April 1998
Scientific American Magazine

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Cover; April 1998; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; April 1998; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

From the Editors; April 1998; by Rennie; 1 Page(s)

How Scientific American Works

Letters to the Editors; April 1998; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; April 1998; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

In Focus: Lives in the Balance; April 1998; by Beardsley; 2 Page(s)

Researchers plan to modify HIV and try it as a live AIDS vaccine

Endangered; April 1998; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

Other explanations now appear more likely than Martian bacteria

Clock Setting; April 1998; by Hopkin; 3 Page(s)

Lighting up your knees may reset your circadian rhythms

Anti Gravity: Comic Relief; April 1998; by Mirsky; 2 Page(s)

Medical conventions are the last place one might expect to find clowns, other than speakers extolling the virtues of managed care.

In Brief; April 1998; by Leutwyler; 3 Page(s)

Hazy Findings; Cook Out...; Way Out; Hairless Heirs; Science of the Union; Precambrian Preserves; Declassified Data; Making Transplants Take; Extragalactic Interloper; Reading, Typing and 'Rithmetic?

On Shaky Ground; April 1998; by Schneider; 2 Page(s)

Greek researcher claims to predict earthquakes from electrical measurements

By the Numbers: Forest Density in the U.S.; April 1998; by Doyle; 1 Page(s)

As far back as the Civil War, Americans were concerned that the forests were being destroyed by logging and the conversion of woodland to farms.

Profile: An Ethnologist in Cyberspace; April 1998; by Holloway; 2 Page(s)

Sociologist Sherry Turkle explores the emotional and intellectual connections to virtual pets, chat rooms and other products of the computer age

Not What the Doctor Ordered; April 1998; by Nemecek; 2 Page(s)

Attempts begin to halt the practice of donating expired and unlabeled drugs to needy countries

Taking on the Energizer Bunny; April 1998; by Hayashi; 1 Page(s)

Researchers develop fuel cells for portable electronics

Fertilizing the Sea; April 1998; by Nadis; 1 Page(s)

A firm wants to add nutrients to the ocean to create fisheries and soak up carbon dioxide

A New Fat Pipe; April 1998; by Zorpette; 1 Page(s)

A powerful consortium pushes a new path to the Internet

Cyber View; April 1998; by NA; 1 Page(s)

The Unabomber and the Bland Decade

Cosmic Antimatter; April 1998; by Tarlé, Swordy; 6 Page(s)

Antiparticles are rare and maddeningly elusive. But they may hold clues to some of the mysteries of astrophysics

Post-Polio Syndrome; April 1998; by Halstead; 6 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Ford; 4 Page(s)

Re-creating the experiments of pioneering microscopists reveals what they actually saw with their simple, single-lens instruments

How Females Choose Their Mates; April 1998; by Dugatkin, Godin; 6 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Berns; 6 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Special Report

New Satellites for Personal Communications; April 1998; by Evans; 8 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Pelton; 6 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Hills; 6 Page(s)

Seamless switching between networks will draw users to wireless data services. A working model is now in operation

Moving beyond Wireless Voice Systems; April 1998; by Stutzman, Dietrich; 2 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Hughes, Hendricks; 3 Page(s)

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; April 1998; by Carlson; 2 Page(s)

Making Experiments out of Thin Air

Mathematical Recreations; April 1998; by Stewart; 3 Page(s)

Repealing the Law of Averages

Commentary: Wonders - The Timekeeping ELF; April 1998; by Morrison; 2 Page(s)

Since the rise of the medieval city, the mechanical clock and its progeny have increasingly ordered our comings and goings.

Commentary: Connections - Sheer Poetry; April 1998; by Burke; 2 Page(s)

I was reading the poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty recently and thinking how often the best-laid plans get hit by Murphy's Law.

Working Knowledge; April 1998; by Goldberg; 1 Page(s)

Self-operating Napkin