November 1998
Scientific American Magazine

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

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

From the Editors, including Masthead; November 1998; by Rennie; 1 Page(s)

Who and What We Lost

Letters to the Editors; November 1998; by Staff Editors; 2 Page(s)

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

In Focus: Dogma Overturned; November 1998; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

Upending a long-held theory, a study finds that humans can grow new brain neurons throughout life - even into old age

Inconstant Constants; November 1998; by Musser; 2 Page(s)

Do distant galaxies play by different laws of physics?

Down Detection; November 1998; by Ezzell; 2 Page(s)

New blood and ultrasound tests for Down syndrome might reduce the need for amniocentesis

The "E. Coli" are Coming; November 1998; by Stix; 1 Page(s)

Do toys and toothpaste breed resistant bacteria?

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

Unforgettable?; Winding the Master Clock; Children's Pollution; Homeless Orangutans; Sticky Soy; Joys of Parenting; Quantum Error Correction; Sprawling Suburbia; Zinc and Anorexia

Anti Gravity: Lucky Laima; November 1998; by Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

A television show from the 1970s featured an exceedingly diminutive fellow in evening dress who informed his boss at the start of every episode as to the impending arrival of their guests by hollering, "The plane! The plane!"

Tool Time on Cactus Hill; November 1998; by Beardsley; 2 Page(s)

In search of the earliest Americans

By the Numbers: How Congress Voted on the Environment; November 1998; by Doyle; 2 Page(s)

One of the enduring anomalies of political life is that Americans overwhelmingly picture themselves as environmentalists while Congress often votes against environmentalist positions.

Profile: Monstrous Moonshine is True; November 1998; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

Richard Borcherds proved it--and discovered spooky connections between the smallest objects imagined by physics and one of the most complex objects known to mathematics

Patent Blunder; November 1998; by Zorpette; 1 Page(s)

Terrorists' recipe for making the nerve agent VX in Sudan apparently came from a U.S. patent

Rough Sailing for Smart Ships; November 1998; by Hayashi; 1 Page(s)

Does commercial software such as Windows NT compromise naval ship performance?

Shutting Down a Gene; November 1998; by Stix; 2 Page(s)

Antisense drug wins approval

Little Bangs; November 1998; by Stix; 2 Page(s)

Making thrusters for micromachines

Cyber View; November 1998; by Wallich; 1 Page(s)

This Is Not a Hoax!

Natural Oil Spills; November 1998; by MacDonald; 6 Page(s)

In the Gulf of Mexico, a region famous for its many oil and gas fields, most of the petroleum flowing into the ocean leaks naturally from fissures in the seabed

The Meteorite Hunter, Part I: The Day the Sands Caught Fire; November 1998; by Wynn, Shoemaker; 8 Page(s)

A desert impact site demonstrates the wrath of rocks from space

Meteorite Hunters Part II: The Search for Greenland's Mysterious Meteor; November 1998; by Gibbs; 8 Page(s)

Caught on camera, the fireball that streaked across Arctic skies last December appeared to move too fast for anything from this solar system. A monthlong expedition on this island of ice hunted for remains - and answers

Glueballs; November 1998; by Close, Page; 6 Page(s)

Gluons, which hold protons together, can also clump into globs of pure glue

Evolution and the Origins of Disease; November 1998; by Nesse, Williams; 8 Page(s)

The principles of evolution by natural selection are finally beginning to inform medicine

Mating Strategies of Spiders; November 1998; by Preston-Mafham, Preston-Mafham; 6 Page(s)

Spiders have evolved intriguing behaviors to woo their occasionally cannibalistic mates

Simulating Water and the Molecules of Life; November 1998; by Gerstein, Levitt; 6 Page(s)

Computer modeling reveals how water affects the structures and dynamics of biological molecules such as proteins, yielding clues to their functions

100 Years of Magnetic Memories; November 1998; by Livingston; 6 Page(s)

Although the technology is ubiquitous today, magnetic recording had a sluggish start. The underlying science was something of a mystery, applications were slow to emerge, and business and politics stifled development.

The Amateur Scientist; November 1998; by Carlson; 2 Page(s)

Floating A Challenge

Mathematical Recreations; November 1998; by Stewart; 2 Page(s)

Resurrection Shuffle

Reviews; November 1998; by Livingston, staff editors; 4 Page(s)

Reviews

Commentary: Connections - Oops; November 1998; by Burke; 2 Page(s)

From time to time it gives me great pleasure to come across, and publicize, the name of somebody who never got the credit.

Commentary: Wonders - Numbers: Prime or Choice?; November 1998; by Morrison; 2 Page(s)

The simplest infinity is the one already recognized by many a curious girl or boy counting 1,2,3,4....