February 1997
Scientific American Magazine

Digital subscribers-sign in for full access

Cover; February 1997; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

Table of Contents; February 1997; by Staff Editor; 2 Page(s)

From the Editors; February 1997; by Rennie; 1 Page(s)

The Animal Question

Letters to the Editors; February 1997; by Staff editor; 1 Page(s)

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; February 1997; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

In Focus: The Next Star Trek; February 1997; by Beardsley; 2 Page(s)

A budget squeeze and space station woes threaten solar system exploration

Which Came First?; February 1997; by Horgan; 3 Page(s)

Feathered fossils fan debate over the bird-dinosaur link

Field Notes: Agent Angst; February 1997; by Beardsley; 1 Page(s)

The audience of academics and journalists gathered at the Brookings Institution had every reason to be excited: the venerable liberal-leaning think tank was announcing the publication of a new book with, in the words of Robert E. Litan, director of economic studies, "revolutionary" implications.

In Brief; February 1997; by Leutwyler; 3 Page(s)

Evolutionary Makeovers; Elephant Man's Real Disease; Holey Microchips; Scanning for Trouble; Twirly Birds; Protection with Estrogen; Antimatter in the Making; Semiconductors Get Bent; Rivals of the Fittest; Prostate Cancer Gene Identified; Losing on Fusion

Prize Mistake; February 1997; by Poppe, Mukerjee; 1 Page(s)

The n-body problem is solved - too late

Late Bloomer; February 1997; by Sabbagh; 2 Page(s)

A boy with one hemisphere upsets old ideas on speech acquisition

Soaking Up The Rays; February 1997; by Holloway; 2 Page(s)

A sponge uses optical fibers to gather sunlight

Galatic Gushers; February 1997; by Beardsley; 3 Page(s)

Evidence mounts that black holes drive all quasars

Anti Gravity: Dropping One for Science; February 1997; by Mirsky; 1 Page(s)

Okay, let's cut right to the chase. The reason the guy gets into the moose suit is because he couldn't throw the dung far enough.

By the Numbers: U.S. Deaths from Pneumonia; February 1997; by Dolye; 1 Page(s)

Pneumonia, an acute inflammation of the lungs, is not a single disease but more like a family of several dozen diseases, each caused by a different agent.

Profile: Patricia D. Moehlman; February 1997; by Holloway; 2 Page(s)

Into the Wilds of Africa

It's A Helicopter! It's A Plane!; February 1997; by Zorpette; 1 Page(s)

A nonmilitary tilt-rotor is conceived, but will it fly?

Natural Synthetics; February 1997; by Moore; 2 Page(s)

Genetically engineered plants produce cotton/polyester blends and nonallergenic rubber

Making Sense; February 1997; by Gibbs; 2 Page(s)

Microsoft uses a dictionary to teach computers English

Beating Bacteria; February 1997; by Nemecek; 2 Page(s)

New ways to fend off antibiotic-resistant pathogens

Scoring with Buckyballs; February 1997; by Garcia; 1 Page(s)

All the hauling, lugging and lifting to construct the ancient pyramids one block at a time was, no doubt, tedious work.

Cyber View; February 1997; by Browning; 1 Page(s)

Universal Disservice

Immunotherapy for Cocaine Addiction; February 1997; by Landry; 4 Page(s)

Newly developed compounds derived from the immune system may help combat cocaine abuse by destroying the drug soon after it enters the bloodstream

Satellite Radar Interferometry; February 1997; by Massonnet; 8 Page(s)

From hundreds of kilometers away in space, orbiting instruments can detect subtle buckling of the earth's crust

The Ghostliest Galaxies; February 1997; by Bothun; 6 Page(s)

Astronomers have found more than 1,000 "low-surface-brightness" galaxies over the past decade, significantly altering our views of how galaxies evolve and how mass is distributed in the universe

The Lesser Known Edison; February 1997; by Baldwin; 6 Page(s)

In addition to his famous inventions, Thomas Edison's fertile imagination gave the world a host of little known technologies, from talking dolls to poured-concrete houses

Why and How Bacteria Communicate; February 1997; by Losick, Kaiser; 6 Page(s)

Bacteria converse with one another and with plants and animals by emitting and reacting to chemical signals. The need to "talk" may help explain why the microbes synthesize a vast array of compounds

The Challenge of Large Numbers; February 1997; by Crandall; 5 Page(s)

As computer capabilities increase, mathematicians can better characterize and manipulate gargantuan figures. Even so, some numbers can only be imagined

The Benefits and Ethics of Animal Research; February 1997; by Rowan; 1 Page(s)

Experiments on animals are a mainstay of modern medical and scientific research. But what are the costs and what are the returns?

Animal Research Is Wasteful and Misleading; February 1997; by Barnard, Kaufman; 3 Page(s)

The use of animals for research and testing is only one of many investigative techniques available.

Animal Research Is Vital to Medicine; February 1997; by Botting, Morrison; 3 Page(s)

Experiments using animals have played a crucial role in the development of modern medical treatments, and they will continue to be necessary as researchers seek to alleviate existing ailments and respond to the emergence of new disease.

Trends in Animal Research; February 1997; by Mukerjee; 8 Page(s)

Increased concern for animals, among scientists as well as the public, is changing the ways in which animals are used for research and safety testing

The Amateur Scientist; February 1997; by Carlson; 2 Page(s)

A Picture-Perfect Comet

Mathematical Recreations; February 1997; by Stewart; 3 Page(s)

Crystallography of a Golf Ball

Reviews; February 1997; by Ferris, Powell, Meikle, Zorpette; 5 Page(s)

Reviews

Commentary: Wonders - How Fast Is Technology Evolving?; February 1997; by Arthur; 2 Page(s)

My grandfather, for some reason, wore a hat to meals. Some evenings also hatted he would play the fiddle.

Commentary: Connections - Waving the Flag; February 1997; by Burke; 2 Page(s)

I was gazing up at the Stars and Stripes during a ceremony recently in Washington, D.C., and thinking about how things might have been if Lord North, George III's prime minister, who fatally underestimated the American colonists, hadn't been off for the weekend when the Revolution (sorry: War of Independence) broke out.

Working Knowledge; February 1997; by Pierce; 1 Page(s)

Arthroscopic Surgery