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Scientific American Magazine
July 2008
FEATURES

The Migration History of Humans: DNA Study Traces Human Origins Across the Continents
DNA furnishes an ever clearer picture of the multimillennial trek from Africa all the way to the tip of South America
By Gary Stix

Could Our Own Proteins Be Used to Help Us Fight Cancer?
Protective heat shock proteins present in every cell have long been known to counteract stress. Newly recognized roles in cancer and immunity make them potential therapeutic allies
By Pramod K. Srivastava


No-Till: How Farmers Are Saving the Soil by Parking Their Plows
The age-old practice of turning the soil before planting a new crop is a leading cause of farmland degradation. Many farmers are thus looking to make plowing a thing of the past
By David R. Huggins and John P. Reganold


Using Causality to Solve the Puzzle of Quantum Spacetime
A new approach to the decades-old problem of quantum gravity goes back to basics and shows how the building blocks of space and time pull themselves together
By Jerzy Jurkiewicz, Renate Loll and Jan Ambjorn


Rubik's Cube Inspired Puzzles Demonstrate Math's "Simple Groups"
A new set of puzzles inspired by Rubik's Cube offers puzzle lovers the chance to get acquainted with the secret twists and turns of mathematical entities called sporadic simple groups
By Igor Kriz and Paul Siegel


Hands-On Computing: How Multi-Touch Screens Could Change the Way We Interact with Computers and Each Other
The iPhone and even wilder interfaces could improve collaboration without a mouse or keyboard
By Stuart F. Brown


So You Think You Can Dance?: PET Scans Reveal Your Brain's Inner Choreography
Recent brain-imaging studies reveal some of the complex neural choreography behind our ability to dance
By Steven Brown and Lawrence M. Parsons



Departments


50, 100 and 150 years ago

100 Years Ago in Scientific American: Curtiss "June Bug" wins Flight Contest
Security Bug -- June Bug -- Bug Trap


July 1908: The Winning Flight of the "June Bug" Aeroplane for The Scientific American Trophy


From the Editors

Takes Thoughts to Tango: Your Mind in Motion and More from July's SciAm
Warm up the PET scanner for a Dance Dance Brain Revolution


In Brief

News Scan Briefs: Eating with Tension, Cancerous Marriage, Milk and Diabetes
Ecology -- Oncology -- Immunology -- Privacy


Insights

Jeremy Nicholson's Gut Instincts: Researching Intestinal Bacteria
The body and its intestinal flora produce chemicals with hidden health information, Jeremy Nicholson has found. Someday treating disease may mean treating those bacteria


Letters to the Editors

Readers Respond: "When Markets Beat the Polls"
Schizophrenia -- Markets vs. Polls -- Expanding Universe


Recommendations

Reviews: "A View of Science, Reason and Religion"
Fossils in America -- Science and Religion -- A Giant Moon


Updates

Updates: Whatever Happened to Protecting Cells from Radiation?
Ozone Warming -- Antiradiation -- Quantum Novelty -- Babbage Computer


Working Knowledge

Cruise Ships: How They Sail Skyscrapers Around the World


News Scan
Opinion

SciAm.com

News
Head Games: Video Controller Taps into Brain Waves
Emotiv Systems introduces a sensor-laden headset that interprets gamers’ intentions, emotions and facial expressions.

Feature
The Origin of Menopause
New research sheds light on why women survive for decades, whereas females in many other species die after they lose the ability to reproduce.

News
Aztec Math Used Hearts and Arrows
Archaeologists discover early Mesoamerican units of measurement.

Strange but True
Identical Twins’ Genes Are Not Identical
Twins may appear to be cut from the same cloth, but their genes reveal a different pattern.

Slide Show
Fifty Years of American Space Exploration
NASA celebrates half a century of American spaceflight with a new collection of space
exploration images.

Video
The Monitor—Fewer Rubles Meant Better Health for Cubans
Scientific American’s irreverent weekly news roundup tackles Cuba’s “special period.”

 
August 2008 >>
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