October 2008
Scientific American Magazine

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Cover; October 2008; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; October 2008; by Staff Editor; 3 Page(s)

From the Editor; October 2008; by John Rennie; 1 Page(s)

All Together Now

Letters; October 2008; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

Climate Change Ethics -- Trust -- Baby Universes

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; October 2008; by Daniel C. Schlenoff; 1 Page(s)

Star Power -- Car Thieves -- Expensive Horse-Power

Updates; October 2008; by Philip Yam; 1 Page(s)

Bubble Fusion -- Tortoise Triumph? -- Virus-Infecting Viruses -- Cheaper LEDs

Suffocating Seas; October 2008; by Barbara Juncosa; 2 Page(s)

Climate change may be sparking new and bigger "dead zones"

The New Ice Doctors; October 2008; by Krista West; 3 Page(s)

Researchers hone seismic skills to peer inside glaciers

Calls of the Wild; October 2008; by Michael Tennesen; 1 Page(s)

Tracking how human activity upsets natural symphonies

Green Pay Dirt; October 2008; by Steve Mirsky; 2 Page(s)

Why strategies to tackle climate change will boost the economy

Annotating the Real World; October 2008; by Steven Ashley; 2 Page(s)

Augmented reality starts making commercial headway

Danger in the Forest; October 2008; by Charles Q. Choi; 2 Page(s)

Drug traffickers and other outlaws confront scientists in a reserve

Rethinking the Wrinkling; October 2008; by Melinda Wenner; 3 Page(s)

Key genes, rather than cell and DNA damage, as causes of aging

News Scan Briefs; October 2008; by Charles Q. Choi; Nikhil Swaminathan; Philip Yam; David Biello; JR Minkel; 2 Page(s)

Scale Model for Armor; Making a Stand; Smoke-Free Funds; No Ruling Out Life; Infection Correction; Microscope on a Dime; Pluripotent Cells Motor On; Anchors Away for Reefs; Exercise Pill

SciAm Perspectives: Questions for Would-be Presidents; October 2008; by The Editors; 1 Page(s)

For the science-policy positions of McCain and Obama to be meaningful, they need to be more detailed

Sustainable Developments: Coping with a Persistent Oil Crisis; October 2008; by Jeffrey D. Sachs; 1 Page(s)

With global demand for cars accelerating, the best approach is to redesign cars and transport systems

Skeptic: A Random Walk through Middle Land; October 2008; by Michael Shermer; 1 Page(s)

How randomness rules our world and why we cannot see it, Part 2

Anti Gravity: Fuel¿s Errand; October 2008; by Steve Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

What each state can bring to the hunt for oil alternatives

Follow the Bouncing Universe; October 2008; by Martin Bojowald; 6 Page(s)

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

Lighting Up the Brain; October 2008; by Gero Miesenböck; 8 Page(s)

A clever combination of optics and genetics is allowing neuroscientists to map¿and even control¿brain circuits with unprecedented precision

Birth of an Ocean; October 2008; by Eitan Haddok; 8 Page(s)

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

The Search for Intelligence; October 2008; by Carl Zimmer; 8 Page(s)

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

Web Science Emerges; October 2008; by Nigel Shadbolt and Tim Berners-Lee; 6 Page(s)

Studying the Web will reveal better ways to exploit information, prevent identity theft, revolutionize industry and manage our ever growing online lives

Barcode of Life; October 2008; by Mark Y. Stoeckle and Paul D. N. Hebert; 6 Page(s)

Inspired by commercial barcodes, DNA tags could provide a quick, inexpensive way to identify species

With Open-Source Arms; October 2008; by Sam Boykin; 6 Page(s)

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; October 2008; by Heather Wax; 3 Page(s)

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; October 2008; by Mark Fischetti; 2 Page(s)

Voting machines

Reviews; October 2008; by Michelle Press; 1 Page(s)

A Very Human Obsession -- Physics Out of Whack -- The World of the Small

Ask the Experts; October 2008; by Neil F. Comins; Peter H. Gleick; 1 Page(s)

What would happen to Earth if the moon were only half as massive? Why don't we get more water from desalination?