May 1999
Scientific American Magazine

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Cover; May 1999; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; May 1999; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

From the Editors, including Masthead; May 1999; by Rennie; 1 Page(s)

Survivors and a Winner

Letters to the Editors; May 1999; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; May 1999; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

In Focus: The Magnetic Attraction; May 1999; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

A long race to create faster memory chips that never lose data yields prototypes at last

Here Come The Suns; May 1999; by Musser; 1 Page(s)

Stars with planets seem to harbor "heavy" elements

Anti Gravity: Supply and Demand; May 1999; by Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Ah, spring, and the thrill of romance is in the air.

In Brief; May 1999; by Staff Editors; 3 Page(s)

Atom Lasers and Sluggish Light; Eyeing Protons; Incredible Shrinking Brain; Nanoweight Scale; Olestra: All in the Mind?; Y2Hot; An Arm and a Leg; Temper, Temper

Prevented Prevention; May 1999; by Nelson; 2 Page(s)

Treating sexually transmitted diseases may not restrain the spread of HIV

Wink of an Eye; May 1999; by Netting; 2 Page(s)

Half-asleep ducks can control which hemisphere gets to snooze

Field of Dreams; May 1999; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

Undeterred by failure, SETI researchers plan to build a telescope of their own

By the Numbers: Labor Unions under Stress; May 1999; by Doyle; 1 Page(s)

Why have American labor unions fared so poorly, whereas those in Scandinavia have fared so well?

Profile: A Medical Crusader for Editorial Freedom; May 1999; by Beardsley; 2 Page(s)

Fired journal editor George D. Lundberg makes it a religion to serve the interests of patients

Leaving a Bad Taste; May 1999; by Firth; 2 Page(s)

The furor in Britain raises health safety concerns about genetically modified foods

Quantum Sculpting; May 1999; by Collins; 2 Page(s)

Feedback enables researchers to control an atom's wave function

Adam's Rib?; May 1999; by Ezzell; 2 Page(s)

Broadening Viagra's reach may elucidate the physiology of female sexuality

Micromicrophones; May 1999; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

New sensors detect sound using light and heat

Cyber View; May 1999; by Grossman; 2 Page(s)

Putting the Squeeze on Music

Unmasking Black Holes; May 1999; by Lasota (sidebar by McClintock); 7 Page(s)

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; May 1999; by Kempermann, Gage; 6 Page(s)

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!; May 1999; by González; 10 Page(s)

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; May 1999; by Wroe; 7 Page(s)

Australian mammals were not all as cute as koalas. Some were as ferocious as they were bizarre

Ada and the First Computer; May 1999; by Kim, Toole; 6 Page(s)

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; May 1999; by Venkateswar; 7 Page(s)

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; May 1999; by Bosak, Bray; 5 Page(s)

The combination of hypertext and a global Internet started a revolution. A new ingredient, XML, is poised to finish the job

The Amateur Scientist; May 1999; by Carlson; 3 Page(s)

Hot Views of the Microscopic World

Mathematical Recreations; May 1999; by Stewart; 2 Page(s)

A Puzzle for Pirates

Reviews; May 1999; by Smuts, staff editors; 4 Page(s)

Reviews

Commentary: Wonders - Galileo's Cicada; May 1999; by Morrison, Morrison; 2 Page(s)

The alphabet has fascinated Phylis ever since she first learned her ABCs.

Commentary: Connections - Entente Cordiale; May 1999; by Burke; 2 Page(s)

It was only the other week that I realized that the Anglo-French SST is called Concorde to celebrate Anglo-French amity.

Working Knowledge; May 1999; by Garavito; 1 Page(s)

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