March 2000
Scientific American Magazine

Digital subscribers-sign in for full access

Cover; March 2000; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; March 2000; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

From the Editors; March 2000; by Rennie; 1 Page(s)

The Second War of the Worlds

Letters to the Editors; March 2000; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; March 2000; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

In Focus: Granting Immunity; March 2000; by Nemecek; 2 Page(s)

Depite rising parental fears and rumors of dangers, vaccines are safer than ever

Running the Dam Gauntlet; March 2000; by Janowski; 1 Page(s)

In the name of science, a rubber fish serves as stunt double

Burning Times for Hot Fusion; March 2000; by Ariza; 2 Page(s)

ITER scientists remain determined to take the next step in fusion

In Brief; March 2000; by Collins, Musser, Martindale,Yam; 3 Page(s)

Heart of Darkness; Superbug Cleans Up; Moon Illusion Explained; Lou Gehrig's Virus?; Surrogate Cat; One Last Stretch; Shrinking to Survive; Organic Space

Brain Terrain; March 2000; by Ezzell; 2 Page(s)

Mapping the functions of various areas of the human brain is difficult - and controversial

By the Numbers: Minorities and Bachelor?s Degrees in the U.S.; March 2000; by Doyle; 1 Page(s)

The proportion of young people awarded bachelor's degrees rose from 2 percent in 1900 to 19 percent in 1950 (when millions of veterans surged onto campuses via the G.I. Bill) to 32 percent in 1999.

Anti Gravity: C-A-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T; March 2000; by Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Anti-cat software

Brain Invaders; March 2000; by LeVay; 1 Page(s)

A new auditory prosthesis implanted directly into the brain stem may restore hearing

Profile: Between Burb and Burg; March 2000; by Musser; 2 Page(s)

The father of New Urbanism, Andres Duany, is reshaping suburbia - and the practice of architecture

Bidding on Bones; March 2000; by Simpson; 2 Page(s)

Internet auctions are putting fossils out of paleontologists' reach

Working Under Pressure; March 2000; by Beardsley; 1 Page(s)

Pushing DNA into cells makes a safe form of gene therapy work

Bioagent Chip; March 2000; by Pescovitz; 1 Page(s)

A sensor to detect a biological warfare attack in seconds

Cyberview; March 2000; by Grossman; 1 Page(s)

Mobilizing the Internet

Why Go to Mars?; March 2000; by Zorpette; 4 Page(s)

In the first of this group of articles about human missions to Mars, staff writer Glenn Zorpette examines the main goal: looking for life

How to Go to Mars?; March 2000; by Musser, Alpert; 8 Page(s)

Staff writers George Musser and Mark Alpert make sense of the myriad ideas for a human mission

The Mars Direct Plan; March 2000; by Zubrin; 4 Page(s)

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

To Mars By Way of its Moons; March 2000; by Singer; 2 Page(s)

Phobos and Deimos would make ideal staging areas, argues veteran space scientist S. Fred Singer

A Bus Between the Planets; March 2000; by Oberg, Aldrin; 3 Page(s)

Gravity-assist trajectories between Earth and Mars would reduce the cost of shuttling human crews and their equipment, say James Oberg and Buzz Aldrin

Staying Sane in Space; March 2000; by Simpson; 2 Page(s)

Is the "right stuff" enough? asks staff writer Sarah Simpson

Invaders from Hollywood; March 2000; by Yam; 2 Page(s)

Thanks to Pathfinder and other missions, science gets some respect in Tinseltown, as staff writer Philip Yam finds after touchdown on a Vancouver set

The Tick-Tock of the Biological clock; March 2000; by Young; 8 Page(s)

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

Swarm Smarts; March 2000; by Bonabeau, Théraulaz; 8 Page(s)

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

Dissecting a Hurricane; March 2000; by Beardsley; 6 Page(s)

Flying into the raging tumult of Dennis, scientists suspected that the storm might transform into a monster - if they were lucky

The Bromeliads of the Atlantic Forest; March 2000; by Martinelli, Azoury; 8 Page(s)

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

The Amateur Scientist; March 2000; by Carlson; 2 Page(s)

An Automated Precision Magnetometer

Mathematical Recreations; March 2000; by Stewart; 2 Page(s)

A Strategy for Subsets

Reviews; March 2000; by Daly, Staff Editors; 4 Page(s)

Earth from Above takes a whirlybird's-eye view of the world; Sex and human evolution, a philosophical history of deafness, six universal numbers and more

Wonders: Sun-Stains; March 2000; by Morrison, Morrison; 2 Page(s)

The spotty history of the sun.

Connections: Wuff, Wuff; March 2000; by Burke; 2 Page(s)

Evolution and ether.

Working Knowledge; March 2000; by Rosenau; 1 Page(s)

Electricity Meters