April 1999
Scientific American Magazine

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

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

From the Editors; April 1999; by Rennie; 1 Page(s)

Attack of the Robo-Editor

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

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

In Focus: Facing an Ill Wind; April 1999; by Beardsley; 2 Page(s)

The U.S. gears up to deal with biological terrorism

A Probing Prelude; April 1999; by Zorpette; 1 Page(s)

Global Surveyor bolsters the theory that water persisted on Mars

A Hundred Billion Years of Solitude; April 1999; by Musser; 1 Page(s)

Evidence for an accelerating universe continues to pile up

In Brief; April 1999; by Yam; 3 Page(s)

Origin of AIDS Identified; Self-Organizing Sulfur; Reattaching the Head to the Neck; Long-Lasting Element 114; Seal-Cam; Salt-Free Spit; Killer Headaches; Single-Strain Vaccine Danger; IT Gets the Bucks

Anti Gravity: Diamond Reflections; April 1999; by Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Who better than Roald Hoffmann to share my symmetry theory with, I thought.

Whiteout; April 1999; by Nemecek; 2 Page(s)

Widespread coral bleaching, even in deep waters, continues to perplex scientists

Mutations Galore; April 1999; by Beardsley; 2 Page(s)

Humans have high mutation rates. But why worry?

By the Numbers: Health Care Costs; April 1999; by Doyle; 1 Page(s)

Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S.

Profile: Not Just Fun and Games; April 1999; by Alpert; 2 Page(s)

Best known for inventing the game of Life, John H. Conway is adept at finding the theorems hidden in simple puzzles

Waiting for the Supercar; April 1999; by Zorpette; 2 Page(s)

Overly ambitious goals may have hurt the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles

Taking Ballistics by Storm; April 1999; by Drollette; 1 Page(s)

An electronic gun with no mechanical parts fires a million rounds per minute

A Bug's Lift; April 1999; by Scott; 2 Page(s)

The Defense Department is looking for a few good mechanical insects

Japan Fields a Big-League Light Gatherer; April 1999; by Stix; 1 Page(s)

On January 28 the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan exhibited the "first light" snapshots from Subaru, a new, world-class optical and infrared telescope built atop Mauna Kea, the 4,205-meter (13,796-foot) dormant volcano on Hawaii's Big Island.

Cyber View; April 1999; by Gibbs; 1 Page(s)

Watch the Watchers

The Promise of Tissue Engineering; April 1999; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Imagine a day when people with liver failure can be cured with implanted "neo-organs" made of liver cells and plastic fibers; when insulin-dependent diabetics can forgo their frequent insulin injections because they have semisynthetic replacement pancreases; when kidney dialysis machines are obsolete because anyone with damaged kidneys can be outfitted with new ones grown from their very own cells.

Growing New Organs; April 1999; by Mooney, Mikos; 6 Page(s)

Researchers have taken the first steps toward creating semisynthetic, living organs that can be used as human replacement parts

Embryonic Stem Cells for Medicine; April 1999; by Pedersen; 6 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Lysaght, Aebischer; 7 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Parenteau, Naughton; 3 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Langer, Vacanti; 4 Page(s)

The obstacles to building new organs from cells and synthetic polymers are daunting but surmountable

Is Space Finite?; April 1999; by Luminet, Starkman, Weks; 8 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Copeland, Proudfoot; 6 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Stix,; 8 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Vreeland, Jr.; 7 Page(s)

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; April 1999; by Carlson; 3 Page(s)

Detecting "Hot" Clouds

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

Tangling with Topology

Reviews; April 1999; by Quigg, staff editors; 4 Page(s)

Reviews

Commentary: Wonders - Circumnavigators All; April 1999; by Morrison, Morrison; 2 Page(s)

What is now commonplace at one time amazed the world.

Commentary : Connections - Zzzzzzz; April 1999; by Burke; 2 Page(s)

A recent hour of press hysteria about a stage hypnotist (whose subjects claimed he had caused them long-term anguish) reminded me of how it all started.

Working Knowledge; April 1999; by Bloomfield; 1 Page(s)

The Flight of the Frisbee