasting tsunamis or larger, ground-shaking shocks |
| science and society The Fairest Vote of All |
All voting systems have drawbacks. But by taking into account how voters rank candidates, one system gives the truest reflection of the electorate's views |
| Working Knowledge: Rock Clock | Quartz watches |
| Puzzling Adventures: Grid Speed | Traffic on the grid |
| Feb 2004 | |
| biotech Insights into Shock |
Still a last step before death for thousands of people, shock is shedding some of it medical mystery and becoming more treatable |
| cosmology The Cosmic Symphony |
New observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation show that the early universe resounded with harmonious oscillations |
| cosmology Reading the Blueprints of Creation |
The latest maps of the cosmos have surveyed hundreds of thousands of galaxies, whose clustering has grown from primordial fluctuations |
| cosmology From Slowdown to Speedup |
Distant supernovae are revealing the crucial time when the expansion of the universe changed from decelerating to accelerating |
| cosmology Out of the Darkness |
Maybe cosmic acceleration isn't caused by dark energy after all but by an inexorable leakage of gravity out of our world |
| info tech Better Displays with Organic Films |
Light-emitting organic materials offer brighter and more efficient displays than LEDs. An you'll be able to unroll them across a tabletop |
| criminology The Case of the Unsolved Crime Decline |
Criminologists have not yet cracked the case, but they now know more about why U.S. crime rates plummeted in the 1990s - and how to help keep them down |
| Working Knowledge: Data Driven | Automobile black box |
| Technicalities: A Walk in the Woods | Satellites show the way in the new sport of geocaching |
| Puzzling Adventures: All or Nothing | Numerical messages |
| Jan 2004 | |
| astronomy Our Growing, Breathing Galaxy |
Long assumed to be a relic of the distant past, the Milky Way turns out to be a dynamic, living object |
| neuroscience Decoding Schizophrenia |
A fuller understanding of signaling in the brain of people with this disorder offers new hope for improved therapy |
| info tech RFID: A Key to Automating Everything |
Already common in security systems and tollbooths, radio-frequency identification tags and readers stand poised to take over many processes now accomplished by human toil |
| physics Atoms of Space and Time |
We perceive space and time to be continuous, but if the amazing theory of loop quantum gravity is correct, they actually come in discrete pieces |
| archaeology Women and Men at Çatalhöyük |
The largest known Neolithic settlement yields clues about the roles played by the two sexes in early agricultural societies |
| environment Spring Forward |
As temperatures rise sooner in spring, interdependent species in many ecosystems are shifting dangerously out of sync |
| mathematics The Curious History of the First Pocket Calculator |
It was called the Curta, and it proved lifesaving when its inventor was trapped in a Nazi concentration camp |
| Working Knowledge: Phantom Gain | Virtual 1st down marker |
| Puzzling Adventures: Verifying Your Circuits | Verifying circuits |
| Dec 2003 | |
| tech leaders The Scientific American 50 |
Our second annual salute to the elite of research, industry and politics whose accomplishments are shaping a better, wiser technological future for the world |
| biology Does Race Exist? |
If races are defined as genetically discrete groups, no. But researchers can use some genetic information to group individuals into clusters with medical relevance |
| planetary science The New Moon |
Recent lunar missions have shown that there is still much to learn about Earth's closest neighbor |
| aviation The Equivocal Success of the Wright Brothers |
The Wrights used aerial control as the key to building and flying the first airplane. But trying to refine their invention in secret nearly cost them their glory |
| earth science The Day the World Burned |
The dinosaur-killing impact set off a wave of wildfires that consumed Earth's forests |
| biotech The Unseen Genome: Beyond DNA |
DNA was once considered the sole repository of heritable information. But biologists are starting to decipher a separate, much more malleable layer of information encoded within the chromosomes. Genetics, make way for epigenetics |
| Working Knowledge: At the Moment | Electronic skis |
| Technicalities: Science for Cops | A behind-the-scenes look at a high-tech police lab |
| Puzzling Adventures: You Don't Say! | Parallel repetition |
| Nov 2003 | |
| biotech The Unseen Genome: Gems among the Junk |
Just when scientists thought they had DNA almost figured out, they are discovering in chromosomes two vast, but largely hidden, layers of information that affect inheritance, development and disease |
| space science The Asteroid Tugboat |
To prevent an asteroid from hitting Earth, a space tug equipped with plasma engines could give it a push |
| robotics An Army of Small Robots |
For robot designers these days, small is beautiful |
| physics The Future of String Theory - A Conversation with Brian Greene |
The physicist and best-selling author demystifies the ultimate theories of space and time, the nature of genius, multiple universes, and more |
| evolution Stranger in a New Land |
Stunning finds in the Republic of Georgia upend long-standing ideas about the first hominids to journey out of Africa |
| aviation Flying on Flexible Wings |
Future aircraft may fly more like birds, adapting geometrics of their wings to best suit changing flight conditions |
| neuroscience Why We Sleep |
The reasons that we sleep are gradually becoming less enigmatic |
| Working Knowledge: Staying Power | Nails and staples |
| Puzzling Adventures: Liquid Switchboard | Liquid switchboard |
| Oct 2003 | |
| astronomy The Unexpected Youth of Globular Clusters |
Conventional wisdom says that globular star clusters are the stodgy old codgers of the universe, but it turns out that many of these clusters are young |
| materials science Artificial Muscles |
Novel motion-producing devices - actuators, motors, generators - based on polymers that change shape when stimulated electrically are nearing commercialization |
| environment Meltdown in the North |
Sea ice and glaciers are melting, permafrost is thawing, tundra is yielding to shrubs - and scientists are struggling to understand how these changes will affect not just the Arctic but the entire planet |
| biotech Tumor-Busting Viruses |
A new technique called virotherapy harnesses viruses, those banes of humankind, to stop another scourge--cancer |
| space science China's Great Leap Upward |
By boosting astronauts into orbit, China hopes to become the newest superpower in space |
| economics The Economics of Child Labor |
Campaigns against child labor are most likely to succeed when they combine the long arm of the law with the invisible hand of the marketplace |
| Working Knowledge: Cool Shirt | Smart fabrics |
| Technicalities: The Infinite Arcade Machine | Building the world's largest video arcade - in your family room |
| Puzzling Adventures: Strategic Bullying | Strategic bullying |
| Sep 2003 | |
| neuroscience Brain, Repair Yourself |
How do you fix a broken brain? The answers may literally lie within our heads. The same approaches might also boost the power of an already healthy brain |
| neuroscience The Quest for a Smart Pill |
New drugs to improve memory and cognitive performance in impaired individuals are under intensive study. Their possible use in healthy people already triggers debate |
| neuroscience Stimulating the Brain |
Activating the brain's circuitry with pulsed magnetic fields may help ease depression, enhance cognition, even fight fatigue |
| neuroscience Mind Readers |
Brain-scanning machines may soon be capable of discerning rudimentary thoughts and separating fact from fiction |
| neuroscience The Mutable Brain |
Score one for believers in the adage "use it or lose it." Targeted mental and physical exercises seem to improve the brain in unexpected ways |
| neuroscience Taming Stress |
An emerging understanding of the brain's stress pathways points toward treatments for anxiety and depression beyond Valium and Prozac |
| neuroscience Diagnosing Disorders |
Psychiatric illnesses are often hard to recognize, but genetic testing and neuroimaging could someday be used to improve detection |
| Working Knowledge: On the Money | Bill validators |
| Puzzling Adventures: Missing Hiker | Find the missing hiker |
| Aug 2003 | |
| biotech Censors of the Genome |
Biologists have been surprised to discover that most animal and plant cells contain a built-in system to silence individual genes by shredding the RNA they produce. Biotech companies are already working to exploit it |
| info tech Demystifying the Digital Divide |
The simple binary notion of technology haves and have-nots doesn't quite compute |
| neuroscience Rethinking the "Lesser Brain" |
Long thought to be solely the brain's coordinator of body movement, the cerebellum is now known to be active during a wide variety of cognitive and perceptual activities |
| physics Information in the Holographic Universe |
Theoretical results about black holes suggest that the universe could be like a gigantic hologram |
| archaeology Questioning the Delphic Oracle |
When science meets religion at this ancient Greek site, the two turn out to be on better terms than scholars had originally thought |
| evolution Planet of the Apes |
During the Miocene epoch, as many as 100 species of apes roamed throughout the Old World. New fossils suggest that the ones that gave rise to living great apes and humans evolved not in Africa but Eurasia |
| Working Knowledge: Seeing Green | Night vision |
| Technicalities: Converging on the Couch | New devices connect the stereo and TV to the home data network |
| Puzzling Adventures: Short Taps | Outwitting spies |
| Jul 2003 | |
| astronomy The Galactic Odd Couple |
Why do giant black holes and stellar baby booms, two phenomena with little in common, so often go together? |
| environment Counting the Last Fish |
Overfishing has slashed stocks - especially of large predator species - to an all-time low worldwide, according to new data. If we don't manage this resource, we will be left with a diet of jellyfish and plankton stew |
| info tech Antennas Get Smart |
Adaptive antenna arrays can vastly improve wireless communications by connecting mobile users with virtual wires |
| biotech Untangling the Roots of Cancer |
Recent evidence challenges long-held theories of how cells turn malignant - and suggests new ways to stop tumors before they spread |
| archaeology Uncovering the Keys to the Lost Indus Cities |
Recently excavated artifacts from Pakistan have inspired a reevaluation of one of the great early urban cultures - the enigmatic Indus Valley civilization |
| medicine Pumphead |
In what has become almost routine, the heart-lung machine "breathes" for patients during coronary-bypass operations. But could this lifesaving device have a dark side? |
| Insights: Terms of Engagement | Irving Weissman directs a new institute dedicated to the cloning of human embryonic stem cells. Just don't call it cloning |
| Working Knowledge: Fine Focus | Scanning electron microscopes |
| Puzzling Adventures: High Spies | Tracking contraband shipments |
| Jun 2003 | |
| medicine Shoot This Deer |
Chronic wasting disease, a cousin of mad cow disease, is spreading among wild deer in parts of the U.S. Left unchecked, the fatal sickness could threaten North American deer populations - and maybe livestock and humans |
| astronomy The Unearthly Landscapes of Mars |
The Red Planet is no dead planet |
| computing Self-Repairing Computers |
By embracing the inevitability of system failures, recovery-oriented computing returns service faster |
| biotech Pandora's Baby |
In vitro fertilization was once considered by some to be a threat to our very humanity. Cloning inspires similar fears |
| physics The Dawn of Physics Beyond the Standard Model |
The Standard Model of particle physics is at a pivotal moment in its history: it is both at the height of its success and on the verge of being surpassed |
| info science Chain Letters and Evolutionary Histories |
A study of chain letters shows how to infer the family tree of anything that evolves over time, from biological genomes to languages to plagiarized schoolwork |
| May 2003 | |
| cosmology Parallel Universes |
Not just a staple of science fiction, other universes are a direct implication of cosmological observations |
| neuroscience Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes |
People with synesthesia - whose senses blend together - are providing valuable clues to understanding the organization and functions of the human brain |
| info tech Scale-Free Networks |
Scientists have recently discovered that various complex systems have an underlying architecture governed by shared organizing principles. This insight has important implications for a host of applications, from drug development to Internet security |
| archaeology The Iceman Reconsidered |
Where was the Iceman's home and what was he doing at the high mountain pass where he died? Painstaking research - especially of plant remains found with the body - contradicts many of the initial speculations |
| biotech The Orphan Drug Backlash |
The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 was supposed to provide incentives for private industry to develop needed, but unprofitable, drugs to treat rare diseases. It has done so, but not without eliciting controversy |
| Working Knowledge: Catch a Wave | Antennas |
| Puzzling Adventures: Bounded Regrets | Competitive analysis and the regret ratio |
| Apr 2003 | |
| astrophysics Solving the Solar Neutrino Problem |
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory has solved a 30-year-old mystery by showing that neutrinos from the sun change species en route to the earth |
| biotech Where a Pill Won't Reach |
How to get drugs where they need to go |
| earth science Mount Etna's Ferocious Future |
Europe's biggest and most active volcano is growing more dangerous. Luckily, the transformation is happening slowly |
| genetics A Conversation with James D. Watson |
The co-discoverer of DNA's double helix reflects on the molecular model that changed both science and society |
| life science Questioning the Oldest Signs of Life |
In the past year scientists have been forced to reconsider how they identify life in the most ancient rocks on earth - and elsewhere in the solar system |
| info tech The Grid: Computing without Bounds |
By linking digital processors, storage systems and software on a global scale, grid technology is poised to transform computing from an individual and corporate activity into a general utility |
| medicine The Lowdown on Ginkgo Biloba |
This popular herbal supplement may slightly improve your memory, but you can get the same effect by eating a candy bar |
| Working Knowledge: Potent Patches | Transdermal drug delivery |
| Technicalities: Screen Writing | The tablet PC is a high-tech tool for scribblers |
| Puzzling Adventures: The Graph of Life | Graphing the origins of species |
| Mar 2003 | |
| physics The Search for Dark Matter |
Dark matter is usually thought of as something "out there." But we will never truly understand it unless we can bring it down to earth |
| energy, environment Dismantling Nuclear Reactors |
Taking apart a nuclear power plant that has reached the end of its life is a complicated task. But not for the reasons you might expect |
| biotech Restoring Aging Bones |
The bone decay of osteoporosis can cripple, but an improved understanding of how the body builds and loses bone is leading to ever better prevention and treatment options |
| info tech Digital Entertainment Jumps the Border |
New broadcasting technologies are challenging the restrictions on the viewing of American television shows and films in other countries |
| evolution Which Came First, the Feather or the Bird? |
A long-cherished view of how and why feathers evolved has now been overturned |
| neuroscience Bugs in the Brain |
Time for a bit of humility. Some microorganisms can manipulate neural circuitry better than we can |
| Working Knowledge: No Two Alike | Fingerprint readers |
| Puzzling Adventures: Safecracking | The safecracker's strategy |
| Feb 2003 | |
| astrophysics Magnetars |
Some stars are magnetized so intensely that they emit huge bursts of magnetic energy and alter the very nature of the quantum vacuum |
| neuroscience Why? The Neuroscience of Suicide |
New research addresses the wrenching question left when someone ends his or her own life |
| info tech Evolving Inventions |
Computer programs that function via Darwinian evolution are creating inventions that are novel and useful enough to be patented |
| environment Explaining Frog Deformities |
An eight-year investigation into the cause of a shocking increase in deformed amphibians has sorted out the roles of three prime suspects |
| weaponry Satellite-Guided Munitions |
Highly accurate yet affordable strike weapons, proved in Afghanistan, are the latest upgrades to America's arsenal |
| medicine Drink to Your Health? |
Three decades of research shows that drinking small to moderate amounts of alcohol has cardiovascular benefits. A thorny issue for physicians is whether to recommend drinking to some patients |
| Working Knowledge: Carbon Copy | Synthetic diamonds |
| Technicalities: Robots That Suck | Have they finally come out with a robot for the rest of us? |
| Puzzling Adventures: Five Trusty Flares | Choosing trustworthy flares |
| Jan 2003 | |
| medicine New Light on Medicine |
Pigments that turn caustic on exposure to light can fight cancer, blindness and heart disease. Their light-induced toxicity may also help explain the origin of vampire tales |
| info tech, nanotech The Nanodrive Project |
Inventing a nanotechnology device for mass production and consumer use is trickier than it sounds |
| paleontology An Ancestor to Call Our Own |
Controversial new fossils could bring scientists closer than ever to the origin of humanity |
| nutrition Rebuilding the Food Pyramid |
The dietary guide introduced a decade ago has led people astray. Some fats are healthy for the heart, and many carbohydrates clearly are not |
| earth science Earthquake Conversations |
Contrary to prevailing wisdom, large earthquakes can interact in unexpected ways. This exciting discovery could dramatically improve scientists' ability to pinpoint future shocks |
| physics The Science of Bubbly |
Scientists study the nose-tickling effervescence of champagne - an alluring and unmistakable aspect of its appeal |
| Working Knowledge: Scratch Match | Ballistics |
| Puzzling Adventures: Protein Chime | Timing with proteins |
| Dec 2002 | |
| tech leaders The Scientific American 50 |
Our first annual celebration of visionaries from the worlds of research, industry and politics whose recent accomplishments point toward a brighter technological future for everyone |
| astronomy The Brightest Explosions in the Universe |
Every time a gamma-ray burst goes off, a black hole is born |
| biotech The Enigma of Huntington's Disease |
Nearly 10 years after scientists isolated the gene responsible for Huntington's, they are still searching for how it wreaks its devastation |
| climate change On Thin Ice |
How soon humanity will have to move inland to escape rising seas depends in great part on how quickly West Antarctica's massive ice sheet shrinks. Scientists are finally beginning to agree on what controls the size of the sheet and its rate of disintegration |
| evolution Food for Thought |
Dietary change was a driving force in human evolution |
| info tech Order in Pollock's Chaos |
Computer analysis is helping to explain the appeal of Jackson Pollock's paintings. The artist's famous drips and swirls create fractal patterns, similar to those formed in nature by trees, clouds and coastlines |
| Working Knowledge: Superhot Dots | Ink-jet printing |
| Technicalities: Getting Real | What's next in computer displays? Depth and shadows |
| Puzzling Adventures: Plumbers | Find the blabbermouth |
| Nov 2002 | |
| astronomy When Stars Collide |
When two stars smash into each other, it can be a very pretty sight (as long as you're not too close by). These occurrences were once considered impossible, but they have turned out to be common in certain galactic neighborhoods |
| biotech The Long Arm of the Immune System |
Dendritic cells catch invaders and tell the immune system when and how to respond. Vaccines depend on them, and scientists are even employing the cells to stir up immunity against cancer |
| zoology Gladiators: A New Order of Insect |
A mystery in amber is solved on a desert mountain with a discovery that has stunned entomologists |
| info tech Rules for a Complex Quantum World |
An exciting new fundamental discipline of research combines information science and quantum mechanics |
| defense Weapons of Mass Disruption |
Radiological terror weapons could blow radioactive dust through cities, causing panic, boosting cancer rates and forcing costly cleanups |
| environment Burning Questions |
Scientists work to understand and control the plague of wildfires in the West |
| Working Knowledge: See the Wind | Weather radar |
| Puzzling Adventures: Perfect Billiards | Perfect billiards: working the angles |
| Oct 2002 | |
| robotics Controlling Robots with the Mind |
People with nerve or limb injuries may one day be able to command wheelchairs, prosthetics and even paralyzed arms and legs by "thinking them through" the motions |
| astronomy The Emptiest Places |
Space comes in degrees of emptiness, but even in the wasteland between galaxies it is not a complete void |
| technology Vehicle of Change |
Hydrogen fuel-cell cars could be the catalyst for a cleaner tomorrow |
| biology Skin Deep |
Throughout the world, human skin color has evolved to be dark enough to prevent sunlight from destroying the nutrient folate but light enough to foster the production of vitamin D |
| defense Technology against Terror |
Biologists and engineers are devising early-warning systems that can detect a bioterrorist attack in time to blunt its effects |
| info tech Lightning Rods for Nanoelectronics |
Electrostatic discharges threaten to halt further shrinking and acceleration of electronic devices in the future |
| Working Knowledge: Vying for Eyes | Flat displays |
| Technicalities: Computers for the Third World | The Simputer is a handheld device designed for rural villagers |
| Puzzling Adventures: Prime Spies | Prime spies |
| Sep 2002 | |
| physics Real Time |
The pace of living quickens continuously, yet a full understanding of things temporal still eludes us |
| physics That Mysterious Flow |
From the fixed past to the tangible present to the undecided future, it feels as though time flows inexorably on. But that is an illusion |
| physics A Hole at the Heart of Physics |
Physicists can't seem to find the time - literally. Can philosophers help? |
| physics How to Build a Time Machine |
It wouldn't be easy, but it might be possible |
| physics From Instantaneous to Eternal |
The units of time range from the infinitesimally brief to the interminably long. The descriptions given here attempt to convey a sense of this vast chronological span |
| physics Times of Our Lives |
Whether they're counting minutes, months or years, biological clocks help keep our brains and bodies running on schedule |
| neuroscience Remembering When |
Several brain structures contribute to "mind time," organizing our experiences into chronologies of remembered events |
| anthropology Clocking Cultures |
What is time? The answer varies from society to society |
| technology A Chronicle of Timekeeping |
Our conception of time depends on the way we measure it |
| technology Ultimate Clocks |
Atomic clocks are shrinking to microchip size, heading for space - and approaching the limits of useful precision |
| Puzzling Adventures: Venture Bets | Investments and probabilities |
| Aug 2002 | |
| biotech The Serious Search for an Anti-Aging Pill |
In government laboratories and elsewhere, scientists are seeking a drug able to prolong life and youthful vigor. Studies of caloric restriction are showing the way |
| cosmology Does Dark Matter Really Exist? |
Ninety-five percent of the universe has gone missing. Or has it? |
| environment The Ocean's Invisible Forest |
Marine phytoplankton play a critical role in regulating the earth's climate. Could they also be used to combat global warming? |
| info tech Computers without Clocks |
Asynchronous chips improve computer performance by letting each circuit run as fast as it can |
| psychology Combating the Terror of Terrorism |
The psychological damage caused by the attacks of September 11 mirrored the physical destruction and showed that protecting the public's mental health must be a component of the national defense |
| linguistics Saving Dying Languages |
Linguists have known for years that thousands of the world's languages are at grave risk of extinction. Yet only recently has the field summoned the will - and the money - to do much about it |
| Working Knowledge: Safety at a Cost | Smart cards |
| Technicalities: Machine Chic | The Poma wearable computer is flashy but not very functional |
| Puzzling Adventures: Repellanoids | Repellanoid circumference |
| Jul 2002 | |
| biotech Sweet Medicines |
Sugars play critical roles in many cellular functions and in disease. Study of those activities lags behind research into genes and proteins but is beginning to heat up. The discoveries promise to yield a new generation of drug therapies |
| info tech Last Mile by Laser |
Short-range infrared lasers could beam advanced broadband multimedia services directly into homes and offices |
| zoology The Nose Takes a Starring Role |
The star-nosed mole has what is very likely the world's fastest and most fantastic nose |
| medicine The Trials of an Artificial Heart |
A year after doctors began implanting the AbioCor in dying patients, the prospects of the device are uncertain |
| physics Uncovering Supersymmetry |
A strange, elusive phenomenon called supersymmetry was conceived for elementary particle physics - but has come to light in nuclei of platinum and gold |
| evolution 15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense |
Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up |
| Working Knowledge: Turn Turn Turn | Windmills |
| Puzzling Adventures: Blind Justice | Mathematical justice |
| Jun 2002 | |
| biotech Hope in a Vial |
Will there be an AIDS vaccine anytime soon? |
| cosmology The Life Cycle of Galaxies |
Astronomers are on the verge of explaining the enigmatic variety of galaxies |
| zoology Disturbing Behaviors of the Orangutan |
Studies of these great apes show that some males pursue an unexpected and disquieting evolutionary strategy |
| info tech Spintronics |
Microelectronic devices that function by using the spin of the electron are a nascent multibillion-dollar industry - and may lead to quantum microchips |
| psychology Islands of Genius |
Artistic brilliance and a dazzling memory can sometimes accompany autism and other developmental disorders |
| chemistry The Complexity of Coffee |
One of life's simple pleasures is really quite complicated |
| medicine No Truth to the Fountain of Youth |
Fifty-one scientists who study aging have issued a warning to the public: no anti-aging remedy on the market today has been proved effective. Here's why they are speaking up |
| Working Knowledge: Hidden Guides | Gyroscope guidance |
| Technicalities: Whatever You Say | With speech-recognition software, your voice is the computer's command |
| Puzzling Adventures: Privacy Taboos | Privacy among the Paranoimos |
| May 2002 | |
| biotech Atherosclerosis: The New View |
It causes chest pain, heart attack and stroke, leading to more deaths every year than cancer. The long-held conception of how the disease develops turns out to be wrong |
| planetary science Journey to the Farthest Planet |
Scientists are finally preparing to send a spacecraft to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, the last unexplored region in our planetary system |
| info tech Wireless Data Blaster |
Radio's oldest technology is providing a new way for portable electronics to transmit large quantities of data rapidly without wires |
| evolution The Mammals That Conquered the Seas |
New fossils and DNA analyses elucidate the remarkable evolutionary history of whales |
| physics Extreme Light |
Focusing light with the power of 1,000 Hoover Dams onto a point the size of a cell nucleus accelerates electrons to the speed of light in a femtosecond |
| environment Rethinking Green Consumerism |
Buying green products won't be enough to save biodiversity in the tropics. A new plan for marketing conservation services may be the answer |
| Puzzling Adventures: Defense in Depth | Avoiding tackles in a football game |
| Apr 2002 | |
| biotech Proteins Rule |
Proteomics is biotech's "new new thing." Its enthusiasts are racing to catalogue the proteins in our bodies and to figure out how they network with one another. These efforts could lead to more and better drugs |
| info tech Augmented Reality: A New Way of Seeing |
Computer scientists are developing systems that can enhance and enrich a user's view of the world |
| zoology Parasitic Sex Puppeteers |
By directing its victims' sex lives, the bacterial parasite Wolbachia may be helping to produce new species |
| physics Ripples in Spacetime |
Physicists have spent eight years and $365 million building a radically new kind of observatory to detect gravitational waves. But will it work? A trial run put it to the test |
| health The Science of Bad Breath |
The age-old condition of bad breath is coming under new scientific scrutiny, leading to insights into diagnostic approaches and possible solutions |
| psychology The Social Psychology of Modern Slavery |
Contrary to conventional wisdom, slavery has not disappeared from the world. Social scientists are trying to explain its persistence |
| Puzzling Adventures: A Fairy Tale | A tale of fairies and pearls |
| Working Knowledge: Grow, Then Kill | Lab tests |
| Technicalities: Bringing the Net to the Bedroom | Even an amateur can create a custom-designed internet appliance |
| Mar 2002 | |
| info tech The Worldwide Computer |
An operating system spanning the Internet would bring the power of millions of the world's Internet-connected PCs to everyone's fingertips |
| biotech Attacking Anthrax |
Recent discoveries are suggesting much-needed strategies for improving prevention and treatment. High on the list: ways to neutralize the anthrax bacterium's fiendish toxin |
| astronomy The Cosmic Reality Check |
A celestial audit suggests that astronomers' inventory of luminous bodies may soon be complete |
| psychology Scars That Won't Heal: The Neurobiology of Child Abuse |
Maltreatment at an early age can have enduring negative effects on a child's brain development and function |
| earth science Repeated Blows |
Did extraterrestrial collisions capable of causing widespread extinctions pound the earth not once, but twice - or even several times? |
| education How Should Reading be Taught? |
Educators have long argued over the best way to teach reading to children. The research, however, indicates that a highly popular method is inadequate on its own |
| Working Knowledge: Secret of Spin | Combination locks |
| Puzzling Adventures: Card Counters | Card counting with Bob and Alice |
| Feb 2002 | |
| info tech The Network in Every Room |
Thanks to ingenious engineering, computers and appliances can now communicate through the electrical wiring in a house |
| biotech The Magic of Microarrays |
Research tools known as DNA microarrays are already clarifying the molecular roots of health and disease and speeding drug discovery. They could also hasten the day when custom-tailored treatment plans replace a one-size-fits-all approach to health care |
| paleontology Madagascar's Mesozoic Secrets |
The world's fourth-largest island divulges fossils that could revolutionize scientific views on the origins of dinosaurs and mammals |
| astronomy Bejeweled Worlds |
What an impoverished universe it would be if Saturn and the other giant planets lacked rings. Planetary scientists are finally working out how gravity has sculpted these elegant ornaments |
| psychology Television Addiction |
Understanding how closely compulsive TV viewing resembles other forms of addiction may help couch potatoes control their habit |
| environment The Bottleneck |
We have entered the Century of the Environment, in which the immediate future is usefully conceived as a bottleneck: science and technology, combined with foresight and moral courage, must see us through it and out |
| Working Knowledge: Eye in the Sky | Aerial and satellite imaging |
| Technicalities: Surrounded by Sound | Ingenious software makes ordinary stereo speakers come alive |
| Puzzling Adventures: Shifty Witnesses | Skipping the preliminaries, the detective stated his problem: "We have five witnesses whom we don't trust. They have trailed a group of 10 suspected drug dealers. For each suspect, the five witnesses take a vote about whether the suspect has drugs or not. |
| Jan 2002 | |
| astronomy The Gas between the Stars |
Filled with colossal fountains of hot gas and vast bubbles blown by exploding stars, the interstellar medium is far more interesting than scientists once thought |
| biotech The First Human Cloned Embryo |
Cloned early-stage human embryos - and human embryos generated only from eggs, in a process called parthenogenesis - now put therapeutic cloning within reach |
| info tech A Vertical Leap for Microchips |
Engineers have discovered a way to pack more computing power into microcircuits: build them vertically as well as horizontally |
| environment Misleading Math about the Earth |
Science defends itself against The Skeptical Environmentalist |
| energy Next-Generation Nuclear Power |
New, safer and more economical nuclear reactors could not only satisfy many of our future energy needs but could combat global warming as well |
| psychology The Economics of Fair Play |
Why do we value fairness and cooperation over seemingly more rational selfishness? How can Darwinian generosity arise? Biologists and economists explain |
| Working Knowledge: Breathing Easier? | Gas masks |
| Puzzling Adventures: Pinpointing a Polar Bear | How many hunters does it take to catch a polar bear? |
| Dec 2001 | |
| medicine Vessels of Death or Life |
Angiogenesis - the formation of new blood vessels - might one day be manipulated to treat disorders from cancer to heart disease. First-generation drugs are now in the final phase of human testing |
| physics Photonic Crystals: Semiconductors of Light |
Nanostructured materials containing ordered arrays of holes could lead to an optoelectronics revolution, doing for light what silicon did for electrons |
| evolution How We Came to Be Human |
The acquisition of language and the capacity for symbolic art may lie at the very heart of the extraordinary cognitive abilities that set us apart from the rest of creation |
| astronomy The First Stars in the Universe |
Exceptionally massive and bright, the earliest stars changed the course of cosmic history |
| weaponry India, Pakistan and the Bomb |
The Indian subcontinent is the most likely place in the world for a nuclear war |
| info tech Origins of Personal Computing |
Forget Gates, Jobs and Wozniak. The foundations of modern interactive computers were laid decades earlier |
| Working Knowledge: In the Fast Lane | Electronic toll collection |
| Technicalities: Long-Distance Robots | The technology of telepresence makes the world even smaller |
| Puzzling Adventures: Fashion Gang | Fashionable mathematics |
| Nov 2001 | |
| ecology On the Termination of Species |
Ecologists' warnings of an ongoing mass extinction are being challenged by skeptics and largely ignored by politicians. In part that is because it is surprisingly hard to know the dimensions of the die-off, why it matters and how it can best be stopped |
| info tech The Electronic Paper Chase |
Digital "paper" that displays changing text and graphics would ideally marry the best features of traditional printed materials with those of video screens. Companies are racing to realize that promise using two competing technologies. Already retailers are testing cost-saving changeable e-ink signage. Pliable, updatable e-newspapers, e-books and even an e-Scientific American could be here within a decade |
| biotech Beyond Chicken Soup |
The antiviral era is upon us, with an array of virus-fighting drugs on the market and in development. Research into viral genomes is fueling much of this progress |
| astronomy Gravity's Kaleidoscope |
The most massive telescopes known to humanity sit not on earthly mountaintops but in deep space. They are gravitational lenses, once mere curiosities, now one of the most important tools in astronomy |
| evolution The Evolution of Human Birth |
The difficulties of childbirth have probably challenged humans and their ancestors for millions of years - which means that the modern custom of seeking assistance during delivery may have similarly ancient roots |
| education Does Class Size Matter? |
Legislators are spending billions to reduce class sizes. Will the results by worth the expense? |
| Working Knowledge: Current Safety | Ground fault circuit interrupters |
| Puzzling Adventures: Truck Stop | Mathematics of a truckers' stike |
| Oct 2001 | |
| biotech Magic Bullets Fly Again |
Molecular guided missiles called monoclonal antibodies were poised to shoot down cancer and a host of other diseases - until they crashed and burned. Now a new generation is soaring to market |
| info tech Code Red for the Web |
Could the Internet crash? This summer's Code Red attacks could foreshadow destructive cyberwarfare between hacker groups or between governments |
| info tech Driving the Info Highway |
The Internet has hit the road. Drivers can now access anything from custom traffic reports to spoken e-mail messages to video games. But is it safe? |
| astrobiology, life science Refuges for Life in a Hostile Universe |
Only part of our galaxy is fit for advanced life |
| medicine The Challenge of Macular Degeneration |
Researchers have begun to identify the causes of this dreaded eye disease that targets the elderly |
| engineering Drowning New Orleans |
A major hurricane could swamp New Orleans under 20 feet of water, killing thousands. Human activities along the Mississippi River have dramatically increased the risk, and now only massive reengineering of southeastern Louisiana can save the city |
| Working Knowledge: Mice and Men | Computer mouse |
| Technicalities: A Wide Web of Worlds | New Internet browsers add an extra dimension - but little depth |
| Puzzling Adventures: Crowns of the Minotaur | Labyrinthine logic |
| Sep 2001 | |
| nanotech Little Big Science |
Nanotechnology is all the rage. But will it meet its ambitious goals? And what the heck is it? |
| nanotech Nanofabrication: The Art of Building Small |
Researchers are discovering cheap, efficient ways to make structures only a few billionths of a meter across |
| nanotech Nanophysics: Plenty of Room, Indeed |
There is plenty of room for practical innovation at the nanoscale. But first, scientists have to understand the unique physics that governs matter there |
| nanotech Nanoelectronics: The Incredible Shrinking Circuit |
Researchers have built nanotransistors and nanowires. Now they just need to find a way to put them all together |
| nanotech Nanomedicine: Less is More in Medicine |
Sophisticated forms of nanotechnology will find some of their first real-world applications in biomedical research, disease diagnosis and, possibly, therapy |
| nanotech Nanovisions: Machine-Phase Nanotechnology |
A molecular nanotechnology pioneer predicts that the tiniest robots will revolutionize manufacturing and transform society |
| nanotech Nanofallacies: Of Chemistry, Love and Nanobots |
How soon will we see the nanometer-scale robots envisaged by K. Eric Drexler and other molecular nanotechnologists? The simple answer is never |
| nanotech Nanoinspirations: The Once and Future Nanomachine |
Biology outmatches futurists' most elaborate fantasies for molecular robots |
| nanotech Nanorobotics: Nanobot Construction Crews |
Nanotechnology visionaries find out how difficult it is to develop minuscule robots that can treat diseases or perform pollution-free manufacturing |
| nanotech Nanofiction: Shamans of Small |
Like interstellar travel, time machines and cyberspace, nanotechnology has become one of the core pilot devices on which science-fiction writers draw |
| Working Knowledge: Flea Treatments | Killer drops |
| Puzzling Adventures: Square Dancing | Square dancing without collisions |
| Aug 2001 | |
| info tech Go Forth and Replicate |
Birds do it, bees do it, but could machines do it? New computer simulations suggest that the answer is yes |
| astrochemistry The Ice of Life |
Ice in its earthly guise is hostile to living things. But an exotic form of space ice can actually promote the creation of organic molecules -and may have seeded life on Earth |
| biotech Cybernetic Cells |
The simplest living cell is so complex that supercomputer models may never simulate its behavior perfectly. But even imperfect models could shake the foundations of biology |
| anthropology Once Were Cannibals |
Clear evidence of cannibalism in the human fossil record has been rare, but it is now becoming apparent that the practice is deeply rooted in our history |
| security Taming the Killing Fields of Laos |
Live bombs from the Vietnam War continue to kill people and hamper agricultural development in Laos. The cleanup project required deciphering decades-old computer files |
| info tech The Do-It-Yourself Supercomputer |
Scientists have found a cheaper way to solve tremendously difficult computational problems: connect ordinary PCs so that they can work together |
| ecology The Trouble with Turtles |
Despite heroic efforts to protect the nesting beaches of green turtles, fewer and fewer of these endangered creatures reappear every year. Researchers have been stunned to discover that shielding young turtles is only half the battle |
| Working Knowledge: Crank It Up! | Human-powered electronics |
| Technicalities: Touchy-Feely Computing | A new mouse picks up good vibrations |
| Puzzling Adventures: The Delphi Flip | Predicting the future accurately is most useful in betting games - the stock market comes to mind |
| Jul 2001 | |
| info tech How to Build a Hypercomputer |
The simulation and ultimate solution of humanity's major ills and most perplexing problems require significantly faster supercomputers |
| psychology The Truth and Hype of Hypnosis |
Though often denigrated as fakery or wishful thinking, hypnosis has been shown to be a real phenomenon with a variety of therapeutic uses - especially in controlling pain |
| nanotech Making Molecules into Motors |
Molecular turmoil, quantum craziness: microscopic machines must operate in a world gone mad. But if you can't beat the chaos, why not exploit it? |
| physics Frozen Light |
Slowing a beam of light to a halt may pave the way for new optical communications technology, tabletop black holes and quantum computers |
| biotech Battling Biofilms |
The war is against bacterial colonies that cause some of the most tenacious infections known. The weapon is knowledge of the enemy's communication system |
| ecology Fishy Business |
Cyanide fishing threatens many of the last pristine coral reefs in Southeast Asia. Will an ambitious program to clean up the marine aquarium trade be enough to save them? |
| Working Knowledge: Tan or Burn | Protecting skin from the summer sun |
| Puzzling Adventures: Seeing Red, Feeling Blue | Here's a puzzle full of clashing colors |
| Jun 2001 | |
| astrophysics The Paradox of the Sun's Hot Corona |
Like a boiling teakettle atop a cold stove, the sun's hot outer layers sit on the relatively cool surface. And now astronomers are figuring out why |
| biology Solving the Mystery of Insect Flight |
Insects use a combination of aerodynamic effects to remain aloft |
| neuroscience Sign Language in the Brain |
How does the human brain process language? New studies of deaf signers hint at an answer |
| space science North to Mars! |
To pave the way for a mission to Mars, a band of scientists decided to go to the Canadian arctic |
| biotech Hair - Why It Grows Why It Stops |
Scientists are rapidly discovering the molecules that control hair production. In so doing, they could be unearthing the key to combating both baldness and excessive hair growth |
| anthropology The Himba and the Dam |
A questionable act of progress may drown this African tribe's way of life. Similar dramas are playing out around the world |
| technology A Low-pollution Engine Solution |
Clean-burning, sparkless-ignition auto engines may offer the best chance of meeting new exhaust emissions standards |
| Working Knowledge: Flight Control | Golf balls |
| Technicalities: Kibbles and Bytes | How much is that robotic doggy in the window? |
| Puzzling Adventures: Alternating Liars | Liar, liar, liar |
| May 2001 | |
| info tech The Semantic Web |
A new form of Web content that is meaningful to computers will unleash a revolution of new possibilities |
| astronomy Rip Van Twinkle |
The oldest stars have been growing younger |
| biotech Behind Enemy Lines |
A close look at the inner workings of microbes in the era of escalating antibiotic resistance is offering new strategies for designing drugs |
| environment The Arctic Oil and Wildlife Refuge |
The last great onshore oil field in America may lie beneath the nation's last great coastal wilderness preserve. Science can clarify the potential economic benefits and the ecological risks of drilling into it |
| weaponry Warp Drive Underwater |
Traveling inside drag-cutting bubbles, secret torpedoes and other subsea naval systems can move hundreds of miles per hour |
| psychology What's Wrong with This Picture? |
Psychologists often use the famous Rorschach inkblot test and related tools to assess personality and mental illness. But research says the instruments are frequently ineffective for those purposes |
| Working Knowledge: Quick Scan | Bar-code readers |
| Puzzling Adventures: Something Fishy | Retracing a villain's steps |
| Apr 2001 | |
| biotech Whose Blood Is It, Anyway? |
Blood collected from umbilical cords and placentas - which are usually thrown away following birth - contains stem cells that can rebuild the blood and immune systems of people with leukemia and other cancers |
| biotech Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? - Introduction |
A look at how much science really knows about the risks of growing and eating genetically modified crops. |
| biotech Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? - Seeds of Concern |
Are genetically modified crops an environmental dream come true or a disaster in the making? Scientists are looking for answers |
| biotech Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? - The Risks on the Table |
More than half the foods in U.S. supermarkets contain genetically modified ingredients. Have they been proved safe for human consumption? |
| biotech Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe? - Does the World Need GM Foods? (Q&A) |
Two leading figures in the debate over genetic engineering defend their stances |
| info tech Virtually There |
Three-dimensional tele-immersion may eventually bring the world to your desk |
| chemistry Life's Rocky Start |
Air, water and rock were the only raw materials available on the early earth. The first living entitities must been fabricated from these primitive resources. New experiments suggest that minerals - the basic components of the rocks - could have played starring roles in that dramatic feat |
| astrophysics The Fury of Space Storms |
Shock waves from the sun can trigger severe turbulence in the space around the earth, endangering satellites and astronauts in orbit. Now a new spacecraft is showing how space storms develop |
| psychology Violent Pride |
Do people turn violent because of self-hate, or self-love? |
| Working Knowledge: Touch Screens - At Your Fingertips | A truly touchy interface |
| Technicalities: Look, Ma, No Wires! | The Ricochet wireless modem is like a Ferrari - fast but pricey |
| Puzzling Adventures: No Tipping | A weighty search for leverage |
| Mar 2001 | |
| biology Making Sense of Taste |
How do cells on the tongue register the sensations of sweet, salty, sour and bitter? Scientists are finding out - and discovering how the brain interprets these signals as various tastes |
| earth science Sculpting the Earth from Inside Out |
Powerful motions deep inside the planet do not merely shove fragments of the rocky shell horizontally around the globe - they also lift and lower entire continents |
| biology If Humans Were Built to Last |
We would look a lot different - inside and out - if evolution had designed the human body to function smoothly not only in youth but for a century or more |
| astronomy A Sharper View of the Stars |
A new generation of optical interferometers is letting astronomers study stars in 100 times finer detail than is possible with the Hubble Space Telescope |
| evolution Evolution: A Lizard's Tale |
On some islands in the Caribbean, evolution seems to have taken the same turn - over and over and over again |
| economics The Geography of Poverty and Wealth |
Tropical climate and lack of access to sea trade have hurt the poorest nations. But new aid programs point the way to prosperity |
| Working Knowledge: Gotcha! | How radar guns catch speeders |
| The Amateur Scientist: Geotropism, One Last Time | How plants grow in reduced gravity |
| Mathematical Recreations: Easter Is a Quasicrystal | The divine mathematics of a holiday |
| Feb 2001 | |
| environment Special Report: Safeguarding Our Water/Introduction |
Drip, trickle, splash. Water is one of the most common substances in the universe, and our ocean-wrapped planet is blessed with a generous share of it. Unfortunately, 97 percent of that share is salty, and much of the rest is locked up in ice. |
| environment Special Report: Safeguarding Our Water/Making Every Drop Count |
We drink it, we generate electricity with it, we soak our crops with it. And we're stretching our supplies to the breaking point. Will we have enough clean water to satisfy all the world's needs? |
| environment Special Report: Safeguarding Our Water/Growing More Food with Less Water |
If the world hopes to feed its burgeoning population, irrigation must become less wasteful and more widespread |
| environment Special Report: Safeguarding Our Water/How We Can Do It |
A look at four promising ways to maintain adequate supplies of freshwater: desalination, new technologies for transporting water, reducing demand, and recycling |
| biotech Why the Y is So Weird |
Our X and Y chromosomes make an odd couple. The X resembles any other chromosome, but the Y - the source of maleness - is downright strange. How did the two come to differ so much? |
| technology In Pursuit of the Ultimate Lamp |
Full-spectrum light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are becoming widespread - and the race is on to develop white-light versions to replace Edison's century-old incandescent bulb |
| physics 100 Years of Quantum Mysteries |
As quantum theory celebrates its 100th birthday, spectacular successes are mixed with persistent puzzles |
| psychology The Science of Persuasion |
Salespeople, politicians, friends and family all have a stake in getting you to agree to their requests. Social psychology has determined the basic principles that govern getting to "yes" |
| Working Knowledge: Preparing for Battle | How vaccines prevent the flu |
| The Amateur Scientist: Counting Particles from Space | How to build a cosmic-ray telescope |
| Mathematical Recreations: Pursuing Polygonal Privacy | Good fences make good neighbors |
| Jan 2001 | |
| cosmology Brave New Cosmos: Introduction |
Observational cosmology is about to become a mature science. Explanations for the universe's unexpectedly odd behaviors may then be around the corner |
| cosmology Brave New Cosmos: Echoes from the Big Bang |
Scientists may soon glimpse the universe's beginnings by studying the subtle ripples made by gravitational waves |
| cosmology Brave New Cosmos: A Cosmic Cartographer |
The Microwave Anisotropy Probe will give cosmologists a much sharper picture of the early universe |
| cosmology Brave New Cosmos: The Quintessential Universe |
The universe has recently been commandeered by an invisible energy field, which is causing its expansion to accelerate outward |
| cosmology Brave New Cosmos: Making Sense of Modern Cosmology |
Confused by all those theories? Good |
| cosmology Brave New Cosmos: Plan B for the Cosmos |
If the new cosmology fails, what's the backup plan? |
| biology The Cultures of Chimpanzees |
Humankind's nearest relative is even closer than we thought: chimpanzees display remarkable behaviors that can only be described as social customs passed on from generation to generation |
| biotech The Cellular Chamber of Doom |
Structures called proteasomes inside cells continously destroy proteins. Several common diseases result when the process works too zealously - or not at all |
| technology The Mystery of Damascus Blades |
Centuries ago craftsmen forged peerless steel blades. But how did they do it? The author and a blacksmith have found the answer |
| info tech The Triumph of the Light |
Extensions to fiber optics will supply network capacity that borders on the infinite |
| info tech The Rise of Optical Switching |
Replacing electronic switches with purely optical ones will become the technological linchpin for networks that transmit trillions of bits each second |
| info tech Routing Packets with Light |
The ultimate all-optical network will require dramatic advances in technologies that use one lightwave to imprint information on another |
| Working Knowledge: The Well-Rounded Flat Speaker | The rounded tones of flat-panel speakers |
| Mathematical Recreations: Dots-and-Boxes for Experts | The secret subtleties of a children's game |
| The Amateur Scientist: A Canteen Cloud Chamber | Viewing the path of charged particles |
| Dec 2000 | |
| paleontology Rulers of the Jurassic Seas |
Fish-shaped reptiles called ichthyosaurs reigned over the oceans for as long as dinosaurs roamed the land, but only recently have paleontologists discovered why these creatures were so successful |
| nanotech Nanotubes for Electronics |
They are stronger than steel, but the most important uses for these threadlike macromolecules may be in faster, more efficient and more durable electronic devices |
| astronomy The Secrets of Stardust |
Tiny grains of dust floating in interstellar space have radically altered the history of our galaxy |
| medicine Piecing Together Alzheimer?s |
The stunningly complex biochemical puzzle that underlies this crippling disease remains incomplete, but parts that seemed unrelated just a decade ago are now fitting into place |
| urban planning The Science of Smart Growth |
Are there any alternatives to urban sprawl? Pundits and pols may endlessly debate that question, but the only way to get an answer is to go out and see what works in the real world |
| physics The Coolest Gas in the Universe |
Bose-Einstein condensates are one of the hottest areas in experimental physics |
| Working Knowledge: Superabsorbers | Disposable diapers |
| The Amateur Scientist: Calibrating with Cold | How to fine-tune a laboratory thermometer |
| Mathematical Recreations: Jumping Champions | Counting the gaps between primes |
| Nov 2000 | |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Introduction |
The barriers separating TV, movies, music, video games and the Internet are crumbling. Audiences are getting new creative options. Here is what entertainment could become if the technological and legal hurdles can be cleared. |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Creating Convergence |
TV, movies, Internet video, and music could morph into one big stream of d-entertainment that we can enjoy on any device, anywhere, anytime. But the devil is in the details |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Music Wars |
Internet distribution of quality d-audio is rapidly being perfected, but the precedent-setting legal battles have just begun |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Moviemaking in Transition |
Digital video cameras and editing equipment are transforming the way movies are made - even which movies get made |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Digital Cinema Is for Reel |
Digital projection works,but it's not at a theater near you - yet |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Digital Humans Wait in the Wings |
Characters, scenes and entire movies have been crafted digitally. But can animators create realistic humans to star in computer-generated films? Actors want to know |
| consumer electronics Special Report: The Future of Digital Entertainment/Your Own Virtual Storyworld |
True interactive entertainment will arise once engineers and artists create virtual realities that can unfold improvisationally |
| biotech Cloning Noah's Ark |
Biotechnology might offer the best way to keep some endangered species from disappearing from the planet |
| space science The Vasimir Rocket |
There used to be two types of rocket: powerful but fuel-guzzling, or efficient but weak. Now there is a third option that combines the advantages of both |
| medicine AIDS Drugs for Africa |
Most of the 35 million people infected with the AIDS virus live on the African continent, where drugs that fight the virus are rare. Will the world let them die? |
| history The Odd Couple and the Bomb |
Like a story by Victor Hugo as told to Neil Simon, the events leading up to the first controlled nuclear chain reaction involved accidental encounters among larger-than-life figures, especially two who did not exactly get along ? but had to |
| Working Knowledge: Pregnancy Tests | How home pregnancy tests work. |
| The Amateur Scientist: Boids of a Feather Flock Together | Simulating boids, floys and other artificial life. |
| Mathematical Recreations: Spiral Slime | How nature draws spirals and shapes. |
| Oct 2000 | |
| info tech The Wireless Web: Special Report/Introduction |
The Internet has been the subject of more self-parodying hype than anything since 500-channel cable. |
| info tech The Wireless Web: Special Report/The Internet in Your Hands |
To spur the growth of the wireless Web, companies are developing networks that can handle huge amounts of data and handheld devices that can tap into all the Internet's resources |
| info tech The Wireless Web: Special Report/The Promise and Perils of WAP |
The Wireless Application Protocol allows cell phone users to connect to the Internet, but the technology has serious limitations |
| info tech The Wireless Web: Special Report/The Future is Here. Or Is It? |
How will Web phones ever become popular if it takes 10 minutes and costs $4 to send one e-mail? |
| info tech The Wireless Web: Special Report/The Third-Generation Gap |
A revolution needs a plan. Which technology will provide it? |
| medicine Operating on a Beating Heart |
Coronary bypass surgery can be a lifesaving operation. Two new surgical techniques should make the procedure safer and less expensive |
| life science The Power of Memes |
Behaviors and ideas copied from person to person by imitation - memes - may have forced human genes to make us what we are today |
| archaeology Nabada: The Buried City |
Excavations in northern Syria reveal the metropolis of Nabada, founded 4,500 years ago. Its elaborate administration and culture rivaled those of the fabled cities of southern Mesopotamia |
| mathematics Better Decisions through Science |
Math-based aids for making decisions in medicine and industry could improve many diagnoses - often saving lives in the process |
| Working Knowledge: The Hard and the Soft | Contact lenses: something in your eye? |
| The Amateur Scientist: Down among the Micrograms | High-precision scales bring balance to home labs. |
| Mathematical Recreations: Million-Dollar Minesweeper | How a computer game can make you rich |
| Sep 2000 | |
| biology Muscle, Genes and Athletic Performance |
The cellular biology of muscle helps to explain why a particular athlete wins and suggests what future athletes might do to better their odds |
| astronomy Searching for Shadows of Other Earths |
Astronomers have found dozens of giant planets beyond our solar system, but they haven't been capable of bagging an Earth - until now |
| biotech Edible Vaccines |
One day children may get immunized by munching on foods instead of enduring shots. More important, food vaccines might save millions who now die for lack of access to traditional inoculants |
| physics Ultrashort-Pulse Lasers: Big Payoffs in a Flash |
The briefest man-made events, pulses of laser light lasting millionths of a nanosecond, can be used for delicate eye surgery, high-bandwidth communications and stop-motion studies of molecules reacting |
| anthropology Who Were the First Americans? |
If your answer was fur-clad mammoth hunters, guess again. The first people to settle the New World may have been fisherfolk and basket weavers |
| engineering The Plan to Save Fallingwater |
This breathtaking house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright was in danger of collapse until an engineering firm found a way to stop it from falling down |
| Working Knowledge: A Better Black Box | How do black boxes survive plane crashes? |
| The Amateur Scientist: Using a Kite as an Experimental Platform | Kites carry eyes in the sky |
| Mathematical Recreations: Hex Marks the Spot | The mind-bending challenge of Hex. |
| Aug 2000 | |
| materials science How Green Are Green Plastics? |
It is now technologically possible to make plastics using green plants rather than nonrenewable fossil fuels. But are these new plastics the environmental saviors researchers have hoped for? |
| astronomy Fountains of Youth: Early Days in the Life of a Star |
To make a star, gas and dust must fall inward. So why do astronomers see stuff streaming outward? |
| climate change Is Global Warming Harmful to Health? |
Computer models indicate that many diseases will surge as the earth's atmosphere heats up. Signs of the predicted troubles have begun to appear |
| chemistry Form from Fire |
Self-propagating heat waves can engender new and improved materials, but only recently have researchers found ways to monitor these ultraquick chemical reactions |
| physics The Universe's Unseen Dimensions |
The visible universe could lie on a membrane floating within a higher-dimensional space. The extra dimensions would help unify the forces of nature and could contain parallel universes |
| biology Male Sexual Circuitry |
The brain is the most important sex organ. One of its roles in male sexuality is to keep the penis under control. |
| nutrition Birth of the Modern Diet |
Ever wonder why dessert is served after dinner? The origins of modern Western cooking can be traced to ideas about diet and nutrition that arose during the 17th century |
| Working Knowledge: Focusing in a Flash | Cheese! How cameras autofocus |
| The Amateur Scientist: How to Rear a Plankton Menagerie | Raising a plankton menagerie. |
| Mathematical Recreations: A Fractal Guide to Tic-Tac-Toe | A familiar shape in unexpected places |
| Jul 2000 | |
| life science Special Industry Report: The Business of the Human Genome (Introduction) |
The task of sequencing all human DNA is all but done, but mining the mountains of genetic information for pay dirt is just beginning |
| life science Special Industry Report: The Human Genome Business Today |
It's been a wild ride for the corporate and government parties who have deciphered the human genetic code. The fun has just begun |
| life science Special Industry Report: The Bioinformatics Gold Rush |
A $300-million industry has emerged around turning raw genome data into knowledge for making new drugs |
| life science Special Industry Report: Beyond the Human Genome |
With all of the DNA that codes for a human in hand, the challenge then becomes what to make of it. Some of the first fruits will come from a new field called proteomics |
| physics The Large Hadron Collider |
The Large Hadron Collider will be a particle accelerator of unprecedented energy and complexity, a global collaboration to uncover an exotic new layer of reality |
| evolution Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought |
Great minds shape the thinking of successive historical periods. Luther and Calvin inspired the Reformation; Locke, Leibnitz, Voltaire and Rousseau, the Enlightenment. Modern thought is most dependent on the influence of Charles Darwin |
| engineering The Revolutionary Bridges of Robert Maillart |
Swiss engineer Robert Maillart built some of the greatest bridges of the 20th century. His designs elegantly solved a basic engineering problem: how to support enormous weights using a slender arch |
| earth science The Killing Lakes |
Two lakes in Cameroon are poised to release lethal gas, as they did in the 1980s. Writer Marguerite Holloway reports on scientists' efforts to prevent another tragedy |
| Working Knowledge: Escape and Survival | With luck, the unnecessary space suit. |
| The Amateur Scientist: PCR at Home | Copying DNA in your kitchen. |
| Mathematical Recreations: Knotting Ventured... | How pieces of string can illustrate the principles of symmetry |
| Jun 2000 | |
| weaponry Special Report: Waging a New Kind of War (Introduction) |
What could possibly be new about war? People have always been quite imaginative about finding ways to impose their will by violent force. Rocks and spears, catapults and muskets, mustard gas and nukes: you might think that human civilization has tried it all. Evidently not. |
| weaponry Special Report: A Scourge of Small Arms |
With a few hundred machine guns and mortars, a small army can take over an entire country, killing and wounding hundreds of thousands |
| weaponry Special Report: Invisible Wounds |
Medical researchers have recently begun to address the mental health effects of war on civilians |
| weaponry Special Report: Children of the Gun |
How do you make a child into a killer? Armed groups worldwide have developed a grim routine: abduct children from their families, inure them to abuse and "promote" them into combat |
| astronomy Dwarf Galaxies and Starbursts |
Diminutive galaxies occasionally experience spectacular bursts of star formation. These starbursts are giving astronomers a glimpse of the universe's early history |
| biology Cell Communication: The Inside Story |
The tiny cells in our bodies harbor amazing internal communication networks. Understanding how those circuits are organized could help scientists develop new therapies for many serious disorders |
| anthropology Reading the Bones of La Florida |
New approaches are offering insight into the lives of Native Americans after the Europeans arrived. Their health declined not only because of disease but because of their altered diet and living circumstances |
| biotech Computing with Molecules |
Researchers have produced molecules that act like switches, wires and even memory elements. But connecting many of the devices together presents enormous challenges |
| biology Looking for Life Below the Bottom |
Two scientists have a hunch that the largest repository of life is not the oceans but the fractured rock beneath them. Staff writer Sarah Simpson recounts the voyage to find proof |
| May 2000 | |
| astronomy The Small Planets |
Asteroids have become notorious as celestial menaces but are best appreciated in a positive light, as surreal worlds bearing testimony to the origin of the planets |
| info tech Special Industry Report: Avoiding A Data Crunch |
The technology of computer hard drives is fast approaching a physical barrier imposed by the superparamagnetic effect. Overcoming it will require tricky innovations |
| biology Coping with Crowding |
A persistent and popular view holds that high population density inevitably leads to violence. This myth, which is based on rat research, applies neither to us nor to other primates |
| physics Making Metallic Hydrogen |
By re-creating extreme conditions like those in Jupiter's core, physicists have at long last turned hydrogen into a metal |
| medicine Care for a Dying Continent |
In Zimbabwe - where AIDS is prematurely killing a generation of adults - counselors and researchers struggle against social customs, viral resourcefulness and despair |
| Apr 2000 | |
| physics Quantum Teleportation |
The science-fiction dream of "beaming" objects from place to place is now a reality - at least for particles of light |
| biotech Building a Brainier Mouse |
By genetically engineering a smarter than average mouse, scientists have assembled some of the central molecular components of learning and memory |
| medicine Understanding Clinical Trials |
The journey from initial medical research to the bottle in your family's medicine cabinet is complex, time-consuming and expensive. Can the clinical trial process be refined? |
| astronomy The Discovery of Brown Dwarfs |
Less massive than stars but more massive than planets, brown dwarfs were long assumed to be rare. New sky surveys, however, show that the objects may be as common as stars |
| anthropology The Aleutian Kayak |
The Aleuts built the baidarka to suit their life as hunters on the open ocean. The sophisticated design of this kayak is still not entirely understood |
| environment Monitoring Earth's Vital Signs |
A new NASA satellite - one of a fleet called the Earth Observing System - is using five state-of-the-art sensors to diagnose the planet's health like never before |
| anthropology Who Were the Neandertals? |
Controversial evidence indicates that these hominids interbred with anatomically modern humans and sometimes behaved in surprisingly modern ways |
| Mar 2000 | |
| space science Why Go to Mars? |
In the first of this group of articles about human missions to Mars, staff writer Glenn Zorpette examines the main goal: looking for life |
| space science How to Go to Mars? |
Staff writers George Musser and Mark Alpert make sense of the myriad ideas for a human mission |
| space science The Mars Direct Plan |
A leading advocate of manned missions to Mars, Robert Zubrin, outlines his relatively inexpensive plan to send astronauts to the Red Planet within a decade |
| space science To Mars By Way of its Moons |
Phobos and Deimos would make ideal staging areas, argues veteran space scientist S. Fred Singer |
| space science A Bus Between the Planets |
Gravity-assist trajectories between Earth and Mars would reduce the cost of shuttling human crews and their equipment, say James Oberg and Buzz Aldrin |
| space science Staying Sane in Space |
Is the "right stuff" enough? asks staff writer Sarah Simpson |
| space science Invaders from Hollywood |
Thanks to Pathfinder and other missions, science gets some respect in Tinseltown, as staff writer Philip Yam finds after touchdown on a Vancouver set |
| biotech The Tick-Tock of the Biological clock |
Biological clocks count off 24-hour intervals in most forms of life. Genetics has revealed that related molecular timepieces are at work in fruit flies, mice and humans |
| mathematics Swarm Smarts |
Using ants and other social insects as models, computer scientists have created software agents that cooperate to solve complex problems, such as the rerouting of traffic in a busy telecom network |
| environment Dissecting a Hurricane |
Flying into the raging tumult of Dennis, scientists suspected that the storm might transform into a monster - if they were lucky |
| biology The Bromeliads of the Atlantic Forest |
Along the coast of Brazil, 8 percent of a once flourishing forest is left to house a diverse family of bromeliads. A group of biologists scale cliffs and trees to collect these rare beauties |
| Feb 2000 | |
| astronomy The Galileo Mission to Jupiter and Its Moons |
Few scientists thought that the Galileo spacecraft, beset by technical troubles, could conduct such a comprehensive study of the Jovian system. And few predicted that the innards of these worlds would prove so varied |
| materials science Melting Below Zero |
New research shows how a layer of water on the surface of ice - even at temperatures well below freezing - can influence everything from the slipperiness of a skating rink to the electrification of thunderclouds |
| neuroscience The Early Origins of Autism |
New research into the causes of this baffling disorder is focusing on genes that control the development of the brain |
| info tech Digital Materials and Virtual Weathering |
The next step in creating more realistic computer-generated images is the development of better models of the physical structures of materials and their degradation by the environment |
| climate change Capturing Greenhouse Gases |
Sequestering carbon dioxide underground or in the deep ocean could help alleviate concerns about climate change |
| biology Transparent Animals |
Ingenious physiological accommodations have evolved to enable a stunning variety of undersea creatures to be remarkably transparent |
| biology Uprooting the Tree of Life |
About 10 years ago scientists finally worked out the basic outline of how modern life-forms evolved. Now parts of their tidy scheme are unraveling |
| Jan 2000 | |
| physics Negative Energy, Wormholes and Warp Drive |
The construction of wormholes and warp drive would require a very unusual form of energy. Unfortunately, the same laws of physics that allow the existence of this "negative energy" also appear to limit its behavior |
| anthropology Once We Were Not Alone |
Today we take for granted that Homo Sapiens is the only hominid on Earth. Yet for at least four million years many hominid species shared the planet. What makes us different? |
| chemistry Voyage to SUPERHEAVY Island |
The synthesis of element 114 confirmed decades-old theoretical predictions of a little patch of nuclear stability in a sea of short-lived superheavy nuclei |
| earth science Snowball Earth |
Ice entombed our planet hundreds of millions of years ago, and complex animals evolved in the greenhouse heat wave that followed |
| medicine Narcolepsy |
Although people with the disorder do not fall face-first into their soup as in the movies, narcolepsy is still a mysterious disease. But science has new leads |
| technology Maglev: A New Approach |
The Inductrack promises a safer, cheaper system for magnetically levitating trains. The same technology can also be used to launch rockets |
| public health The Unmet Need for Family Planning |
Women and men in many countries still lack adequate access to contraceptives. Unless they are given the option of controlling their fertility, severe environmental and health problems loom in the coming century throughout large parts of the world |
| The Amateur Scientist | Detecting Extraterrestrial Gravity |
| Mathematical Recreations | Impossibility Theorems |
| Dec 1999 | |
| The Unexpected Science to Come | The most important discoveries of the next 50 years are likely to be ones of which we cannot now even conceive |
| A Unified Physics by 2050? | Experiments at CERN and elsewhere should let us complete the Standard Model of particle physics, but a unified theory of all forces will probably require radically new ideas |
| Exploring Our Universe and Others | In the 21st century cosmologists will unravel the mystery of our universe's birth - and perhaps prove the existence of other universes as well |
| Deciphering the Code of Life | The study of all the genes of various organisms will yield answers to some of the most intriguing questions about life |
| The End of Nature versus Nurture | Is human behavior determined by genetics or by environment? It may be time to abandon the dichotomy |
| The Human Impact on Climate | How much of a disruption do we cause? The much-awaited answer could be ours by 2050, but only if nations of the world commit to long-term monitoring now |
| Can Human Aging Be Postponed? | In theory, it certainly can. Yet no single elixir will do the trick. Antiaging therapies of the future will undoubtedly have to counter many destructive biochemical processes at once |
| How the Brain Creates the Mind | Philosophers, neuroscientists and laypeople have long wondered how the conscious mind comes to be. A more complete understanding of the workings of the brain ought to lead to an eventual solution |
| Is There Life Elsewhere in the Universe? | The answer is: nobody knows. Scientists' search for life beyond Earth has been less thorough than commonly thought. But that is about to change |
| Rise of the Robots | By 2050 robot "brains" based on computers that execute 100 trillion instructions per second will start rivaling human intelligence |
| Mathematical Recreations | Defend the Roman Empire! |
| Nov 1999 | |
| The Fate of Life in the Universe | Billions of years ago the universe was too hot for life to exist. Countless eons hence, it will become so cold and empty that life, no matter how ingenious, will perish |
| Vision: A Window on Consciousness | In their search for the mind, scientists are focusing on visual perception - how we interpret what we see |
| Flammable Ice | Methane-laced ice crystals in the seafloor store more energy than all the world's fossil fuel reserves combined. But these methane hydrate deposits are fragile, and the gas that escapes from them may exacerbate global warming |
| Slave-Making Queens | Life in certain corners of the ant world is fraught with invasion, murder and hostage-taking. The battle royal is a form of social parasitism |
| Time-Reversed Acoustics | Arrays of transducers can re-create a sound and send it back to its source as if time had been reversed. The process can be used to destroy kidney stones, detect defects in materials and communicate with submarines |
| Floating in Space | Balloons offer scientists a low-cost, quick-response way to study the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere and those of other planets |
| A Zeppelin for the 21st Century | By developing new aerodynamic computer models and using modern materials, the company that originated zeppelins has returned them to the skies over Europe |
| The Balloon That Flew round the World | To build a balloon capable of circumnavigating the globe, engineers ripped a page from aeronautical history |
| The Grameen Bank | A small experiment begun in Bangladesh has turned into a major new concept in eradicating poverty |
| The Amateur Scientist | Falling into Chaos |
| Mathematical Recreations | Most-Perfect Magic Squares |
| Oct 1999 | |
| The Hidden Ocean of Europa | Doodles and freckles, creamy plains and crypto-icebergs - the amazing surface of Jupiter's brightest icy moon hints at a global sea underneath |
| Why Things Break | Scientists have known for most of this century that chemistry is responsible for whether a solid shatters or bends. But only now are they finding a way to predict which type of failure will win |
| Preserving Nefertari's Legacy | The tomb of this ancient Egyptian queen is testament to the great love of Pharaoh Ramses II. Its preservation is testament to advances in conservation |
| The Unmet Challenges of Hepatitis C | Some 1.8 percent of the U.S. adult population are infected with the hepatitis C virus, most without knowing it |
| The False Crisis in Science Education | The largely mythical decline of science in the public schools is leading - yet again - to rushed reforms that ignore the best advice on what kids should know |
| High-Speed Data Races Home | The global network is entering a new phase in its evolution, one that will spawn new applications and make dial-up modems a thing of the past |
| The Internet via Cable | Only cable networks are well equipped to provide hybrid TV-Internet services, as well as superfast on-line access |
| DSL: Broadband by Phone | Alexander Graham Bell's ubiquitous copper wires will still be a capacity-rich communications resource in the third millennium |
| The Broadest Broadband | New technologies promise to reduce the cost of linking homes with optical fiber, the ultimate medium for data communications |
| Satellites: The Strategic High Ground | Data communications systems that use satellites to transmit signals have many advantages over ground-based systems |
| LMDS: Broadband Wireless Access | Ground-based wireless networks delivering the full range of broadband services can be deployed quickly and inexpensively |
| The Light at the End of the Pipe | A much faster and easier-to-use Internet will stimulate the introduction of new services and possibly even significant social metamorphoses |
| Mathematical Recreations | Cone with a Twist |
| The Amateur Scientist | Modeling the Atomic Universe |
| Sep 1999 | |
| Breathing Life into "Tyrannosaurus rex" | By analyzing previously overlooked fossils and by taking a second look at some old finds,paleontologists are providing the first glimpses of the actual behavior of the tyrannosaurs |
| The Teeth of the Tyrannosaurs | Their teeth reveal aspects of their hunting and feeding habits |
| The Dechronization of Sam Magruder | "The brute - it was a tyrannosaur - got me by the leg. He shook me loose, tearing off the leg at the knee, and he didn't see where the rest of me fell. I tied up the stump and crawled away...." |
| Migrating Planets | Did the solar system always look the way it does now? New evidence indicates that the outer planets may have migrated to their present orbits |
| Repairing the Damaged Spinal Cord | Once little more than a futile hope, some restoration of the injured spinal cord is beginning to seem feasible |
| A Case against Virtual Nuclear Testing | The U.S. Department of Energy's high-tech plan to replace nuclear testing with elaborate 3-D computer simulations is seriously flawed |
| The Throat Singers of Tuva | Testing the limits of vocal ingenuity, throat-singers can create sounds unlike anything in ordinary speech and song - carrying two musical lines simultaneously, say, or harmonizing with a waterfall |
| Scientists and Religion in America | Science and religion are engaging in more active dialogue and debate, but a survey suggests that scientists' beliefs have changed little since the 1930s, and top scientists are more atheistic than ever before |
| The Amateur Scientist | Counting Atmospheric Ions |
| Mathematical Recreations | Dances with Dodecahedra |
| Aug 1999 | |
| Why National Missile Defense Won't Work | The current plan for defending the U.S. against a ballistic-missile attack faces many of the problems that plagued a similar plan three decades ago |
| The Lurking Perils of "Pfiesteria" | This minute creature has been implicated in dramatic fish kills and has hurt people. But its most publicized actions may not be the most damaging. More subtle effects are raising new concerns |
| The Future of Computing | M.I.T.'s Laboratory for Computer Science is developing a new infrastructure for information technologies - the Oxygen system - that promises to realize a vision long held by the lab's director: helping people do more by doing less |
| Talking with Your Computer | Speech-based interfaces may soon allow computer users to retrieve data and issue instructions without lifting a finger |
| Communications Chameleons | Multipurpose communications systems will be the links of tomorrow's wireless computer networks |
| Raw Computation | One of the main engines of the Oxygen project is the Raw microchip, which has wiring that can be automatically reprogrammed for different tasks |
| Detecting Massive Neutrinos | A giant detector in the heart of Mount Ikenoyama in Japan has demonstrated that the neutrino metamorphoses in flight, strongly suggesting that these ghostly particles have mass |
| The Moral Development of Children | It is not enough for kids to tell right from wrong. They must develop a commitment to acting on their ideals. Enlightened parenting can help |
| Trailing a Virus | As a virus never seen before swept through rural Malaysia, killing more than 110 and forcing the destruction of a million swine, it revealed the world's vulnerability to new diseases. Even the best efforts of top scientists are sometimes not enough to thwart them |
| The Amateur Scientist | Sun of a Gun |
| Mathematical Recreations | Sierpinski's Ubiquitous Gasket |
| Jul 1999 | |
| Looking back at Apollo | On the 30th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, digital reproductions of the Apollo photographs show the moon as the astonauts saw it |
| Life's Far-Flung Raw Materials | Life may owe its start to complex organic molecules manufactured in the icy heart of an interstellar cloud |
| Genetic Vaccines | Vaccines crafted from genetic material might one day prevent AIDS, malaria and other devastating infections that defy current immunization technologies. They may even help treat cancer |
| The Mystery of Nucleon Spin | A new generation of experiments promises to pin down more of the still uncertain internal structure of protons and neutrons |
| The Earliest Zoos and Gardens | More than 4,000 years ago rulers in Egypt and Mesopotamia, builders of pyramids and empires, became the first to embark on another pastime: collecting exotic animals and planting ornamental gardens |
| The Future Of Fuel Cells | The obstacles to building practical fuel cells are numerous, but continued innovation and skillful engineering could make them competitive |
| The Electrochemical Engine for Vehicles | Fuel cells can power cleaner buses and cars, but key engineering and economic obstacles will delay widespread adoption of the technology |
| The Power Plant in Your Basement | In the past, stationary fuel cells were megawatt behemoths, designed for the electric utilities. Now they are being shrunk for homes and other modest applications |
| Replacing the Battery in Portable Electronics | Batteries are cumbersome and expensive. Miniature fuel cells could supplant them in cellular phones, laptop computers, camcorders and other consumer products |
| The Amateur Scientist | Detecting the Earth's Electricity |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Art of Elegant Tiling |
| Jun 1999 | |
| Mapping the Universe | Using techniques drawn from the analysis of music, astronomers have been studying how galaxies form into progressively larger groupings |
| How The Body tells Left from Right | The precise orientation of our internal organs - and those of all other animals with a backbone - is controlled in part by proteins that are produced on only one side of an embryo |
| Hypersearching the Web | With the volume of on-line information in cyberspace growing at a breakneck pace, more effective search tools are desperately needed. A new technique analyzes how Web pages are linked together |
| Image-Guided Surgery | Virtual-reality technology is giving surgeons the equivalent of x-ray vision, helping them to remove tumors more effectively, to minimize surgical wounds and to avoid damaging critical tissues |
| Biological Warfare against Crops | Intentionally unleashing organisms that kill an enemy's food crops is a potentially devastating weapon of warfare and terrorism |
| Gödel and the Limits of Logic | Mathematical genius Kurt Gödel was devoted to rationality in his work but struggled with it in his personal life |
| Chasing the Ghost Bat | On jungle rivers in Belize, two zoologists catch the ultrasonic cries of bats - and fish for a big one |
| The Amateur Scientist | Expert Secrets for Preserving Plants |
| Mathematical Recreations | Crossed Lines in the Brick Factory |
| May 1999 | |
| Unmasking Black Holes | Until recently, the evidence for black holes was circumstantial. Now astronomers may have direct proof: energy is vanishing from volumes of space without a trace |
| New Nerve Cells for the Adult Brain | Contrary to dogma, the human brain does produce new nerve cells in adulthood. Can our newfound capacity lead to better treatments for neurological diseases? |
| Tsunami! | Its awesome fury cannot be diminished, but lessons learned from a rash of disasters this decade - and a new way to track these killer waves - will help save lives |
| Killer Kangaroos and Other Murderous Marsupials | Australian mammals were not all as cute as koalas. Some were as ferocious as they were bizarre |
| Ada and the First Computer | The collaboration between Ada, countess of Lovelace, and computer pioneer Charles Babbage resulted in a landmark publication that described how to program the world's first computer |
| The Andaman Islanders | The aboriginal inhabitants of a stretch of islands near India offer a fascinating glimpse into the way of life of traditional hunter-gatherers. But how long will this window to our past remain open? |
| XML and the Second-Generation Web | The combination of hypertext and a global Internet started a revolution. A new ingredient, XML, is poised to finish the job |
| The Amateur Scientist | Hot Views of the Microscopic World |
| Mathematical Recreations | A Puzzle for Pirates |
| Apr 1999 | |
| Growing New Organs | Researchers have taken the first steps toward creating semisynthetic, living organs that can be used as human replacement parts |
| Embryonic Stem Cells for Medicine | Cells able to generate virtually all other cell types have recently been isolated. One day they could help repair a wide variety of damaged tissues |
| Encapsulated Cells as Therapy | An emerging approach to treating disease combines living cells with plastic membranes that shield the cells from immune attack |
| Skin: The First Tissue-Engineered Products | Last year the first living, tissue-engineered skin product became commercially available - and a second is expected to be on the market within a few months. Top researchers from each of the two companies involved tell how their products came to be |
| Tissue Engineering: The Challenges Ahead | The obstacles to building new organs from cells and synthetic polymers are daunting but surmountable |
| Is Space Finite? | Conventional wisdom says the universe is infinite. But it could be finite, merely givingthe illusion of infinity. Upcoming measurements may finally answer this ancient question. |
| Alan Turing's Forgotten Ideas in Computer Science | Well known for the machine, test and thesis that bear his name, the British genius also anticipated neural-network computers and "hypercomputation" |
| A New Eye Opens on the Cosmos | On the highest mountain in the pacific basin, a 10-year odyssey will culminate in the capture of first light for a telescope that may surpass space-based observatories |
| The Revival of Colored Cotton | A new arrival on the Western fashion market, naturally pigmented cotton originally flourished some 5,000 years ago. Its revival today draws on stocks first developed and cultivated by Indians in South and Central America. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Detecting "Hot" Clouds |
| Mathematical Recreations | Tangling with Topology |
| Mar 1999 | |
| Global Climate Change on Venus | Venus's climate, like Earth's, has varied over time - the result of newly appreciated connections between geologic activity and atmospheric change |
| A Little Big Bang | A new collider will soon create matter as dense and hot as in the early universe |
| The Timing of Birth | A hormone unexpectedly found in the human placenta turns out to influence the timing of delivery. This and related findings could yield much needed ways to prevent premature labor |
| Visualizing Human Embryos | A technique called magnetic resonance microscopy is revealing the secrets of early human development |
| The Komodo Dragon | On a few small islands in the Indonesian archipelago, the world's largest lizard reigns supreme |
| The Crash in the Machine | Increasingly, automakers are relying on computer simulations of accidents to develop safer cars more quickly and efficiently |
| The Metamorphosis of Andrei Sakharov | The inventor of the Soviet hydrogen bomb became an advocate of peace and human rights. What led him to his fateful decision? |
| The Amateur Scientist | A Homemade High-Precision Thermometer |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Synchronicity of Firefly Flashing |
| Feb 1999 | |
| Supersoft X-ray Stars and Supernovae | Several years ago astronomers came across a new type of star that spews out unusually low energy x-rays. These so-called supersoft sources are now thought to be white dwarf stars that cannibalize their stellar companions and then, in many cases, explode |
| The Puzzle of Hypertension in African-Americans | Genes are often invoked to account for why high blood pressure is so common among African-Americans. Yet the rates are low in Africans. This discrepancy demonstrates how genes and the environment interact |
| Cichlids of the Rift Lakes | The extraordinary diversity of cichlid fishes challenges entrenched ideas of how quickly new species can arise |
| A Multifractal Walk down Wall Street | The geometry that describes the shape of coastlines and the patterns of galaxies also elucidates how stock prices soar and plummet |
| How Limbs Develop | A protein playfully named Sonic hedgehog is one of the long-sought factors that dictate the pattern of limb development |
| The Way to Go in Space | To go farther into space, humans will first have to figure out how to get there cheaply and more efficiently. Ideas are not in short supply |
| Air-Breathing Engines | For years, engineers have dreamed of building an aircraft that could reach hypersonic speeds, greater than Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. |
| Space Tethers | When humans begin to inhabit the moon and planets other than Earth, they may not use the modern technology of rockets. |
| Highways of Light | Today's spacecraft carry their source of power. |
| Light Sails | Science-fiction dreams of worlds beyond our own solar system have taken on a more realistic aspect since astronomers discovered that the universe contains planets in unexpectedly large numbers |
| Compact Nuclear Rockets | Someday, in exploring the outer planets of our solar system, humankind will want to do more than send diminutive probes that merely fly rapidly by them. |
| Reaching for the Stars | The notion of traveling to the stars is a concept compelling enough to recur in countless cultural artifacts, from Roman poetry to 20th-century popular music |
| The Amateur Scientist | Tackling the Triple Point |
| Mathematical Recreations | Origami Tessellations |
| Jan 1999 | |
| Surveying Space-time with Supernovae | Exploding stars seen across immense distances show that the cosmic expansion may be accelerating - a sign that the universe may be driven apart by an exotic new form of energy |
| Cosmological Antigravity | The long-derided cosmological constant-a contrivance of Albert Einstein's that represents a bizarre form of energy inherent in space itself-is one of two contenders for explaining changes in the expansion rate of the universe |
| Inflation in a Low-Density Universe | Evidence has gradually accumulated that the universe has less matter, and therefore is expanding faster, than the theory of inflation traditionally predicts. But a more sophisticated version of the theory readily explains the observations |
| Child Care among the Insects | Why do some insect parents risk their lives to care for their young? |
| Disarming Flu Viruses | Coming soon: new medicines designed to treat the flu by halting viral replication in human tissues. The drugs may also serve as a novel kind of preventive |
| Y2K: So Many Bugs...So Little Time | Fixing Y2K seems simple: change all two-digit years to four digits. But that tedious - and unexpectedly difficult - process takes more time than is left |
| DNA Microsatellites: Agents of Evolution? | Repetitive DNA sequences play a surprising role in how bacteria - and perhaps higher organisms - adapt to their environments. On the downside, they have also been linked to human disease |
| Expeditions: To Save a Salmon | On Vancouver Island, fisheries scientists are trying to find out whether commercial fishing and cohos can coexist |
| The Amateur Scientist | Taking the Earth's Magnetic Pulse |
| Mathematical Recreations | Division without Envy |
| Dec 1998 | |
| The Evolution of Galaxy Clusters | The most massive objects in the universe are huge clusters of galaxies and gas that have slowly congregated over billions of years. The process of agglomeration may now be ending |
| Cloning for Medicine | Now that genetically modified and copied mammals are a reality, biomedical researchers are starting to develop imaginative ways to use this technology |
| Making Ultrabright X-rays | Radiation a billion times brighter than the sun's is illuminating a host of scientific and technical phenomena |
| Combating Prostate Cancer | Recent advances in diagnosis and treatment promise to extend survival time and improve the quality of life for many patients |
| Leafy Sea Dragons | These masters of camouflage are fierce predators - and one of the few species in which males become pregnant |
| Building the Better Bug | Inserting new genes into a few specific insect species could stop some infectious diseases, benefit agriculture and produce innovative materials |
| Physicists in Wartime Japan | During the most trying years of Japan's history, two brilliant schools of theoretical physics flourished |
| Sizing Up Software | Unlike oil, steel or paper, software is an intangible commodity. This elusive quality makes computer programs difficult to quantify |
| The Amateur Scientist | Sorting Molecules With Electricity |
| Mathematical Recreations | Your Half's Bigger Than My Half! |
| Nov 1998 | |
| Natural Oil Spills | In the Gulf of Mexico, a region famous for its many oil and gas fields, most of the petroleum flowing into the ocean leaks naturally from fissures in the seabed |
| The Meteorite Hunter, Part I: The Day the Sands Caught Fire | A desert impact site demonstrates the wrath of rocks from space |
| Meteorite Hunters Part II: The Search for Greenland's Mysterious Meteor | Caught on camera, the fireball that streaked across Arctic skies last December appeared to move too fast for anything from this solar system. A monthlong expedition on this island of ice hunted for remains - and answers |
| Glueballs | Gluons, which hold protons together, can also clump into globs of pure glue |
| Evolution and the Origins of Disease | The principles of evolution by natural selection are finally beginning to inform medicine |
| Mating Strategies of Spiders | Spiders have evolved intriguing behaviors to woo their occasionally cannibalistic mates |
| Simulating Water and the Molecules of Life | Computer modeling reveals how water affects the structures and dynamics of biological molecules such as proteins, yielding clues to their functions |
| 100 Years of Magnetic Memories | Although the technology is ubiquitous today, magnetic recording had a sluggish start. The underlying science was something of a mystery, applications were slow to emerge, and business and politics stifled development. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Floating A Challenge |
| Mathematical Recreations | Resurrection Shuffle |
| Oct 1998 | |
| Galaxies behind the Milky Way | Over a fifth of the universe is hidden from view, blocked by dust and stars in the disk of our galaxy. But over the past few years, astronomers have found ways to peek through the murk |
| Designer Estrogens | These compounds - also called SERMs - have evolved from mere laboratory curiosities into drugs that hold promise for preventing several major disorders in women |
| Secrets of the Slime Hag | Loathsome though they may seem, hagfishes may also resemble the earliest animals to have a braincase - making them even older than the first animals to develop a backbone |
| The Asymmetry between Matter and Antimatter | In 1999 new accelerators will start searching for violations in a fundamental symmetry of nature, throwing open a window to physics beyond the known |
| The Artistry of Microorganisms | Colonies of bacteria or amoebas form complex patterns that blur the boundary between life and nonlife |
| Simon Newcomb: Astronomer with an Attitude | The most celebrated American astronomer of the late 19th century advocated broad social and cultural reforms based on the use of scientific method |
| Computer Security and the Internet | This past February hackers reached through the Internet to break into the computer networks at various U.S. Air Force and Navy sites. |
| How Hackers Break In... and How They Are Caught | Port scanners, core dumps and buffer overflows are but a few of the many weapons in every sophisticated hacker's arsenal. Still, no hacker is invincible |
| How Computer Security Works | Three types of safeguards offer a formidable defense against Internet intruders |
| Cryptography for the Internet | E-mail and other information sent electronically are like digital postcards - they afford little privacy. Well-designed cryptography systems can ensure the secrecy of such transmissions. |
| The Case against Regulating Encryption Technology | One of the pioneers of computer security says the U.S. government should keep its hands off cryptography |
| The Amateur Scientist | Home Movies of an Invisible World |
| Mathematical Recreations | Playing with Chocolate |
| Sep 1998 | |
| Preserving the Laetoli Footprints (Part 1) | The discovery of hominid footprints in East Africa reshaped the study of human origins. Now conservators have protected the fragile tracks from destruction |
| Preserving the Laetoli Footprints (Part 2) | The discovery of hominid footprints in East Africa reshaped the study of human origins. Now conservators have protected the fragile tracks from destruction |
| The Footprint Makers: An Early View | I worked on my painting of the Laetoli footprint makers during the early fall of 1978, shortly after the discovery of the hominid trackway. |
| The Laetoli Diorama | Only very rarely does the fossil record provide evidence of an actual event in human prehistory. |
| Weightlessness and the Human Body | The effects of space travel on the body resemble some of the conditions of aging. Studying astronauts' health may improve medical care both in orbit and on the ground |
| Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder | A new theory suggests the disorder results from a failure in self-control. ADHD may arise when key brain circuits do not develop properly, perhaps because of an altered gene or genes |
| Making New Elements | Three new elements-110, 111 and 112-have been produced over the past several years. Scientists are now struggling to create 113 and 114. How many elements can they add to the periodic table? |
| The Evolution of the Periodic System | From its origins some 200 years ago, the periodic table has become a vital tool for modern chemists |
| The Oort Cloud | On the outskirts of the solar system swarms a vast cloud of comets, influenced almost as much by other stars as by our sun. The dynamics of this cloud may help explain such matters as mass extinctions on Earth |
| Thermophotovoltaics | Semiconductors that convert radiant heat to electricity may prove suitable for lighting remote villages or powering automobiles |
| The Amateur Scientist | Spooling the Stuff of Life |
| Mathematical Recreations | Counting the Pyramid Builders |
| Aug 1998 | |
| Fusion and the Z Pinch | A device called the Z machine has led to a new way of triggering controlled fusion with intense nanosecond bursts of x-rays |
| Low-Back Pain | Low-back pain is at epidemic levels. Although its causes are still poorly understood, treatment choices have improved, with the body's own healing power often the most reliable remedy |
| Computing with DNA | The manipulation of DNA to solve mathematical problems is redefining what is meant by "computation" |
| Monitoring and Controlling Debris in Space | The path from Sputnik to the International Space Station has been littered with high-tech refuse, creating an environmental problem in outer space |
| A Quarter-Century of Recreational Mathematics | The author of "Scientific American"'s column "Mathematical Games" from 1956 to 1981 recounts 25 years of amusing puzzles and serious discoveries |
| Irrigating Crops with Seawater | As the world's population grows and freshwater stores become more precious, researchers are looking to the sea for the water to irrigate selected crops |
| Microdiamonds | These tiny, enigmatic crystals hold promise both for industry and for the study of how diamond grows |
| The Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 | One of the first major epidemics of the disease in the U.S., it devastated America's early capital. It also had lasting repercussions for the city and country |
| The Amateur Scientist | Building a Consciousness of Streams |
| Mathematical Recreations | Monks, Blobs and Common Knowledge |
| Jul 1998 | |
| The Mars Pathfinder Mission | Last summer the first ever Mars rover found in situ evidence that the Red Planet may once have been hospitable to life |
| The Split Brain Revisited | Groundbreaking work that began more than a quarter of a century ago has led to ongoing insights about brain organization and consciousness |
| The Single-Atom Laser | A new type of laser that harnesses the energy of individual atoms reveals how light interacts with matter |
| Mating Strategies in Butterflies | Butterflies meet, woo and win their mates using seductive signals and clever strategies honed by evolution |
| Léon Foucault | Celebrated for his pendulum experiment in 1851, Foucault also produced decisive evidence against the particle theory of light, invented the gyroscope, perfected the reflecting telescope and measured the sun's distance |
| Defeating AIDS: What Will It Take? | Ten years ago, when "Scientific American" published an issue devoted to AIDS (the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), scientists knew that the disease, first identified in 1981, was caused by HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus). |
| HIV 1998: The Global Picture | Worldwide, the populations most affected by the AIDS virus are often the least empowered to confront it effectively |
| Improving HIV Therapy | Today's optimal treatments can work magic, but they are costly and onerous and do not work for everyone. What might the future bring? |
| How Drug Resistance Arises | When anti-HIV therapy fails to keep HIV levels suppressed, the cause is often viral resistance to at least one of the drugs being administered. |
| Viral-Load Tests Provide Valuable Answers | In the early 1990s tests that could accurately detect the amount of HIV in a patient's blood finally became available. |
| When Children Harbor HIV | HIV infection is particularly difficult to combat in the young |
| Preventing HIV Infection | Altering behavior is still the primary way to control the epidemic |
| HIV Vaccines: Prospects and Challenges | Unlike vaccines for many viruses, those for HIV may have to go beyond generating antibodies. Devising approaches that will fully activate the immune system is far from simple |
| Avoiding Infection After HIV Exposure | Treatment may reduce the chance of contracting HIV infection after a risky encounter |
| Coping With HIV's Ethical Dilemmas | The issues are many and thorny |
| The Amateur Scientist | A Year for the Oceans |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Bellows Conjecture |
| Jun 1998 | |
| The Neurobiology of Depression | The search for biological underpinnings of depression is intensifying. Emerging findings promise to yield better therapies for a disorder that too often proves fatal |
| A New Look at Quasars | Recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope may reveal the nature and origin of quasars, the mysterious powerhouses of the cosmos |
| Shrimp Aquaculture and the Environment | An adviser to shrimp producers and an environmentalist present a prescription for raising shrimp responsibly |
| Quantum Computing with Molecules | By taking advantage of nuclear magnetic resonance, scientists can coax the molecules in some ordinary liquids to serve as an extraordinary type of computer |
| Gravity Gradiometry | A formerly classified technique used to navigate ballistic-missile submarines now helps geologists search for resources hidden underground |
| Alcohol in the Western World | The role of alcohol in Western civilization has changed dramatically during this millennium. Our current medical interpretation of alcohol as primarily an agent of disease comes after a more complex historical relationship |
| Defibrillation: The Spark of Life | In the 50 years since doctors first used electricity to restart the human heart, we have learned much about defibrillators and little about fibrillation |
| The Amateur Scientist | Waiter, There's a Hair in My Hygrometer |
| Mathematical Recreations | What a Coincidence! |
| May 1998 | |
| Six Months on Mir | As the Shuttle-Mir program draws to a close, a veteran NASA astronaut reflects on her mission on board the Russian spacecraft and the implications for the International Space Station |
| How Cicadas Make Their Noise | The loudest known insects, male cicadas are designed for sound. Their internal instrument is surprisingly complex |
| The Genetics of Cognitive Abilities and Disabilities | Investigations of specific cognitive skills can help clarify how genes shape the components of intellect |
| Television's Bright New Technology | The plasma display panel is finally making good on a decades-old promise: a big, bright screen so thin it can be hung on a wall. But mainstream success requires that engineers find a way to get prices down from the current $11,000 |
| Digital Television: Here at Last | After a long and contentious process, a digital standard in the U.S. has finally emerged. It will soon replace today's antiquated television system |
| Japanese Temple Geometry | During Japan's period of national seclusion (1639-1854), native mathematics thrived, as evidenced in "sangaku"-wooden tablets engraved with geometry problems hung under the roofs of shrines and temples |
| A Calculus of Risk | Financial engineering can lessen exposure to the perils of running a multibillion-dollar business or a small household. But mathematical models used by this discipline may present a new set of hazards |
| The Amateur Scientist | Sensing Subtle Tsunamis |
| Mathematical Recreations | Cementing Relationships |
| Apr 1998 | |
| Cosmic Antimatter | Antiparticles are rare and maddeningly elusive. But they may hold clues to some of the mysteries of astrophysics |
| Post-Polio Syndrome | Decades after recovering much of their muscular strength, survivors of paralytic polio are reporting unexpected fatigue, pain and weakness. The cause appears to be degeneration of motor neurons |
| Science in Pictures: The Earliest Views | Re-creating the experiments of pioneering microscopists reveals what they actually saw with their simple, single-lens instruments |
| How Females Choose Their Mates | Females often prefer to mate with the most flamboyant males. Their choice may be based on a complex interaction between instinct and imitation |
| Laser Scissors and Tweezers | Researchers are using lasers to grasp single cells and tinier components in vises of light while delicately altering the held structures. These lasers offer new ways to investigate and manipulate cells |
| Wireless Technologies | Special Report |
| New Satellites for Personal Communications | Fleets of satellites will soon make it possible to reach someone anywhere on the earth, using nothing more than a small handset |
| Telecommunications for the 21st Century | Systems based on satellites and high-altitude platforms will merge with optical-fiber and terrestrial wireless networks to provide global, high data-rate, mobile communications |
| Terrestrial Wireless Networks | Seamless switching between networks will draw users to wireless data services. A working model is now in operation |
| Moving beyond Wireless Voice Systems | Cell phones are but one application of wireless communications. The technology also enables accurate position determination and the monitoring of remote sites |
| Spread-Spectrum Radio | Dicing information into digital bundles and transmitting them at low power over different frequencies can enable millions of people to send and receive simultaneously |
| The Amateur Scientist | Making Experiments out of Thin Air |
| Mathematical Recreations | Repealing the Law of Averages |
| Mar 1998 | |
| The Bose-Einstein Condensate | Three years ago in a Colorado laboratory, scientists realized a long-standing dream, bringing the quantum world closer to the one of everyday experience |
| The Challenge of Antibiotic Resistance | Certain bacterial infections now defy all antibiotics. The resistance problem may be reversible, but only if society begins to consider how the drugs affect "good" bacteria as well as "bad" |
| Nanolasers | Semiconductor lasers have shrunk to dimensions even smaller than the wavelength of the light they emit. In that realm, quantum behavior takes over, enabling more efficient and faster devices |
| Animating Human Motion | Computer animation is becoming increasingly lifelike. Using simulation, a technique based on the laws of physics, researchers have created virtual humans who run, dive, bicycle and vault |
| The Caiman Trade | The contraband trade in caiman skins shows how "sustainable utilization" of endangered species fails to sustain them |
| Preventing the Next Oil Crunch | Enough oil remains in the earth to fill the reservoir behind Hoover Dam four times over-and that's just counting the fraction of buried crude that is relatively easy to recover and refine. |
| The End of Cheap Oil | Global production of conventional oil will begin to decline sooner than most people think, probably within 10 years |
| Mining for Oil | More oil is trapped in Canadian sands than Saudi Arabia holds in its reserves. The technology now exists to exploit this vast resource profitably |
| Oil Production in the 21st Century | Recent innovations in underground imaging, steerable drilling and deepwater oil production could recover more of what lies below |
| Liquid Fuels from Natural Gas | Natural gas is cleaner and more plentiful than oil. New ways to convert it to liquid form may soon make it just as cheap and convenient to use in vehicles |
| The Amateur Scientist | The Pleasures of Pond Scum |
| Mathematical Recreations | Glass Klein Bottles |
| Feb 1998 | |
| The Origin of Birds and Their Flight | Anatomical and aerodynamic analyses of fossils and living birds show that birds evolved from small, predatory dinosaurs that lived on the ground |
| Scientists in Black | In a unique collaboration, scientists and intelligence officials are working together to find out what the U.S. government's vast secret archives can reveal about the earth |
| The Viking Longship | Long, narrow ships packed with warriors helped to make the Vikings the dominant power in Europe for three centuries, beginning in about A.D. 800 |
| The Theory Formerly Known as Strings | The Theory of Everything is emerging as one in which not only strings but also membranes and black holes play a role |
| The Search for Blood Substitutes | The threat of global shortages of blood and fears about contamination have hastened attempts to find life-sustaining alternatives. |
| Greenland Ice Cores: Frozen in Time | Ice, frozen in place for tens of thousands of years, provides scientists with clues to past-and future-climate |
| Everyday Exposure to Toxic Pollutants | Environmental regulations have improved the quality of outdoor air. But problems that persist indoors have received too little attention |
| The Amateur Scientist | Bird-Watching by the Numbers |
| Mathematical Recreations | Tight Tins for Round Sardines |
| Jan 1998 | |
| The Architecture of Life | A universal set of building rules seems to guide the design of organic structures-from simple carbon compounds to complex cells and tissues |
| Burial of Radioactive Waste under the Seabed | Although the notion troubles some environmentalists, the disposing of nuclear refuse within oceanic sediments merits consideration |
| Bacterial Gene Swapping in Nature | Genes travel between independent bacteria more often than once was assumed. Study of that process can help limit the risks of releasing genetically engineered microbes into the environment |
| The Ulysses Mission | The first space probe to be sent on a "polar" trajectory has made some remarkable discoveries on its first orbit around the sun |
| Lise Meitner and the Discovery of Nuclear Fission | One of the discoverers of fission in 1938, Meitner was at the time overlooked by the Nobel judges. Racial persecution, fear and opportunism combined to obscure her contributions |
| Picosecond Ultrasonics | Brief pulses of high-frequency sound allow experimenters to probe connections inside a computer chip |
| The Placebo Effect | Colds, asthma, high blood pressure and heart disease are among the many conditions that can respond to treatment with a placebo. Should doctors be prescribing sugar pills? |
| Leonardo and the Invention of the Wheellock | Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks are full of inventions, from intricate gun parts to bicycles to automobiles. But were any of Leonardo's many creations actually made during his lifetime? |
| The Amateur Scientist | A Kitchen Centrifuge |
| Mathematical Recreations | Double Bubble, Toil and Trouble |
| Dec 1997 | |
| Metal Clusters and Magic Numbers | Investigations of tiny lumps of metal can help bridge the gap in physicists' understanding of the differences between isolated atoms and bulk solids |
| The Case for Relic Life on Mars | A meteorite found in Antarctica offers strong evidence that Mars has had - and may still have - microbial life |
| Williams Syndrome and the Brain | To gain fresh insights into how the brain is organized, investigators are turning to a little known disorder |
| Tracking a Dinosaur Attack | The efforts of a sculptor and a paleontologist reveal details of a 100-million-year-old skirmish |
| Exploiting Zero-Point Energy | Energy fills empty space, but is there a lot to be tapped, as some propound? Probably not |
| Building the Biggest | Our age worships small things: the microchip, recombinant genes, mechanical parts built at the molecular scale. |
| The Longest Suspension Bridge | The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge has broken many records and weathered an earthquake--even while it is being completed |
| The World's Tallest Buildings | Malaysia's Petronas Twin Towers serve as both a cultural and an economic symbol |
| Building a New Gateway to China | The largest public-works upgrade on earth calls for, among other things, a new airport, two world-class bridges and two submerged crossings of Victoria Harbor |
| Do We Still Need Skyscrapers? | The Industrial Revolution made skyscrapers possible. The Digital Revolution makes them (almost) obsolete |
| The Amateur Scientist | Taking Back the Final Frontier |
| Mathematical Recreations | Cat's Cradle Calculus Challenge |
| Nov 1997 | |
| Mercury: The Forgotten Planet | Although one of Earth's nearest neighbors, this strange world remains, for the most part, unknown |
| Fermat's Last Stand | His most notorious theorem baffled the greatest minds for more than three centuries. But after 10 years of work, one mathematician cracked it |
| Taking Nuclear Weapons off Hair-Trigger Alert | It is time to end the practice of keeping nuclear missiles constantly ready to fire. This change would greatly reduce the possibility of a mistaken launch |
| The Parasitic Wasp's Secret Weapon | Parasitic wasps must develop inside living caterpillars. They survive this hostile environment by smuggling in a virus that suppresses their host's immune system |
| Fighting Computer Viruses | Biological metaphors offer insight into many aspects of computer viruses and can inspire defenses against them |
| Great Zimbabwe | For centuries, this ancient Shona city stood at the hub of a vast trade network. The site has also been at the center of a bitter debate about African history and heritage |
| Making Rice Disease Resistant | For the first time, scientists have used genetic engineering to protect this essential crop from disease |
| The Amateur Scientist | Caught in a Wind Tunnel |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Lore and Lure of Dice |
| Oct 1997 | |
| Transportation's Perennial Problems | The congestion, accidents and pollution that plague modern travel are hardly new. History and recent research suggest they may remain intractable for generations to come |
| The Past and Future of Global Mobility | With growing wealth, people everywhere travel farther and faster. That trend inevitably brings a shift in the dominant transportation technologies |
| 13 Vehicles That Went Nowhere | Perhaps "nowhere" is too harsh. But all these transportation concepts - however brilliant or eccentric - fell far short of their enthusiasts' great hopes. |
| Hybrid Electric Vehicles | They will reduce pollution and conserve petroleum. But will people buy them, even if the vehicles have astounding fuel efficiency? |
| Flywheels in Hybrid Vehicles | A rapidly spinning flywheel combines with a gas-turbine engine to power a novel hybrid electric vehicle |
| Automated Highways | Cars that drive themselves in tight formation might alleviate the congestion now plaguing urban freeways |
| Unjamming Traffic with Computers | Insights gleaned from realistic simulations are already moving from computer screens to asphalt |
| Now That Travel Can Be Virtual, Will Congestion Virtually Disappear? | The idea that telecommunications technology could substitute for travel dawned on people soon after the invention of the telephone. |
| Driving to Mach 1 | "Jetmobiles" try to go supersonic |
| Speed versus Need | Rugged mountain climbers, bamboo rigs built for two, three-speeds with banana seats-bicycles, in their many forms, exist the world over. |
| How High-Speed Trains Make Tracks | In Europe and Japan, train manufacturers are gearing up to achieve ultrafast speeds routinely, without relying on levitation |
| Fast Trains: Why the U.S. Lags | The reasons are more political than technological |
| Maglev: Racing to Oblivion? | Two years ago the world's only magnetically levitated train in commercial service shut down. |
| Straight Up into the Blue | Tiltrotors, which take off like a helicopter but fly like an airplane, will soon make their military debut. Can civilian applications be far behind? |
| The Lure of Icarus | With new designs and materials, human-powered fliers challenge the distance record |
| A Simpler Ride into Space | Technological advances may allow rockets of the next century to operate much as aircraft do today. That change might cut the cost of reaching orbit by 10-fold |
| Faster Ships for the Future | New designs for oceangoing freighters may soon double their speeds |
| Microsubs Go to Sea | Small, maneuverable, self-contained - these tiny submersibles may someday take a human to the bottom of the sea |
| Elevators on the Move | Elevator technology is taking off in new directions, including sideways |
| The Amateur Scientist | Recording the Sounds of Life |
| Mathematical Recreations | Two-Way Jigsaw Puzzles |
| Sep 1997 | |
| In Search of AIDS-Resistance Genes | A genetic trait that protects against AIDS has now been uncovered, and others are emerging. The findings open entirely new avenues for developing preventives and therapies |
| The Discovery of the Top Quark | Finding the sixth quark involved the world's most energetic collisions and a cast of thousands |
| Building Doors into Cells | With the help of recombinant DNA technology, researchers have learned how to create artificial pores that might be used to deliver drugs or act as biosensors to detect toxic chemicals. |
| Running on Water | The secret of the basilisk lizard's strategy lies in its stroke |
| Creating False Memories | Researchers are showing how suggestion and imagination can create "memories" of events that did not actually occur |
| Life in the Provinces of the Aztec Empire | The lives of the Aztec common people were far richer and more complex than the official histories would have us believe. |
| Booming Sand | Though known for centuries, sound-producing sand remains one of nature's more puzzling phenomena |
| The Amateur Scientist | Unraveling the Secrets of Monarchs |
| Mathematical Recreations | Empires and Electronics |
| Aug 1997 | |
| Mitochondrial DNA in Aging and Disease | Defects in DNA outside the chromosomes - in cell structures called mitochondria - can cause an array of disorders, perhaps including many that debilitate the elderly |
| Lightning Control with Lasers | Scientists seek to deflect damaging lightning strikes using specially engineered lasers |
| Lightning between Earth and Space | Scientists discover a curious variety of electrical activity going on above thunderstorms |
| Space Age Archaeology | Remote-sensing techniques are transforming archaeology. Excavations may become less essential as researchers explore hidden sites and examine buried artifacts without unearthing them |
| Glandular Gifts | The way to a katydid's heart is through her stomach |
| The Top-Secret Life of Lev Landau | KGB archives reveal that the Soviet genius co-authored an anti-Stalin manifesto |
| The Machinery of Thought | Studies of the brains of monkeys and, more recently, of humans are revealing the neural underpinnings of working memory, one of the mind's most crucial functions |
| The Amateur Scientist | Getting a Charge out of Rain |
| Mathematical Recreations | Empires on the Moon |
| Jul 1997 | |
| China's Buddhist Treasures at Dunhuang | Cave temples along the ancient Silk Road document the cultural and religious transformations of a millennium. Researchers are striving to preserve these endangered statues and paintings |
| Gamma-Ray Bursts | New observations illuminate the most powerful explosions in the universe |
| Xenotransplantation | After struggling for decades with a shortage of donated organs from cadavers, transplant surgeons may soon have another source to tap |
| Strong Fabrics for Fast Sails | Composite fabrics first developed for the sails of racing yachts may soon find use in parachutes and research balloons |
| Asbestos Revisited | Once considered safe enough to use in toothpaste, this unique substance has intrigued people for more than 2,000 years |
| Global Population and the Nitrogen Cycle | Feeding humankind now demands so much nitrogen-based fertilizer that the distribution of nitrogen on the earth has been changed in dramatic, and sometimes dangerous, ways |
| Taking Computers to Task | Coming generations of computers will be more fun and engaging to use. But will they earn their keep in the workplace? |
| The Amateur Scientist | How-To's of Butterfly Rookeries |
| Mathematical Recreations | Squaring the Square |
| Jun 1997 | |
| Iran's Nuclear Puzzle | Rich in fossil-fuel resources, Iran is pursuing a nuclear power program difficult to understand in the absence of military motives |
| Configurable Computing | Computers that modify their hardware circuits as they operate are opening a new era in computer design. Because they can filter data rapidly, they excel at pattern recognition, image processing and encryption |
| Early Hominid Fossils from Africa | A new species of "Australopithecus", the ancestor of "Homo", pushes back the origins of bipedalism to some four million years ago |
| Panoramas of the Seafloor | Modern sonar techniques map the continental margins of the U.S. and reveal the richly varied scenery usually hidden underwater |
| Searching for Digital Pictures | Computers that can reason about images may be able to pick out distinct features of a person, place or object from photograph archives |
| Making Gene Therapy Work: Table of Contents | Special Report |
| Overcoming the Obstacles to Gene Therapy | Treating disease by providing needed genes remains a compelling idea, but clinical and basic researchers still have much to do before gene therapy can live up to its promise |
| Nonviral Strategies for Gene Therapy | Many drawbacks of viral gene delivery agents might be overcome by nonviral systems. Studies in patients suggest these systems have potential as therapies and as vaccines |
| Gene Therapy for Cancer | Inserted genes could in theory arrest tumor growth or even AIDS |
| Gene Therapy for the Nervous System | Inserting genes into brain cells may one day offer doctors a way to slow, or even reverse, the damage from degenerative neurological disease |
| What Cloning Means for Gene Therapy | The recently debuted technology for cloning is usually discussed as a means of creating genetic copies of whole adult individuals. |
| Bringing Schrödinger's Cat to Life | Recent experiments have begun to demonstrate how the weird world of quantum mechanics gives way to the familiarity of everyday experience |
| The Amateur Scientist | Getting Inside an Ant's Head |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Sifting Sands of Factorland |
| May 1997 | |
| Divided We Fall: Cooperation among Lions | Although they are the most social of all cats, lions cooperate only when it is in their own best interest |
| Managing Human Error in Aviation | Mistakes by flight crews contribute to more than two thirds of aviation accidents. Training to enhance team performance may reduce potentially fatal errors |
| Integrins and Health | Discovered only recently, these adhesive cell-surface molecules have quickly revealed themselves to be critical to proper functioning of the body and to life itself |
| The Coming Climate | Meteorological records and computer models permit insights into some of the broad weather patterns of a warmer world |
| New Chemical Tools to Create Plastics | Small molecular machines called metallocene catalysts have revolutionized the industrial synthesis of valuable plastics |
| Galaxies in the Young Universe | By comparing distant primeval galaxies with older ones nearby, astronomers hope to determine how galaxies form and evolve |
| Seeking a Better Way to Die | As the U.S. Supreme Court ponders physician-assisted suicide, health care providers strive to improve care of the dying |
| The Amateur Scientist | When Hazy Skies Are Rising |
| Mathematical Recreations | Big Game Hunting in Primeland |
| Apr 1997 | |
| Can Sustainable Management Save Tropical Forests? | Sustainability proves surprisingly problematic in the quest to reconcile conservation with the production of tropical timber |
| Black Holes and the Information Paradox | What happens to the information in matter destroyed by a black hole? Searching for that answer, physicists are groping toward a quantum theory of gravity |
| Out of Africa Again... and Again? | Africa is the birthplace of humanity. But how many human species evolved there? And when did they emigrate? |
| Combinatorial Chemistry and New Drugs | An innovative technique that quickly produces large numbers of structurally related compounds is changing the way drugs are discovered |
| How Erosion Builds Mountains | An understanding of how tectonic, erosional and climatic forces interact to shape mountains permits clearer insights into the earth's history |
| Extremophiles | These microbes thrive under conditions that would kill other creatures. The molecules that enable extremophiles to prosper are becoming useful to industry |
| The Science of Murphy's Law | Life's little annoyances are not as random as they seem: the awful truth is that the universe is against you |
| Jules Verne, Misunderstood Visionary | Discovery of a long-lost novel reveals that, from the start, the father of science fiction was gravely concerned with the dangers of technology |
| The Amateur Scientist | The Joys of Armchair Ornithology |
| Mathematical Recreations | Knight's Tours |
| Mar 1997 | |
| SOHO Reveals the Secrets of the Sun | A powerful new spacecraft, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, is now monitoring the sun around the clock, providing new clues about our nearest star |
| The Internet | Fulfilling the Promise |
| The Internet: Bringing Order From Chaos | The Internet, as everybody with a modem now knows, has fallen victim to its own success. |
| Searching the Internet | Combining the skills of the librarian and the computer scientist may help organize the anarchy of the Internet |
| Going Digital | Electronic libraries will make today's Internet pale by comparison. But building them will not be easy |
| Filtering Information On The Internet | Look for the labels to decide if unknown software and World Wide Web sites are safe and interesting |
| Interfaces For Searching the Web | The rapid growth of the World Wide Web is outpacing current attempts to search and organize it. New user interfaces may offer a better approach |
| Websurfing Without a Monitor | When I hook up to the Internet to check out the news on CNN, to peruse a colleague's latest paper or to see how Adobe's stock price is doing, I leave the display of my laptop turned off. |
| Multilingualism on the Internet | In recent years, American culture has increased its worldwide influence through international trade and Hollywood productions. |
| Trusted Systems | Devices that enforce machine-readable rights to use the work of a musician or author may create secure ways to publish over the Internet. |
| Preserving the Internet | An archive of the Internet may prove to be a vital record for historians, businesses and governments |
| Psychiatry's Global Challenge | An evolving crisis in the developing world signals the need for a better understanding of the links between culture and mental disorders |
| Discovering Genes for New Medicines | By identifying human genes involved in disease, researchers can create potentially therapeutic proteins and speed the development of powerful drugs |
| Heike Kamerlingh Onne's Discovery of Superconductivity | The turn-of-the-century race to reach temperatures approaching absolute zero led to the unexpected discovery of electric currents that flowed with no resistance |
| Plants That Warm Themselves | Some plants produce extraordinary heat when they bloom. A few even regulate their temperature within narrow limits, much as if they were warm-blooded animals |
| The Rising Seas | Although some voice concern that global warming will lead to a meltdown of polar ice, flooding coastlines everywhere, the true threat remais difficult to gauge |
| Mathematical Recreations | Juniper Green |
| The Amateur Scientist | Algorithm of the Gods |
| Feb 1997 | |
| Immunotherapy for Cocaine Addiction | Newly developed compounds derived from the immune system may help combat cocaine abuse by destroying the drug soon after it enters the bloodstream |
| Satellite Radar Interferometry | From hundreds of kilometers away in space, orbiting instruments can detect subtle buckling of the earth's crust |
| The Ghostliest Galaxies | Astronomers have found more than 1,000 "low-surface-brightness" galaxies over the past decade, significantly altering our views of how galaxies evolve and how mass is distributed in the universe |
| The Lesser Known Edison | In addition to his famous inventions, Thomas Edison's fertile imagination gave the world a host of little known technologies, from talking dolls to poured-concrete houses |
| Why and How Bacteria Communicate | Bacteria converse with one another and with plants and animals by emitting and reacting to chemical signals. The need to "talk" may help explain why the microbes synthesize a vast array of compounds |
| The Challenge of Large Numbers | As computer capabilities increase, mathematicians can better characterize and manipulate gargantuan figures. Even so, some numbers can only be imagined |
| The Benefits and Ethics of Animal Research | Experiments on animals are a mainstay of modern medical and scientific research. But what are the costs and what are the returns? |
| Animal Research Is Wasteful and Misleading | The use of animals for research and testing is only one of many investigative techniques available. |
| Animal Research Is Vital to Medicine | Experiments using animals have played a crucial role in the development of modern medical treatments, and they will continue to be necessary as researchers seek to alleviate existing ailments and respond to the emergence of new disease. |
| Trends in Animal Research | Increased concern for animals, among scientists as well as the public, is changing the ways in which animals are used for research and safety testing |
| The Amateur Scientist | A Picture-Perfect Comet |
| Mathematical Recreations | Crystallography of a Golf Ball |
| Jan 1997 | |
| Cosmic Rays at the Energy Frontier | These particles carry more energy than any others in the universe. Their origin is unknown but may be relatively nearby |
| Understanding Parkinson's Disease | The smoking gun is still missing, but growing evidence suggests highly reactive substances called free radicals are central players in this common neurological disorder |
| Tackling Turbulence with Supercomputers | Computers only recently became powerful enough to illuminate simple examples of this great classical problem. In some cases, they will let engineers control it |
| Transgenic Livestock as Drug Factories | By introducing key human genes into mammals, biologists can induce dairy animals to produce therapeutic proteins in their milk |
| How the Blind Draw | Blind and sighted people use many of the same devices in sketching their surroundings, suggesting that vision and touch are closely linked |
| Experimental Flooding in Grand Canyon | Scientists monitor a controlled deluge that was staged in the early spring of 1996 solely for the benefit of the environment in and around the Colorado River |
| The Einstein-Sziland Refrigerator | Two visionary theoretical physicists joined forces in the 1920s to reinvent the household refrigerator |
| Science versus Antiscience? | Movements lumped under the term "antiscience" have disparate causes, and not all pose as much of a threat as has been claimed |
| The Amateur Scientist | Catch a Comet by Its Tail |
| Mathematical Recreations | Alphamagic Squares |
| Dec 1996 | |
| The Specter of Biological Weapons | States and terrorists alike have shown a growing interest in germ warfare. More stringent arms-control efforts are needed to discourage attacks |
| Primordial Deuterium and the Big Bang | Nuclei of this hydrogen isotope formed in the first moments of the big bang. Their abundance offers clues to the early evolution of the universe and the nature of cosmic dark matter |
| Creating Nanophase Materials | The properties of these ultrafine-grained substances, now found in a range of commercial products, can be custom-engineered |
| Cell Suicide in Health and Disease | Cells can - and often do - kill themselves, in a process known as apoptosis. This capacity is essential to the proper functioning of the body; flawed regulation may lie behind many diseases |
| Atmospheric Dust and Acid Rain | Emissions of acidic air pollutants have fallen dramatically. Why is acid rain still a problem? Atmospheric dust may be part of the answer. |
| A Cricket Robot | Can a simple electromechanical system perform a complex behavior of a living creature? There was one sure way to find out |
| Daily Life in Ancient Egypt | Workmen and their families lived some 3,000 years ago in the village now known as Deir el-Medina. Written records from the unusually well educated community offer fascinating descriptions of everyday activities |
| Why Freud Isn't Dead | Skeptics continue to challenge Sigmund Freud's ideas about the mind. Yet no unquestionably superior theory or therapy has rendered psychoanalysis completely obsolete |
| The Amateur Scientist | Dissecting the Brain with Sound |
| Mathematical Recreations | Cows in the Maze |
| Nov 1996 | |
| The Case for Electric Vehicles | New technological developments have put practical electric cars within reach, but politics may slow the shift away from internal-combustion engines |
| Immunity and the Invertebrates | The fabulously complex immune systems of humans and other mammals evolved over hundreds of millions of years - in sometimes surprising ways |
| Sharks and the Origins of Vertebrate Immunity | Sharks, which have existed for as many as 450 million years, offer glimpses of a distant period in the evolution of the immune system. |
| Quantum Seeing in the Dark | Quantum optics demonstrates the existence of interaction-free measurements: the detection of objects without light - or anything else - ever hitting them |
| Global Climatic Change on Mars | Today a frozen world, Mars at one time may have had more temperate conditions, with flowing rivers, thawing seas, melting glaciers and, perhaps, abundant life |
| Can China Feed Itself? | Some surprisingly reasonable policy changes would enable the world's largest nation to produce more food for its 1.2 billion citizens |
| Dyslexia | A new model of this reading disorder emphasizes defects in the language-processing rather than the visual system. It explains why some very smart people have trouble learning to read |
| Rock Art in Southern Africa | Paintings and engravings made by ancestors of the San peoples encode the history and culture of a society thousands of years old |
| The Amateur Scientist | Much Ado about Nothing |
| Mathematical Recreations | A Guide to Computer Dating |
| Oct 1996 | |
| Single Mothers and Welfare | For the first time since the Great Depression, large numbers of families are homeless. Recent welfare revisions will put even more women and children on the stress. |
| Microbes Deep inside the Earth | Recently discovered microorganisms that dwell within the earth's crust could reveal clues to the origin of life |
| Friction at the Atomic Scale | Long neglected by physicists, the study of friction's atomic-level origins, or nanotribology, indicates that the force stems from various unexpected sources, including sound energy |
| Controlling Computers with Neural Signals | Electrical impulses from nerves and muscles can command computers directly, a method that aids people with physical disabilities |
| Ten Days under the Sea | Living underwater in the world's only habitat devoted to science, six aquanauts studied juvenile corals and fought off "the funk" |
| How an Underwater Habitat Benefits Marine Science | Scuba divers joke that there are two ways to avoid decompression sickness, the rare but dreaded "bends": don't go down, or don't come up. |
| Charles Darwin and Associates, Ghostbusters | When the scientific establishment put a spiritualist on trial, the co-discoverers of natural selection took opposing sides |
| Confronting Science's Logical Limits | The mathematical models now used in many scientific fields may be fundamentally unable to answer certain questions about the real world. Yet there may be ways around these problems |
| Sounding Out Science | Prince William Sound is recovering, seven years after the "Exxon Valdez" disaster. But the spill's scientific legacy remains a mess |
| The Amateur Scientist | Working in a Vacuum |
| Mathematical Recreations | Monopoly Revisited |
| Sep 1996 | |
| How Cancer Arises | An explosion of research is uncovering the long-hidden molecular underpinnings of cancer - and suggesting new therapies |
| How Cancer Spreads | Tumor cells roam the body by evading the controls that keep normal cells in place. That fact offers clues to fighting cancer |
| Causes and Prevention | Many of the culprits most publicized as causes of cancer actually account for a relatively small fraction of deaths. The good news: we can do more to protect ourselves. And a growing area of study - chemoprevention - is attempting to make the task easier. |
| What Causes Cancer? | The top two causes - tobacco and diet - account for almost two thirds of all cancer deaths and are among the most correctable |
| Strategies For Minimizing Cancer Risk | Simple, realistic preventive measures could save hundreds of thousands of lives every year in developed countries alone |
| Chemoprevention of Cancer | Someday people should be able to avoid cancer or delay its onset by taking specially formulated pills or foods |
| Is Hormone Replacement Therapy a Risk? | Thanks to advances in public health and medicine, the average American woman will be postmenopausal for about one third of her life. |
| Toward Earlier Detection | New technology promises not only to detect cancers earlier and more accurately but also to catch tumors in their precancerous state, when the disease still might be prevented outright. The same basic instruments should help physicians to distinguish patients who need minimal treatment from those who need the most aggressive interventions. |
| Advances in Cancer Detection | Tests to look for the presence of a tumor before any symptoms appear may save more lives than new drug therapies do |
| Advances in Tumor Imaging | New tools yield a three-dimensional view inside the body and automated advice on interpreting the anatomical landscape |
| Should Women in Their 40s Have Mammograms? | For at least four years now, breast cancer specialists have been heatedly arguing among themselves about whether women in their forties benefit from having routine mammograms. |
| Does Screening for Prostate Cancer Make Sense? | Since 1990 the reported number of new cases of prostate cancer has tripled, from fewer than 100,000 annually to an estimated 317,000 this year. |
| Improving Conventional Therapy | The mainstays of cancer treatment - surgery, radiation and chemotherapy - are being refined and combined in ways that can help patients enjoy longer, more fulfilling lives. |
| Advancing Current Treatments for Cancer | Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can now cure many cases of cancer. Future methods will be even more effective |
| When are Bone Marrow Transplants Considered? | Bone marrow transplants can help to compensate for the damaging effects of intense chemotherapy. |
| Twelve Major Cancers | The pages that follow provide facts and figures about the 12 cancers that affect the most Americans (excluding basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers, which are very common but rarely fatal). |
| Therapies of the Future | Fascinating new approaches to treatment would combat cancers without the devastating side effects of many current therapies. Some capitalize on insights into how the immune system might be enlisted to destroy malignancies. Others are based on detailed knowledge of how tumors grow and spread. |
| Immunotherapy for Cancer | As knowledge about the immune system grows, scientists are devising ways, using the body's own defenses, to attack cancer |
| New Molecular Targets for Cancer Therapy | Investigators are exploiting the characteristic molecular abnormalities of cancers in new approaches to treatment |
| Fighting Cancer by Attacking Its Blood Supply | By interfering with the expanding network of blood vessels in tumors, researchers hope to cut off the underlying support system |
| Living with Cancer (Introduction) | There are ways to cope successfully with the physical, psychological and practical challenges of the disease. Resources are available to patients who know where to look. Even pain can usually be controlled - if caregivers award the problem the attention it deserves. |
| Cancer's Psychological Challenges | Cancer patients today have many options for easing distress. These interventions may not prolong life, but they can improve its quality |
| Alternative Cancer Treatments | Miraculous cures are a myth, but some regimens may well improve the quality of life for patients |
| Controlling the Pain of Cancer | Despite enormous advances in treating pain, many cancer patients still suffer needlessly. Some simple practices can make a difference |
| What Are Obstacles to Ideal Care? | Many patients do not know that being in a clinical trial is an option. |
| Finding More Information | Fortunately, access to incisive knowledge about cancer and its treatment is easier to obtain than ever before. |
| The Amateur Scientist | The Pleasures of Exploring Ponds |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Interrogator's Fallacy |
| Aug 1996 | |
| Smart Cards | As potential applications grow, computers in the wallet are making unobtrusive inroads |
| The Stellar Dynamo | Sunspot cycles - on other stars - are helping astronomers study the sun's variations and the ways they might affect the earth |
| Gradients that Organize Embryo Development | A few crucial molecular signals give rise to chemical gradients that organize the developing embryo |
| Sands of the World | One of the most common elements on the earth's surface, sand is also one of the most various |
| Probing High-Temperature Superconductivity | Recent experiments exploiting subtle quantum effects yield important clues about why some ceramics conduct electricity without resistance |
| The Mystery of Lambic Beer | An ancient brewing technique produces a beverage so complex that it is still yielding its secrets to organic chemists |
| Ring Bubbles of Dolphins | A number of bottlenose dolphins in Hawaii can create shimmering, stable rings and helices of air as part of play |
| Gaining on Fat | As a costly epidemic of obesity spreads through the industrial world, scientists are uncovering the biological roots of this complex disease. The work offers tantalizing hope of new ways to treat, and prevent, the health risks of excess weight |
| The Amateur Scientist | Detecting Micron-Size Movements |
| Mathematical Recreations | Shedding a Little Darkness |
| Jul 1996 | |
| Next-Generation Compact Discs | A novel agreement among competing electronics companies has delivered an innovative plan for compatible "DVD" products - the first are due out this fall |
| Blue-Laser CD Technology | Coaxing semiconductor crystals into lasing blue light is no easy task, but the rewards - among them, greater storage space on optical disks - are well worth the wait |
| Sunlight and Skin Cancer | Although most skin cancers appear in older people, the damage often begins decades earlier, when the sun's rays mutate a key gene in a single cell |
| The Nature of Space and Time | Two relativists present their distinctive views on the universe, its evolution and the impact of quantum theory |
| The Hidden World of Surgery | In his finely resolved images of surgery, a photographer sees clues to who and what we are |
| The Mother of Mass Extinctions | Disaster struck 250 million years ago, when the worst decimation in the earth's history occurred. Called the end-Permian mass extinction, it marks a fundamental change in the development of life |
| Who Owns Digital Works? | Computer networks challenge copyright law, but some proposed cures may be as bad as the disease |
| Exoskeletal Sensors for Walking | To move their limbs, cockroaches, crabs and spiders rely on organs in their exoskeletons that act as strain gauges. Their method of locomotion could facilitate the design of multilegged robots |
| The Amateur Scientist | Covert Observations of Nesting Sparrows |
| Mathematical Recreations | Arithmetic and Old Lace |
| Jun 1996 | |
| Semiconductor Subsidies | Did the U.S. government spend more than $700 million to achieve a goal that might have been attained for much less? |
| Training the Olympic Athlete | Sports science and technology are today providing elite competitors with the tiny margins needed to win in world-class competition |
| Science in the Sky | The International Space Station will be the most expensive object ever built. Although many scientists oppose the grandiose scheme, its political momentum now appears unstoppable |
| Can Nuclear Waste Be Stored Safely at Yucca Mountain? | Studies of the mountain's history and geology can contribute useful insights but not unequivocal conclusions |
| The Reluctant Father of Black Holes | Albert Einstein's equations of gravity are the foundation of the modern view of black holes; ironically, he used the equations in trying to prove these objects cannot exist |
| The Art of Charles R. Knight | Long before the film "Jurassic Park", Knight's illustrations brought dinosaurs to life in the public's mind. |
| Taxoids: New Weapons against Cancer | The chemists who developed the cancer-fighting agent taxol are creating a family of similar compounds that may one day help combat the disease. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Homemade Microgram Electrobalances |
| Mathematical Recreations | Tales of a Neglected Number |
| May 1996 | |
| The Horror of Land Mines | Land mines kill or maim more than 15,000 people each year. Most victims are innocent civilians. Many are children. Still, mines are planted by the thousands every day |
| The Kuiper Belt | Rather than ending abruptly at the orbit of Pluto, the outer solar system contains an extended belt of small bodies |
| Uncovering New Clues to Cancer Risk | A growing discipline called molecular epidemiology is attempting to find early biological signposts for heightened risk of cancer. The research should enhance prevention of the disease |
| Software for Reliable Networks | Techniques that enable distributed computing systems to reorganize themselves can restore operation when one part crashes |
| The Pursuit of Happiness | New research uncovers some anti-intuitive insights into how many people are happy - and why |
| The Beluga Whales of the St. Lawrence River | Although they are protected by law from hunters, these whales must struggle to survive the threat of industrial pollution |
| The Lost Technology of Ancient Greek Rowing | The navies of classical Greece took advantage of the sliding stroke, a technique that 19th-century competitive rowers later reinvented |
| Hanford's Nuclear Wasteland | The U.S. is spending billions to clean up its nuclear weapons complexes. At one of the most contaminated sites, no one knows how much the project will cost, how long it will take or how much good it will do |
| The Amateur Scientist | Detecting Natural Electromagnetic Waves |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Sculptures of Alan St. George |
| Apr 1996 | |
| Ten Years of the Chornobyl Era | The environmental and health effects of nuclear power's greatest calamity will last for generations |
| The Birth of Complex Cells | Humans, together with all other animals, plants and fungi, owe their existence to the momentous transformation of tiny, primitive bacteria into large, intricately organized cells |
| Searching for Life on Other Planets | Life remains a phenomenon we know only on Earth. But an innovative telescope in space could change that by detecting signs of life on distant planets |
| Smart Rooms | In creating computer systems that can identify people and interpret their actions, researchers have come one step closer to building helpful home and work environments |
| Alcohol in American History | National binges have alternated with enforced abstinence for 200 years, but there may be hope for moderation |
| Captured in Amber | The exquisitely preserved tissues of insects in amber reveal some genetic secrets of evolution |
| Waiting for Breakthroughs | "Nanoists" envision global abundance emerging from the manipulation of single atoms and molecules. But this prophecy has been challenged by researchers who work at a scale of billionths of a meter |
| The Amateur Scientist | The New Backyard Seismology |
| Mathematical Recreations | How Fair Is Monopoly? |
| Mar 1996 | |
| Urban Planning in Curitiba | A Brazilian city challenges conventional wisdom and relies on low technology to improve the quality of urban life |
| Collisions with Comets and Asteroids | The chances of a celestial body colliding with the earth are small, but the consequences would be catastrophic |
| The African AIDS Epidemic | In parts of sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 25 percent of the population is HIV-positive as a result of heterosexual transmission of the virus. Could lack of circumcision make men in this region particularly susceptible? |
| Budding Vesicles in Living Cells | A transatlantic collaboration has uncovered the machinery responsible for forming the tiny but essential containers, or vesicles, that store proteins and shuttle them to and fro in cells |
| The Art and Science of Photoreconnaissance | In the 1950s and 1960s, photointerpreters devised ways of extracting valuable information from recondite images. Oftentimes, their work profoundly affected international relations |
| Electrons in Flatland | Trapped in a two-dimensional plane, electrons can exhibit the quantum Hall effect, a startling phenomenon now thought to be intimately connected to superconductivity |
| Caribbean Mangrove Swamps | Despite their ubiquity and prominent position between land and sea, these tropical ecosystems still hold countless surprises for researchers |
| Vital Data | The Human Genome Project is producing a plethora of information that will illuminate our hidden susceptibilities to disease. The effort could transform medical science. But new dangers are arriving, too |
| The Amateur Scientist | Exploring Chemical Bonds |
| Mathematical Recreations | Playing with Quads and Quazars |
| Feb 1996 | |
| Malnutrition, Poverty and Intellectual Development | Research into childhood nutrition reveals that a poor diet influences mental development in more ways than expected. Other aspects of poverty exacerbate the effects |
| The Global Positioning System | Two dozen satellites hovering thousands of miles out in space are allowing people to locate themselves on the earth's surface with remarkable precision |
| Seeing Underwater with Background Noise | With a technique called acoustic-daylight imaging, sounds in the sea can "illuminate" submerged objects, thereby creating moving color pictures without sonar |
| Telomeres, Telomerase and Cancer | An unusual enzyme called telomerase acts on parts of chromosomes known as telomeres. The enzyme has recently been found in many human tumors and is being eyed as a new target for cancer therapy |
| Colossal Galactic Explosions | Enormous outpourings of gas from the centers of nearby galaxies may ultimately help explain both star formation and the intergalactic medium |
| The Bacteria behind Ulcers | One half to one third of the world's population harbors "Helicobacter pylori", "slow" bacteria that infect the stomach and can cause ulcers and cancer there |
| The Loves of the Plants | Carl Linnaeus classified plants according to their reproductive parts, endowing them as well with sex lives reflecting 18th-century values and controversies |
| Quarks by Computer | Yearlong computations have helped to confirm the fundamental theory behind quarks - and, using its principles, even to identify a new particle |
| The Amateur Scientist | Growing Seedlings at Less Than 1 G |
| Mathematical Recreations | Proof of Purchase on the Internet |
| Jan 1996 | |
| The Real Threat of Nuclear Smuggling | Although many widely publicized incidents have been staged or overblown, the dangers of even a single successful diversion are too great to ignore |
| Caloric Restriction and Aging | Eat less, but be sure to have enough protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. This prescription does wonders for the health and longevity of rodents. Might it help humans as well? |
| Technology and Economics in the Semiconductor Industry | Although the days of runaway growth may be numbered, their passing may force chipmakers to offer more variety |
| Neural Networks for Vertebrate Locomotion | The motions animals use to swim, run and fly are controlled by specialized neural networks. For a jawless fish known as the lamprey, the circuitry has been worked out |
| Cleaning Up the River Rhine | Intensive international efforts are reclaiming the most important river in Europe |
| The Evolution of Continental Crust | The high-standing continents owe their existence to the earth's long history of plate-tectonic activity |
| Working Elephants | They earn their keep in Asia by providing an ecologically benign way to harvest forests |
| Explaining Everything | A new symmetry, duality, is changing the way physicists think about fundamental particles - or strings. It is also leading the way to a Theory of Everything |
| The Amateur Scientist | Recording Nature's Sounds |
| Mathematical Recreations | Mother Worm's Blanket |
| Dec 1995 | |
| The Galileo Mission | From orbit around Jupiter, the Galileo spacecraft will take the closest look ever at the planet and its natural satellites |
| Cystic Fibrosis | The genetic defects underlying this lethal disease have now been shown to eliminate or hobble a critical channel through which a constituent of salt enters and leaves cells |
| Science in Pictures | The Leaning Tower of Pisa The famous tower has been tilting since the 12th century. Now engineers are using 20th-century technology in hopes of saving the ancient landmark |
| Giant Earthquakes of the Pacific Northwest | The danger of a very large earthquake striking the coast between northern California and British Columbia proves much greater than suspected |
| How Breast Milk Protects Newborns | Some of the molecules and cells in human milk actively help infants stave off infection |
| The Puzzle of Conscious Experience | Neuroscientists and others are at last plumbing one of the most profound mysteries of existence. But knowledge of the brain alone may not get them to the bottom of it |
| Confidential Communication on the Internet | Cryptography gives people the ability to authenticate the identity of their correspondents, the first step in establishing trust |
| Trends in Defense Technology | U.S. military planners hope to rely on improved versions of the technologies tested in the Gulf War to help fight the next Saddam Hussein. They may be preparing for the wrong conflict |
| The Amateur Scientist | Measuring the Metabolism of Small Organisms |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Anthropomurphic Principle |
| Nov 1995 | |
| The World's Imperiled Fish | Wild fish cannot survive the onslaught of modern industrial fishing. The collapse of fisheries in many regions shows the danger plainly |
| The Brain's Immune System | It consists of cells called microglia that are normally protective but can be surprisingly destructive. The cells may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases and to the dementia of AIDS |
| Chaotic Climate | Global temperatures have been known to change substantially in only a decade or two. Could another jump be in the offng? |
| Holographic Memories | After more than 30 years, researchers are on the verge of using holograms to store data in memories that are both fast and vast |
| Charles Darwin | This newly rediscovered photograph appears to be the last ever made of the great evolutionist |
| God's Utility Function | Humans have always wondered about the meaning of life. According to the author, life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA |
| The Discovery of X-rays | One hundred years ago this month, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen cast the first x-ray images by chance |
| The Science of Juggling | Studying the ability to toss and catch balls and rings provides insight into human coordination, robotics and mathematics |
| The Amateur Scientist | Measuring the Wind with Hot Metal |
| Mathematical Recreations | Ways to Tile Space with Knots |
| Oct 1995 | |
| Emerging Viruses | Hemorrhagic fever viruses are among the most dangerous biological agents known. New ones are discovered every year, and artificial as well as natural environmental changes are favoring their spread |
| Companions to Young Stars | The surprising finding that even the youngest stars commonly exist in sets of two or three has revised thinking about the birth of star systems |
| Quantum-Mechanical Computers | Quantum-mechanical computers, if they can be constructed, will do things no ordinary computer can |
| Demolition by Implosion | Detonation of small quantities of strategically placed explosives can demolish an unwanted high-rise in a matter of seconds |
| The Molecular Logic of Smell | Mammals can recognize thousands of odors, some of which prompt powerful responses. Recent experiments illuminate how the nose and brain may perceive scents |
| Science in Pictures | The raw visual and textual evidence of his imagination, Edison's notebooks were the unrevealed talismans of the inventor's career |
| Can Environmental Estrogens Cause Breast Cancer? | The authors of a provocative hypothesis spell out their reasons for suspecting that hormone-mimicking chemicals in the environment contribute to many unexplained cases of breast cancer |
| Trends in Social Science | Psychologists and others try to sidestep old pitfalls - both political and scientific - as they apply evolutionary theory to the clothed ape |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Never-Ending Chess Game |
| Sep 1995 | |
| The Uncertainties of Technological Innovation | Even the greatest ideas and inventions can flounder, whereas more modest steps forward sometimes change the world |
| Information Technologies Table of Content | Faster, more sophisticated data networks and computers will dominate the systems people use to work and play. Meanwhile intelligence will become a feature of everyday machines. NOTE: No text. |
| Microprocessors in 2020 | Every 18 months microprocessors double in speed. Within 25 years, one computer will be as powerful as all those in Silicon Valley today |
| Wireless Networks | In the decade ahead, they will deliver personalized communications to people on the go and basic service to many who still lack telephones |
| All-Optical Networks | Fiber Optics will become more efficient as light waves replace electrons for processing signals in communications networks |
| Artificial Intelligence | A crucial storehouse of commonsense knowledge is now taking shape |
| Intelligent Software | Programs that can act independently will ease the burdens that computers put on people |
| Virtual Reality | VR will transform computers into extensions of our whole bodies |
| Satellites For a Developing World | Satellites could provide universal access to the information economy |
| Transportation Opener | Huge flying-wing aircarft, magnetically levitated trains and driverless cars may carry passengers to their destinations, while tiny spacecraft explore the solar system. NOTE: No text. |
| High-Speed Rail: Another Golden Age | Neglected in North America but nurtured in Europe and Japan, high-speed rail systems are a critical complement to jets and cars |
| The Automobile: Clean and Customized | Built-in intelligence will let automobiles tune themselves to their drivers and cooperate to get through crowded traffic systems safely |
| Evolution of the Commercial Airliner | Advances in materials, jet engines and cockpit diplays could translate into less expensive and safer air travel |
| 21st-Century Spacecraft | A fleet of cheap, miniaturized spacecraft may revive the stalled Space Age, exploring the myriad tiny bodies of the solar system |
| Why Go Anywhere? | Millions of people could be liberated from their vehicles |
| Medicine Opener | Many diseases may be cured with gene therapy, and damaged organs may be repaired or replaced with tissue grown from cells in the laboratory. The new century should also see innovative contraceptives, including, finally, some for men. NOTE: No text. |
| Gene Therapy | Several hundred patients have already received treatment. In the next century the procedure will be commonplace. |
| Artificial Organs | Engineering artificial tissue is the natural successor to treatments for injury and disease. But the engineers will be the body's own cells |
| Future Contraceptives | Vaccines for men and women will eventually join new implants, better spermicides and stronger, thinnner condoms |
| An Improved Future? | Medical advances challenge thinking on living, dying and being human |
| Machines, Materials and Manufacturing | Buildings that repair themselves, machines that fit on the head of a pin and local factories that make products to order are just some of the possibilities. NOTE: No text. |
| Self-Assembling Materials | The smaller, more complex machines of the future cannot be built with current methods: they must almost make themselves |
| Engineering Microscopic Machines | Electronic fabrication processes can produce a data storage device or a chemical factory on a microchip |
| Intelligent Materials | Inspired by nature, researchers are creating substances that can anticipate failure, repair themselves and adapt to the environment |
| Advanced Composites | After they first appeared in the 1960s, advanced composite materials promised a brave new - not to mention light and durable - future. |
| High-Temperature Superconductors | They conduct current without resistance more cheaply than conventional superconductors can and are slowly finding their way to widespread use |
| Robotics in the 21st Century | Automatons may soon find work as subservient household help |
| Energy and Environment | The most crucial changes will come from attacking the waste problems of industry, agriculture and energy production at a fundamental level. NOTE: No text. |
| Solar Energy | Technology will allow radiation from the sun to provide nonpolluting and cheap fuels, as well as electricity |
| Fusion | Energy derived from fused nuclei may become widely used by the middle of the next century |
| Disposing of Nuclear Waste | At 3:49 P.M. on December 2, 1942, in a converted squash court under the football stands at the University of Chicago, a physicist slid back some control rods in the first nuclear reactor and ushered in a new age. |
| The Industrial Ecology of the 21st Century | A clean and efficient industrial economy would mimic the natural world's ability to recycle materials and minimize waste |
| Technology for Sustainable Agriculture | The next green revolution needs to be sophisticated enough to increase yields while also protecting the environment |
| Outline For an Ecological Economy | Countries can indeed prosper while protecting their environment |
| Living with New Technologies | Technology will not solve all our problems. It may even create some. But, despite its shortcomings, it continues to offer us ever more ways to work, play, and order our lives. NOTE: no text. |
| Technology Infrastructure | Industrial advances will depend on setting new standards |
| Designing the Future | Too frequently, product designers disregard the psychology of the user |
| Digital Literacy | Multimedia will require equal facility in word, image and sound |
| The Information Economy | How much will two bits be worth in the digital marketplace? |
| The Emperor's New Workplace | Information technology evolves more quickly than behavior |
| What Technology Alone Cannot Do | Technology will not provide us all with health, wealth and big TVs |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Great Drain Robbery |
| Aug 1995 | |
| Recollections of a Nuclear War | Two nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan 50 years ago this month. The author, a member of the Manhattan Project, reflects on how the nuclear age began and what the post-cold war future might hold |
| Tornadoes | The storms that spawn twisters are now largely understood, but mysteries still remain about how these violent vortices form |
| How HIV Defeats the Immune System | A plausible hypothesis suggests the immune devastation that underlies AIDS stems from continuous - and dangerous - evolution of the human immunodeficiency virus in the body |
| The Benefits of Background Noise | Stochastic resonance, the phenomenon by which background noise boosts weak signals, is creating a buzz in physics, biology and engineering |
| The Physiology of Decompression Illness | For more than a century, researchers have known that exposure to high pressure can injure or kill. Gradually, they are beginning to understand the underlying mechanisms |
| Frog Communication | In striving to be heard by rivals and mates, these amphibians have evolved a plethora of complex strategies |
| Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Meets Jupiter | Images of a comet that broke apart and plummeted into Jupiter continue to dazzle astronomers a year afterward |
| Trends: Lost Science in the Third World | Many researchers in the developing world feel trapped in a vicious circle of neglect and - some say - prejudice by publishing barriers they claim doom good science to oblivion |
| The Amateur Scientist | Detecting Signals with Noise |
| Jul 1995 | |
| The Problematic Red Wolf | Is the red wolf a species or a long-established hybrid of the gray wolf and the coyote? Such distinctions may affect ongoing efforts to save a variety of endangered species |
| Protecting the Greenback | Digital color systems can reproduce paper money with disconcerting accuracy. The U.S. government's response is a new series of notes |
| Treating Diabetes with Transplanted Cells | The implants, islet cells of the pancreas, can potentially cure many cases of diabetes. A prime obstacle to wide use - lack of a safe way to avoid immune attacks on the grafts - now seems to be crumbling |
| Light in the Ocean's Midwaters | Beneath the surface of the ocean, sunlight is gradually extinguished, but the resulting darkness yields to a host of bioluminescent creatures |
| Light in the Ocean's Midwaters | Fish such as hake, as well as some squids, arefast-moving, wide-ranging predators, but they often linger near Ventana, attracted to the lights of the ROV. |
| The Trebuchet | Recent reconstructions and computer simulations reveal the operating principles of the most powerful weapon of its time |
| Cookstoves for the Developing World | Traditional wood, charcoal and coal stoves are used in hundreds of millions of homes. Their redesign can have a dramatic effect on energy usage, the environment and community health |
| J. Robert Oppenheimer: Before the War | Although Oppenheimer is now best remembered for his influence during World War II, he made many important contributions to theoretical physics in the 1930s |
| Plastics Get Wired/Trends in Material Science | By tailoring the electrical properties of conducting polymers, researchers hope to render electronics a bit more organic |
| Mathematical Recreations | Election Fever in Blockvotia |
| Jun 1995 | |
| Debt and the Environment | Loans cause great human hardship, but their connection to ecological troubles is hard to prove |
| Building World-Record Magnets | Packing the energy equivalent of a stick of dynamite, powerful electromagnets around the globe compete to advance our knowledge of materials science and physics |
| Hookworm Infection | It retards growth and intellectual development in millions of children yet is largely ignored by researchers. New findings suggest excellent possibilities for a vaccine |
| The Arithmetics of Mutual Help | Computer experiments show how cooperation rather than exploitation can dominate in the Darwinian struggle for survival |
| Deciphering a Roman Blueprint | Scholarly detective work reveals the secret of a full-size drawing chiseled into an ancient pavement. The "blueprint" describes one of Rome's most famous buildings |
| Halo Nuclei | Nuclei having excess neutrons or protons teeter on the edges of nuclear stability, known as drip lines. Under this stress, some develop a halo |
| Kin Recognition | Many organisms, from sea squirts to primates, can identify their relatives. Understanding how and why they do so has prompted new thinking about the evolution of social behavior |
| TRENDS IN COMPLEXITY STUDIES: From Complexity to Perplexity | Can science achieve a united theory of complex systems? Even at the Santa Fe Institute, some researchers have their doubts |
| The Amateur Scientist | Computing Bouts of the Prisoner's Dilemma |
| May 1995 | |
| The Global Tobacco Epidemic | Cigarette smoking has stopped declining in the U.S. and is rising in other parts of the world. Aggressive marketing and permissive regulations are largely to blame |
| Binary Neutron Stars | These paired stellar remnants supply exquisite confirmations of general relativity. Their inevitable collapse produces what may be the strongest explosions in the universe |
| Dendrimer Molecules | Chemists can now build fractal supermolecules. This new class of polymers promises to be valuable in biotechnology and environmental protection |
| The Ocean's Salt Fingers | A small-scale oddity in the way seawater mixes can have large-scale consequences for the structure of the ocean |
| The Silicon Microstrip Detector | Produced with the same tools used to create integrated circuits, these detectors recently helped to find the top quark and are central to other crucial experiments |
| The Atomic Intrigues of Niels Bohr | Scandal is not usually linked with the name Niels Bohr; genius and character are. |
| Did Bohr Share Nuclear Secrets? | Niels Bohr met with a Soviet agent in late 1945. Although some have accused Bohr of divulging nuclear secrets, a recently disclosed memo offers evidence to the contrary |
| What Did Heisenberg Tell Bohr about the Bomb? | In 1941 Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr met privately in Copenhagen. Almost two years later at Los Alamos, Bohr showed a sketch of what he believed was Heisenberg's design for a nuclear weapon |
| The Preservation of Past | Conservators are racing to save monuments threatened by development, pollution, looting and neglect. In the process, they are transforming the field of archaeology into a new science |
| Mathematical Recreations | Fibonacci Forgeries |
| Apr 1995 | |
| The Puzzle of Declining Amphibian Populations | The number of frogs, toads and salamanders is dropping in many areas of the world. The causes range from destruction of their local habitats to global depletion of the ozone layer |
| Quest for the Limits of the Heliosphere | Four aging spacecraft are racing to the outer reaches of the solar system. Soon they may break through the last barriers to interstellar space |
| Machines That Learn from Hints | Machine learning improves significantly by taking advantage of information available from intelligent hints |
| Understanding the Genetic Construction of Behavior | Studies of courtship and mating in the fruit fly offer a window on the ways genes influence the execution of complex behaviors |
| The Art Historian's Computer | Riddles posed by ancient works of art fall to historical analyses and electronic explorations |
| A Brief History of Infinity | The infinite has always been a slippery concept. Even the commonly accepted mathematical view, developed by Georg Cantor, may not have truly placed infinity on a rigorous foundation |
| The Tapestry of Power in a Mesopotamian City | Mashkan-shapir was for a brief time one of the most important cities in the civilized world. Its remains challenge traditional notions of power distribution in early urban society |
| The Price of Prevention | Policymakers frequently suggest that preventive medicine pays for itself. In fact, studies now show that this claim is rarely true. Still, prevention is often a worthy health investment |
| The Amateur Scientist | Computerized Restoration of Juvenile Art |
| Mar 1995 | |
| Faster Evaluation of Vital Drugs | Traditional clinical trials may delay the availability of lifesaving therapies. Regulators now attempt to balance speed against the risk of errors |
| The Many Costs of Drug Testing | When researchers test a new drug, pressures from many different constituencies coverage on the clinical trail. |
| Laser Control of Chemical Reactions | For years, chemists have sought to control reactions with lasers - and have mostly failed. Success may come from exploiting subtle quantum effects resulting from the interaction of light and matter |
| An Efficient Swimming Machine | Instinctive control of vortices lets fish swim the way they do. A robotic tuna has also managed it; boats and submarines may be next |
| The Genetic Basis of Cancer | An accumulation of genetic defects can apparently cause normal cells to become cancerous and cancerous cells to become increasingly dangerous |
| Bonobo Sex and Society | The behavior of a close relative challenges assumptions about male supremacy in human evolution |
| Protein-Based Computers | Devices fabricated from biological molecules promise compact size and faster data storage. They lend themselves to use in parallel-processing computers, three-dimensional memories and neural networks |
| Environmental Degradation in Ancient Greece | Contrary to the view that the ancients lived in harmony with their environment, archaeological and geologic evidence shows that they often abused the land |
| Seeking the Criminal Element | Scientists are homing in on social and biological risk factors that they believe predispose individuals to criminal behavior. The knowledge could be ripe with promise - or rife with danger |
| Mathematical Recreations | Turning the Tables Around |
| Feb 1995 | |
| Population, Poverty and the Local Environment | As forests and rivers recede, a child's labor can become more valuable to parents, spurring a vicious cycle that traps families in poverty |
| Sonoluminescence: Sound into Light | A bubble of air can focus acoustic energy a trillionfold to produce picosecond flashes of light. The mechanism eludes complete explanation |
| Molecular Machines That Control Genes | The activities of our genes are tightly regulated by elaborate complexes of proteins that assemble on DNA. Perturbations in the normal operation of these assemblies can lead to diseases. |
| Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity | Does some fine madness plague great artists? Several studies now show that creativity and mood disorders are linked |
| Masers in The Sky | Interstellar gas clouds produce intense, coherent microwaves. This radiation offers a glimpse of the size, content and distance of objects that may otherwise be invisible |
| The History of Synthetic Testosterone | Testosterone has long been banned in sports as a performance-enhancing drug. This use may soon be accepted in medicine alongside other legitimate hormonal therapies |
| The Mid-Cretaceous Superplume Episode | The earth has an erratic "heartbeat" that can release vast amounts of heat from deep within the planet. The latest "pulse" of the earth occurred 120 million years ago |
| Toward "Point One" | Gigabit chips are now in the laboratory. But the critical technology needed for manufacturing smaller circuits confronts diminishing returns |
| The Amateur Scientist | Producing Light from a Bubble of Air |
| Jan 1995 | |
| Ensuring the Longevity of Digital Documents | The digital medium is replacing paper in a dramatic record-keeping revolution. But such documents may be lost unless we act now |
| The Prion Diseases | Prions, once dismissed as an impossibility, have now gained wide recognition as extraordinary agents that cause a number of infectious, genetic and spontaneous disorders |
| Earth Before Pangea | The North American continent may be more nomadic than any of its inhabitants |
| Elastic Biomolecular Machines | Synthetic chains of amino acids, patterned after those in connective tissue, can transform heat and chemical energy into motion |
| The Oldest Old | People in their late nineties or older are often healthier and more robust than those 20 years younger. |
| The Birth and Disease of Nova V1974 Cygni | The brightest nova in 17 years answered many questions during its life and raised more in death |
| Egil's Bones | An Icelandic saga tells of a Viking who had unusual, menacing features, including a skull that could resist blows from an ax. He probably suffered from an ailment called Paget's disease |
| Better Than a Cure | The World Health Organization wants industry to step up its efforts to develop new vaccines. Can big business and a public health bureaucracy see eye to eye? |
| Mathematical Recreations | Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do |
| Dec 1994 | |
| Improving Automotive Efficiency | Batteries and fuel cells? Cleaner air and reduced oil imports can be won by redesigning conventional internal-combustion-powered vehicles |
| Fossils of The Flaming Cliffs | Mongolia's Gobi Desert contains one of the richest assemblages of dinosaur remains ever found. Paleontologists are uncovering much of the region's history. |
| Earth From Sky | Radar systems carried aloft by the space shuttle Endeavour provide a new perspective of the earth's environment |
| The New Genetic Medicines | Synthetic strands of DNA are being developed as drugs. Called antisense and triplex agents, they can potentially attack viruses and cancers without harming healthy tissue |
| The Duality in Matter and Light | In quantum mechanics, objects can behave as particles or as waves. Studies now emphasize that such complementary features are more fundamental than has generally been appreciated |
| Making Environmental Treaties Work | Many agreements aim to protect the global environment. But actually making them do so requires innovative approaches |
| Caulerpa | This tropical alga is the world's largest single-celled organism. Yet it differentiates into a complex structure of leaves, stems and roots |
| Trends: The Speed of Write | Scientists now transmit reports of their research - from first inspiration to final result - over electronic networks. Even live experiments can be witnessed on-line. Publishers and libraries may never be the same |
| The Amateur Scientist | Measuring the Energy Drain on Your Car |
| Nov 1994 | |
| Cerebrospinal Meningitis Epidemics | A debilitating and often deadly disease, meningitis remains common in many developing countries. New insights may soon enable us to predict and control outbreaks |
| The Self-Reproducing Inflationary Universe | Recent versions of the inflationary scenario describe the universe as a self-generating fractal that sprouts other inflationary universes |
| The Genetics of Flower Development | Flower cells learn which organs to become from genes that convey positional information. A model based on just half a dozen such genes can predict how mutations will affect floral structure |
| Sci Pixs: Escher's Metaphors | The prints and drawings of M.C. Escher give expression to abstract concepts of mathematics and science |
| Secure Distributed Computing | Networks and computer security often do not go well together, but the developers of the Athena system have yet to see their protocols fail |
| Why Children Talk to Themselves | Although children are often rebuked for talking to themselves out loud, doing so helps them control their behavior and master new skills |
| Resolving Zeno's Paradoxes | For millennia, mathematicians and philosophers have tried to refute Zeno's paradoxes, a set of riddles suggesting that motion is inherently impossible. At last, a solution has been found |
| Big-Time Biology | Molecular biology is - not so quietly - evolving from a science into an industry. Can it survive the transformation? |
| Mathematical Recreations | Playing Chess on a Go Board |
| Oct 1994 | |
| Life in the Universe | We comprehend the universe and our place in it. But there are limits to what we can explain at present. Will research at the boundaries of science reveal a special role for intelligent life? |
| The Evolution of the Universe | Some 15 billion years ago the universe emerged from a hot, dense sea of matter and energy. As the cosmos expanded and cooled, it spawned galaxies, stars, planets and life |
| The Earth's Elements | The elements that make up the earth and its inhabitants were created by an earlier generation of stars |
| The Evolution of the Earth | The formation of this planet and its atmosphere gave rise to life, which shaped the earth's subsequent development. Our future lies in interpreting this geologic past |
| The Origin of Life On Earth | Growing evidence supports the idea that the emergence of catalytic RNA was a crucial early step. How that RNA came into being remains unknown |
| The Evolution of Life on the Earth | The history of life is not necessarily progressive; it is certainly not predictable. The earths creatures have evolved through a series of contingent and fortuitous events |
| The Search for Extraterrestrial Life | The earth remains the only inhabited world known so far, but scientists are finding that the universe abounds with the chemistry of life |
| The Emergence of Intelligence | Language, foresight, musical skills and other hallmarks of intelligence are connected through an underlying facility that enhances rapid movements |
| Will Robots Inherit The Earth | Yes, as we engineer replacement bodies and brains using nanotechnology. We will then live longer, possess greater wisdom and enjoy capabilities as yet unimagined |
| Sustaining Life On Earth | Hope for an environmentally sustainable future lies in evolving institutions, technology and global concern |
| The Amateur Scientist | Building an Electronic Neuron |
| Sep 1994 | |
| Disarming Lyme Disease | Antibiotics are usually curative. A vaccine is in clinical trials. Next on the research agenda: how to help people suffering from chronic symptoms |
| Low-Energy Ways To Observe High-Energy Phenomena | By observing interactions that are forbidden in the Standard Model, physicists can peek at supersymmetric and other happenings |
| The Aluminum Beverage Can | Produced by the hundreds of millions every day, the modern can, robust enough to support the weight of an average adult, is a tribute to precision design and engineering |
| The Machinery of Cell Crawling | When a cell crawls, part of its fluid cytoplasm briefly turns rigid. This transformation depends on the orderly assembly and disassembly of a protein scaffold |
| Solving The Paradox of Deep Earthquakes | For decades, geophsicists have known that earthquakes should not occur at depth inside the earth. But they do. Finally, we know how and why these events happen |
| Privatizing Public Research | With the end of the cold war, national defense has given way to international competitiveness as the theme for federal support of research. As it now stands, the idea will probably not work well |
| The Scientific Importance of Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign | Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt brought French scientists and engineers to the Nile. Their work, in turn, brought the splendors of the Nile to Europe |
| Trends in Computing: Software's Chronic Crisis | Despite 50 years of progress, the software industry remains years - perhaps decades - short of the mature engineering discipline needed to meet the demands of an information-age society |
| Mathematical Recreations | A Subway Named Turing |
| Aug 1994 | |
| Third World Submarines | The proliferation of submarines may be a threat to established navies and regional stability, but to arms manufacturers it is a market opportunity |
| Extreme Ultraviolet Astronomy | Observations at these wavelengths, once thought impossible, are extending knowledge of the cosmos |
| Confocal Microscopy | For producing sharp two- or three-dimensional images with light,this microscopic technique is unsurpassed. It can also be applied for seeing deep inside the tissues of living specimens |
| Squids | (for superconducting quantum interference devices) are the most sensitive detectors of magnetic fields. Their applications range from diagnosis of brain tumors to tests of relativity |
| How Cells Produce Antigens | Cells alert the immune system to the presence of infections by displaying molecular complexes made from bits of their own proteins and those of invading organisms |
| Red Tides | Many experts believe these blooms of toxic algae have recently become more prevalent, posing a greater threat to human and marine health |
| The Eloquent Bones of Abu Hureya | The daily grind in an early Near Eastern agricultural community left revealing marks on the skeletons of the inhabitants |
| Trends In Women's Health: A Global View | Improving women's health means overhauling attitudes toward sex and addressing hidden epidemics, such as domestic violence |
| The Amateur Scientist | Scanning Underwater Surfaces |
| Jul 1994 | |
| Agriculture for Developing Nations | The capital-intensive, highly mechanized Western model may not suit every developing region. Systems of intensive polyculture, exemplified by rice cultivation, may be better |
| The Scientific Legacy of Apollo | The retrieved lunar rocks have helped settle questions about the moon's origin, its composition and even the early conditions that affected life on the earth |
| Synthetic Self-Replicating Molecules | Molecules crafted in the laboratory can make copies of themselves, "mutate," compete for resources and assemble, giving a paradigm for life |
| Barriers to Drug Delivery in Solid Tumors | Many tumors resist full penetration by anticancer agents. Such resistance may help explain why drugs that eradicate tumor cells in laboratory dishes often fail to eliminate malignancies in the body |
| Manatees | These giant aquatic grazers outchewed their rivals in the New World. Now humans, their sole enemy, hold the key to their survival |
| Jean Henri Fabre | This reclusive entomologist became one of the most popular educational authors of his day. A look at his greatest work reveals both the underappreciated achievements and the failings of his science |
| Late Ice Age Hunting Technology | Cro-Magnon artisans designed many kinds of spearpoints. By re-creating these weapons, we can better appreciate the sophisticated skill ancient hunters possessed |
| Trends: In Neuroscience | What is consciousness? Can neurobiology explain it, or - as some philosophers argue - does this most elusive and inescapable of all phenomena lie beyond experiment's reach? |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Ultimate in Anty-Particles |
| Jun 1994 | |
| Was The Race To The Moon Real? | In 1961 President John F. Kennedy made the goal to be first on the moon a matter of national honor. But were the Soviets truly in the running? |
| The Classical Limit of an Atom | By creating ultralarge atoms, physicists hope to study how the odd physics of the quantum world becomes the classical mechanics of everyday experience |
| Emotion, Memory and the Brain | The neural routes underlying the formation of memories about primitive emotional experiences, such as fear, have been traced |
| Adaptive Optics | Technology developed during the cold war is giving new capabilities to ground-based astronomical telescopes |
| Early Andean Cities | Some 3,800 years ago Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke and Taukachi-Konkan were carefully laid-out urban centers that housed many hundreds of people |
| The Sensory Basis of the Honeybee's Dance Language | Novel experiments, such as training bees to respond to sounds and recruiting them using a robot, have ended several debates surrounding the dance language |
| The Ethnobotanical Approach to Drug Discovery | Medicinal plants discovered by traditional societies are proving to be an important source of potentially therapeutic drugs |
| Grading the Gene Tests | From just a snippet of DNA, geneticists can sometimes forecast a patient's health. But ethical problems surrounding this testing are as ominous as the diseases themselves. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Genetically Altering Escherichia coli |
| May 1994 | |
| Evidence for a Biological Influence in Male Homosexuality | Two pieces of evidence, a structure within the human brain and a genetic link, point to a biological component for male homosexuality |
| The Biological Evidence Challenged | Even if genetic and neuroanatomical traits turn out to be correlated with sexual orientation, causation is far from proved |
| Bohm's Alternative to Quantum Mechanics | This theory, ignored for most of the past four decades, challenges the probabilistic, subjectivist picture of reality implicit in the standard formulation of quantum mechanics |
| How Interferons Fight Disease | They are not the cure-alls researchers once hoped they would be, but they are providing therapy for a variety of infectious illnesses and for some cancers |
| Chesley Bonestell's Astronomical Visions | This artist's unique combination of technical knowledge and graphic prowess brought astronomy alive and helped to advance the manned spaceflight program |
| Directional Drilling | New techniques enable crews to drill around natural or man-made obstructions for oil and gas. These same methods are used to sample underground pollutants and bury service lines |
| East Side Story: The Origin of Humankind | The Rift Valley in Africa holds the secret to the divergence of hominids from the great apes and to the emergence of human beings |
| Aging Airways | The FAA struggles to replace its winking, blinking air-traffic control equipment. But will the skies be safer? Can the agency survive the effort intact? |
| Mathematical Recreations | How Many Guards in the Gallery? |
| Apr 1994 | |
| Trade, Jobs and Wages | Blaming foreign competition for U.S. economic ills is ineffective. The real problems lie at home |
| Charge and Spin Density Waves | Electrons in some metals arrange into crystalline patterns that move in concert, respond peculiarly to applied voltages and show self-organization |
| Visualizing the Mind | Strategies of cognitive science and techniques of modern brain imaging open a window to the neural systems responsible for thought |
| Chemistry and Physics in the Kitchen | Bon appétit! Scientists are beginning to understand how chefs accomplish their culinary masterpieces and are making modest recipe suggestions of their own |
| The Dilemmas of Prostate Cancer | Do the risks of aggressive treatment for early prostate cancer outweigh the benefits? This question is one of several unresolved issues faced by those who treat, and those who have, prostate cancer |
| Precious Metal Objects of the Middle Sican | A Peruvian culture older than the Incas made unprecedented use of gold and other metals. Studies of Sicán metalworking techniques offer hints about this mysterious society |
| The Pioneer Mission to Venus | This multipart spacecraft spent 14 years scrutinizing the atmosphere, clouds and environs of the nearest planet. The results clarify the stunningly divergent evolutionary histories of Venus and the earth |
| Trends In Biological Restoration | Can we rebuild it? The field of ecological restoration is evaluating techniques to restore nature and is grappling with definitions of success |
| The Amateur Scientist | The Kitchen as a Lab |
| Mar 1994 | |
| Can the Growing Human Population Feed Itself? | As human numbers surge toward 10 billion, some experts are alarmed, others optimistic. Who is right? |
| The Earth's Mantle Below The Oceans | Samples collected from the ocean floor reveal how the mantles convective forces shape the earths surface, create its crust and perhaps even affect its rotation |
| Targeted Gene Replacement | Researchers can now create mice bearing any chosen mutations in any known gene. The technology is revolutionizing the study of mammalian biology |
| High-Speed Silicon-Germanium Electronics | The author has helped create electronic devices that outperform traditional silicon technology yet remain compatible with standard manufacturing methods |
| The Quantum Physics of Time Travel | Common sense may rule out such excursions - but the laws of physics do not |
| The Dynamics of Social Dilemmas | Individuals in groups must often choose between acting selfishly or cooperating for the common good. Social models explain how group cooperation arises - and why that behavior can suddenly change |
| Frogs and Toads in Deserts | Amphibians seem unlikely desert denizens. But those living in dry climes reveal a diverse and unusual array of adaptations to life at the extremes |
| Wire Pirates | Consumers and entrepreneurs crowd onto the information highway, where electronic bandits and other hazards await them |
| Mathematical Recreations | The New Merology of Beastly Numbers |
| Feb 1994 | |
| The Future of American Defense | U.S. forces were shaped for conflict with a superpower. The emerging multilateral world calls for a smaller, more flexible and far less expensive military |
| Sulfate Aerosol and Climatic Change | Industrial emissions of sulfur form particles that may be reflecting solar radiation back into space, thereby masking the greenhouse effect over some parts of the earth |
| The Molecular Architects of Body Design | Putting a human gene into a fly may sound like the basis for a science fiction film, but it demonstrates that nearly identical molecular mechanisms define body shapes in all animals |
| When Is Seeing Believing? | Digital technology for manipulating images has subverted the certainty of photographic evidence |
| Liquid Mirrors | Light, liquid-mercury mirrors, which can potentially be made much larger than glass mirrors, may enable astronomers to construct enormous telescopes and see farther than ever before |
| AIDS and the Use of Injected Drugs | The AIDS epidemic continues to grow among drug users who inject. It could be curbed if governments more readily adopted effective prevention programs |
| The Terror Birds of South America | These huge, swift creatures were the dominant carnivores of the continent for millions of years, until competitors drove them into extinction |
| Particle Metaphysics | In the aftermath of the Superconducting Super Collider's death, physicists are divided over how - or even whether - they should continue their search for a unified theory of nature |
| The Amateur Scientist | Making a Mirror by Spinning a Liquid |
| Jan 1994 | |
| Wetlands | These havens of biodiversity are often endangered because they can be hard to identify. Understanding their variable characteristics can lead to more successful conservation efforts |
| The Search for Strange Matter | Between nucleus and neutron star stretches a desert devoid of nuclear matter. Could strange quark matter fill the gap? |
| The Toxins of Cyanobacteria | These poisons, which periodically and fatally contaminate the water supplies of wild and domestic animals, can also harm humans. But they are being coaxed into doing good |
| Breaking Intractability | Problems that would otherwise be impossible to solve can now be computed, as long as one settles for what happens on the average |
| Animal Sexuality | Animals have evolved a range of mechanisms to determine whether an individual takes on masculine or feminine traits. Cross-species comparisons offer some surprising insights into the nature of sexuality |
| World Linguistic Diversity | The ancestor of each language was taken to its current territory by pioneers, farmers, traders or a conquering elite. Multidisciplinary studies are clarifying their respective roles |
| The First Data Networks | The optical telegraph is almost forgotten. Two centuries ago it moved messages over hundreds of kilometers in a few minutes |
| Trends: A War Not Won | Despite dramatic scientific gains, cancer remains an undaunted killer |
| Mathematical Recreations | Knots, Links and Videotape |
| Dec 1993 | |
| The Fertility Decline in Developing Countries | Family size is decreasing in many Third World countries. The reasons provide the key to slowing population growth |
| The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory | A steady stream of data from this orbiting observatory is painting a portrait of a dynamic and often enigmatic cosmos |
| MHC Polymorphism and Human Origins | The diversity of human tissue types was generated long before Homo sapiens emerged |
| Africanized Bees in the U.S. | Africanized honeybees have reached the U.S. from points south. As more of them arrive, they will certainly wreak some havoc but perhaps not the type their "killer bee" nickname would imply |
| Drugs by Design | Structure-based design, an innovative approach to developing drugs, has recently spawned many promising therapeutic agents, including several now in human trials for treating AIDS, cancer and other diseases |
| Coupled Oscillators and Biological Synchronization | A subtle mathematical thread connects clocks, ambling elephants, brain rhythms and the onset of chaos |
| The Death Cults of Prehistoric Malta | New archaeological excavations reveal that as the ancient island societies suffered from environmental decline, they developed an extreme religious preoccupation with life and death |
| Current Events | Now that the blizzard of hype has stopped, workers are gradually realizing the promise of high-temperature superconductors |
| The Amateur Scientist | Electronic Fireflies |
| Nov 1993 | |
| The Case for Free Trade | Environmentalists are wrong to fear the effects of free trade. Both causes can be advanced by imaginative solutions |
| The Perils of Free Trade | Economists routinely ignore its hidden costs to the environment and the community |
| Chemical Signaling in the Brain | Studies of acetylcholine receptors in the electric organs of fish have generated critical insights into how neurons in the human brain communicate with one another |
| X-Ray Binaries | In these systems, ultradense neutron stars feed on their more sedate companions. Such stellar cannibalism produces brilliant outpourings of x-rays and drastically alters the evolution of both stars |
| The Art of Boris Artzybasheff | A compelling mid-20th century vision of the machines of war and peace |
| High-Power Electronics | A new generation of silicon switches enables power grids to meet the needs of utility customers with high efficiency and reliability |
| Ancient DNA | Genetic information that had seemed lost forever turns out to linger in the remains of long-dead plants and animals. Evolutionary change can at last be observed directly |
| Trends in the Sociology of Science | Despite decades of struggle, women retain a small minority in the scientific commmunity |
| Mathematical Recreations | Fermat's Last Time-Trip |
| Oct 1993 | |
| Clearing the Air in Los Angeles | Although Los Angeles has the most polluted skies in the nation, it is one of the few cities where air quality has improved in recent decades |
| Large Igneous Provinces | These vast fields of lava record powerful but geologically brief pulses of magmatic activity. Their formation may have triggered significant changes in the global environment |
| Evolutionarily Mobile Modules in Proteins | Many proteins consist of a fairly small set of modular elements. How these units spread and multiplied during evolution is not altogether clear, but a pattern may be emerging |
| Electrorheological Fluids | Some liquids solidify instantly when exposed to an electric field. Such protean materials may give engineers quicker, more adaptive machines |
| Water-Pollinated Plants | Once thought to be mere aberrations of nature, these flowering aquatic species provide evidence for the evolutionary convergence toward efficient pollination strategies |
| Simulating Brain Damage | Adults with brain damage make some bizarre errors when reading words. If a network of simulated neurons is trained to read and then is damaged, it produces strikingly similar behavior |
| Raising the Vasa | This Swedish man-of-war foundered on her maiden voyage and slept for three centuries at the bottom of Stockholm Harbor. Here is the story of her resurrection |
| The Death of Proof | Computers are transforming the way mathematicians discover, prove and communicate ideas, but is there a place for absolute certainty in this brave new world? |
| The Amateur Scientist | Making Fluids into Solids with Magnets |
| Sep 1993 | |
| Life, Death and the Immune System | By defining and defending the self, the immune system makes life possible; malfunction causes illness and death. Study of the system provides a unifying view of biology |
| How the Immune System Develops | Environmental and genetic signals cue cells as they differentiate into the many lineages that recognize foreign antigens and fight off invaders |
| How the Immune System Recognizes Invaders | Cells of the immune system recombine gene fragments to create the millions of receptors needed to identify and attack the myriad pathogens encountered throughout life |
| How the Immune System Recognizes the Body | The human immune system has developed several elegant processes that allow it to repel foreign invaders and yet not attack the body itself |
| Infectious Diseases and the Immune System | When bacteria, viruses and other pathogens infect the body, they hide in different places. Each component of the immune system is most adept at rousting trespassers from one location |
| AIDS and the Immune System | The AIDS virus exploits the immune system to replicate itself. New findings are showing how it wreaks havoc on the body's defenses |
| Autoimmune Disease | Misguided assaults on the self produce multiple sclerosis, juvenile diabetes and other chronic illnesses. Promising therapies are emerging |
| Allergy and the Immune System | In allergic individuals, parts of the immune system misdirect their power at innocuous substances, producing sometimes deadly symptoms |
| The Immune System as a Therapeutic Agent | New technologies and insights into the molecular underpinnings of the immune system provide the basis for novel approaches to vaccines and other therapies |
| Will We Survive? | As host and pathogen evolve together, will the immune system retain the upper hand? |
| Mathematical Recreations | A Shepherd Takes a Sheep Shot |
| Aug 1993 | |
| Eliminating Nuclear Warheads | More than 50,000 nuclear weapons may be decommissioned during the next 10 years. Their disposal requires both technical and political innovations |
| Faster than Light? | Experiments in quantum optics show that two distant events can influence each other faster than any signal could have traveled between them |
| T Cell Anergy | When cells of the immune system "see" antigens in the absence of the right cosignals, they shut themselves down instead of attacking. Future therapies might capitalize |
| A Universe of Color | Color photography continues to be an important astronomical tool that reveals details of celestial objects not yet captured by modern electronic detectors |
| Mastering Chaos | It is now possible to control some systems that behave chaotically. Engineers can use chaos to stabilize lasers, electronic circuits and even the hearts of animals |
| Diet and Primate Evolution | Many characteristics of modern primates, including our own species, derive from an early ancestor's practice of taking most of its food from the tropical canopy |
| The Great Radium Scandal | William J. A. Bailey grew rich from his radium-laced patent medicine until it killed a leading socialite. The scandal helped to usher in modern standards of radioisotope regulation |
| Trends in Communications | A technophile vice president and the information, entertainment and communications industries have discovered the source of next generation electronic products - it's the network. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Circuits That Get Chaos in Sync |
| Jul 1993 | |
| Risk Analysis and Management | Inadequate approaches to handling risks may result in bad policy. Fortunately, rational techniques for assessment now exist |
| Viral Quasispecies | The standard definition of a biological species does not apply to viruses. A more expansive and dynamic view of viral populations holds clues to understanding and defeating them |
| Australia's Polar Dinosaurs | Their excellent night vision and apparent warm blood raise a question: Could they have survived icehouse conditions at the end of the Cretaceous period? |
| Accurate Measurement of Time | Increasingly accurate clocks - now losing no more than a second over millions of years - are leading to such advances as refined tests of relativity and improved navigation systems. |
| Surgical Treatment of Cardiac Arrhythmias | To save the life of a doomed patient, the author and his colleagues developed a now standard surgical procedure for correcting lethally fast heartbeats in many people susceptible to them |
| Fuzzy Logic | The binary logic of modern computers often falls short when describing the vagueness of the real world. Fuzzy logic offers more graceful alternatives |
| Edwin Hubble and the Expanding Universe | More than any other individual, he shaped astronomers' present understanding of an expanding universe populated by a multitude of galaxies |
| Sustaining the Amazon | Can scientists reconcile the inevitability of economic development with the preservation of rain forests? |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Topological Dressmaker |
| Jun 1993 | |
| Underground Records of Changing Climate | Boreholes drilled into continental rock can recover fossil temperatures that reveal the climate of past eras. The results require careful interpretation |
| The Most Distant Radio Galaxies | Astronomers have identified powerful radio emitting galaxies that existed when the universe was only one tenth its present age. These objects offer a glimpse at the early evolution of giant galaxies |
| The Centrosome | By directing the assembly of a cell's skeleton, this organelle controls division, motility and shape. The details of its structure and function are just beginning to emerge |
| The Future of the Transistor | As it has grown smaller and cheaper, engineers have scoffed at theoretical barriers to its progress - so far |
| Monogamy and the Prairie Vole | Studies of the prairie vole - a secretive, mouselike animal - have revealed hormones that may be responsible for monogamous behavior |
| Autism | Autistic individuals suffer from a biological defect. Although they cannot be cured, much can be done to make life more hospitable for them |
| The Great Well of China | More than 150 years ago the Chinese drilled one kilometer into the earth to extract brine for making salt. The well was the culmination of an 800-year-old technology |
| Eugenics Revisited | Scientists are linking genes to a host of complex human disorders and traits, but just how valid - and useful - are these findings? |
| Mathematical Recreations | A Bundling Fool Beats the Wrap |
| May 1993 | |
| The Economics of Life and Death | Mortality data can be used to analyze economic performance. Such information can illuminate critical aspects of the economic organization of society |
| The Core-Mantle Boundary | This interactive zone may be the most dynamic part of the planet, directly affecting the earth's rotation and magnetic field. |
| How Cells Respond to Stress | During emergencies, cells produce stress proteins that repair damage. Inquiry into how they work offers promise for coping with infection, autoimmune disease and even cancer |
| Intelligent Gels | Soft aggregations of long-chain molecules can shrink or swell in response to stimuli. They may form the basis of a new kind of machine. |
| The Power of Maps | The authoritative appearance of modern maps belies their inherent biases. To use maps intelligently, the viewer must understand their subjective limitations |
| The Neurobiology of Fear | Researchers are beginning to tease apart the neurochemical processes that give rise to different fears in monkeys. The results may lead to new ways to treat anxiety in humans |
| P. A. M. Dirac and the Beauty of Physics | He preferred the beautiful theory to the fact-buttressed ugly one because, as he noted, facts change. He proved his point by predicting the existence of antimatter. |
| Inconstant Cosmos | Space-based telescopes endowed with x-ray and gamma-ray vision observe an ever restless, dynamic universe. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Mapping to Preserve a Watershed |
| Apr 1993 | |
| The Aging of the Human Species | Our species has modified the evolutionary forces that have always limited life expectancy. Policymakers must consequently prepare to meet the needs of a population that will soon be much older |
| Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics | Atoms and photons in small cavities behave completely unlike those in free space. Their quirks illustrate some of the principles of quantum physics and make possible the development of new sensors |
| Listening with Two Ears | Studies of barn owls offer insight into just how the brain combines acoustic signals from two sides of the head into a single spatial perception |
| Catalysis on Surfaces | Scientists can now observe how solids interact with individual molecules to speed reactions. Information about these catalysts is being used to improve everything from materials synthesis to pollution control |
| The Reproductive Behavior of the Stickleback | To reproduce, this tiny fish engages in behaviors not commonly associated with such animals, including luring intruders away and cannibalizing another's eggs |
| The Evolution of Virulence | Human behavior appears to influence whether pathogens evolve into benign or harmful forms. Health policy should therefore include evolutionary considerations |
| Modern Humans in the Levant | Modern Homo sapiens preceded Neanderthals on Mount Carmel and followed a similar pattern of life for 60,000 years. Biology thus cannot explain the cultural revolution that then ensued |
| Trends in Materials | Rehabilitating the nation's aging infrastructure may depend on how well industry, government and academia tweak the properties of materials, from lowly concrete to aerospace composites |
| Mathematical Recreations | The Rise and Fall of the Lunar M-pire |
| Mar 1993 | |
| Why America's Bridges are Crumbling | Inadequate maintenance has piled up a repair bill that will take decades to pay off. Indeed, the scope of the problem is only now becoming clear |
| Black Holes and the Centrifugal Force Paradox | An object orbiting close to a black hole feels a centrifugal force pushing inward rather than outward. This paradoxical effect has important implications for astrophysics |
| Teaching the Immune System to Fight Cancer | Certain molecules on tumors can serve as targets for attack by cells of the immune system. These tumor-rejection antigens may provide a basis for precisely targeted anticancer therapy |
| Flat Panel Displays | Recent advances in microelectronics and liquid crystals make possible video screens that can be hung on a wall or worn on a wrist. |
| How Parasitic Wasps Find Their Hosts | Besides recognizing odors from their caterpillar hosts, wasps also learn to identify compounds released by the plant on which the caterpillars feed |
| Ice Age Lamps | The invention of fat-burning lamps toward the end of the Ice Age helped to transform European culture. It coincided with several other major technological advances |
| Flooded Forests of the Amazon | Parts of the vast rain forest are as much aquatic as terrestrial ecosystems. Unique adaptations allow creatures to thrive in these inundated woods |
| Trends in Genetics DNA'S New Twists | The known rules of genetics are only the beginning. The newly discovered abilities of a familiar molecule are influencing theories about evolution and the inheritance of disease. |
| The Amateur Scientist | Flight-Testing Fruit Flies |
| Feb 1993 | |
| Environmental Change and Violent Conflict | Growing scarcities of renewable resources can contribute to social instability and civil strife |
| Resistance in High-Temperature Superconductors | Researchers are beginning to see how the motion of magnetic vortices in these materials can interfere with the flow of current |
| Zinc Fingers | They play a key part in regulating the activity of genes in many species, from yeast to humans. Fewer than 10 years ago no one knew they existed |
| How Should Chemists Think? | Chemists can create natural molecules by unnatural means. Or they can make beautiful structures never seen before. Which should be their grail? |
| A Technology of Kinetic Art | Delicate interplay of weights and balances choreographs the author's sculptures so that the gentlest gusts of air set their parts in motion |
| Breaching the Blood-Brain Barrier | Development of a therapy for meningitis has revealed how bacteria penetrate the blood-brain barrier. This knowledge may help physicians treat other disorders of the brain |
| Redeeming Charles Babbage's Mechanical Computer | A successful effort to build a working, three-ton Babbage calculating engine suggests that history has misjudged the pioneer of automatic computing |
| Trends in Russian Science | Researchers in the Russian Federation are in desperate straits. Plummeting budgets and pitiful salaries are driving many to leave the country. Those who stay are being forced to become merchant adventurers. |
| Mathematical Recreations | A Partly True Story |
| Jan 1993 | |
| Coral Bleaching | Environmental stresses can cause irreparable harm to coral reefs. Unusually high seawater temperatures may be a principal culprit |
| How the Milky Way Formed | Its halo and disk suggest that the collapse of a gas cloud, stellar explosions and the capture of galactic fragments may have all played a role |
| Carbohydrates in Cell Recognition | Telltale surface sugars enable cells to identify and interact with one another. New drugs aimed at those carbohydrates could stop infection and inflammation |
| The Earliest History of the Earth | Radioactive dating techniques have illuminated vast stretches of geologic history, bringing the most ancient eras of the earth's evolution into view |
| Madagascar's Lemurs | These primates can tell us a great deal about our own evolutionary past. But many species are already extinct, and the habitats of those that remain are shrinking fast |
| Quantum Dots | Nanotechnologists can now confine electrons to pointlike structures. Such "designer atoms" may lead to new electronic and optical devices |
| The Mind and Donald O. Hebb | By rooting behavior in ideas, and ideas in the brain, Hebb laid the groundwork for modern neuroscience. His theory prefigured computer models of neural networks |
| Adapting To Complexity | From a primeval sea of organic molecules arose plants, animals, global ecosystems, intelligent beings, international organizations. What drives the natural world toward complexity? |
| The Amateur Scientist | Biodiversity in the Backyard |
Compiled by Dave Lo, article summaries © Scientific American