July 2011
Scientific American Magazine

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Cover; July 2011; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; July 2011; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

From the Editor; July 2011; by Mariette DiChristina; 1 Page(s)

Honors and Activities

Letters; July 2011; by The Editors; 2 Page(s)

Letters to the editor from the March 2011 issue of Scientific American

Science Agenda: Physician, Heal the System; July 2011; by The Editors; 2 Page(s)

Health care that is fairer and more rational is also more affordable

Forum: A Quick Fix to the Food Crisis; July 2011; by Timothy Searchinger; 1 Page(s)

Curbing biofuels should halt price rises

Tortoises to the Rescue; July 2011; by David Biello; 1 Page(s)

Rewilding islands and even continents could prove an effective method for reversing ecological catastrophe

What Is It?; July 2011; by Ann Chin; 1 Page(s)

Charlotte's ancestor

International Particle of Mystery; July 2011; by John Matson; 1 Page(s)

Dark matter escapes its dragnet once again—or does it?

Light at the End of the Racetrack; July 2011; by John Scott Lewinski; 1 Page(s)

How Pixar explored the physics of light for Cars 2

Itch Doctor; July 2011; by Anna Kuchment; 1 Page(s)

The head of a new center that focuses on itch explains the sensation's biological roots and what we still don't know about it

Big Buzzword on Campus; July 2011; by Bryn Nelson; 1 Page(s)

ÿÿIs "convergence" a revolution in science or jargon?

Patent Watch; July 2011; by Adam Piore; 1 Page(s)

Patent No. 7,893,89

A Wild, Weedy Scourge; July 2011; by Carrie Madren; 1 Page(s)

The federal government is spending millions to combat a nasty plant that is spreading like wildfire

Beauty and the Beasts; July 2011; by Rebecca Coffey; 1 Page(s)

The sight of a pretty woman can make men crave war

Donor Fatigue; July 2011; by Nina Bai; 1 Page(s)

The Red Cross has banned chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers from giving blood. But does a virus really cause the disease?

Al Qaeda and the Internet; July 2011; by Scott Borg; 2 Page(s)

Why the terrorist group has failed in its attempts at cyberwarfare

Ultrasonic French Fries; July 2011; by W. Wayt Gibbs; Nathan Myhrvold; 1 Page(s)

Smooth and crispy

From Nuclear Plant to Nuclear Park?; July 2011; by David Biello; 1 Page(s)

What the future holds for Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant

In Brief; July 2011; by George Hackett; 1 Page(s)

News Scans

The Science of Health: Poor Man's Burden; July 2011; by Jessica Wapner; 2 Page(s)

Why are HIV rates so distressingly high in the southern U.S.?

Technofiles: Why Gadgets Flop; July 2011; by David Pogue; 1 Page(s)

A few lessons from the consumer electronics industry's most notorious failures

The Limits of Intelligence; July 2011; by Douglas Fox; 6 Page(s)

The laws of physics may well prevent the human brain from evolving into an ever more powerful thinking machine

The Periodic Table of the Cosmos; July 2011; by Ken Croswell; 6 Page(s)

A simple diagram, which celebrates its centennial this year, continues to serve as the most essential conceptual tool in stellar astrophysics

The Best Medicine; July 2011; by Sharon Begley; 6 Page(s)

A quiet revolution in comparative effectiveness research just might save us from soaring medical costs

The Last Great Global Warming; July 2011; by Lee R. Kump; 6 Page(s)

Surprising new evidence suggests the pace of the earth's most abrupt prehistoric warm-up paled in comparison to what we face today. The episode has lessons for our future

Underground Railroad; July 2011; by Anna Kuchment; 2 Page(s)

A peek inside New York City's subway line of the future

Evolution of the Eye; July 2011; by Trevor D. Lamb; 6 Page(s)

Scientists now have a clear vision of how our notoriously complex eye came to be

Hacking the Lights Out; July 2011; by David M. Nicol; 6 Page(s)

Computer viruses have taken out hardened industrial control systems. The electrical power grid may be next

Scent of a Human; July 2011; by John R. Carlson; Allison F. Carey; 4 Page(s)

Decoding how a mosquito sniffs out human targets could lead to better traps and repellents that cut malaria's spread

Bad Boy of Physics; July 2011; by Peter Byrne; 4 Page(s)

Leonard Susskind rebelled as a teen and never stopped. Today he insists that reality may forever be beyond reach of our understanding

Recommended; July 2011; by Kate Wong; 1 Page(s)

Books and recommendation from Scientific American

Skeptic: The Believing Brain; July 2011; by Michael Shermer; 1 Page(s)

Why science is the only way out of the trap of belief-dependent realism

Anti-Gravity: Rules of the Road; July 2011; by Steve Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Knowing the laws of persuasion is especially handy with car dealers

50, 100, 150 Years Ago; July 2011; by Daniel C. Schlenoff; 1 Page(s)

Innovation and discovery as chronicled in Scientific American

Graphic Science: Baby's Life, Mother's Schooling; July 2011; by Mark Fischetti; 1 Page(s)

ÿChild mortality rates decline as women become better educated