Features

• The Extraordinary Deaths of Ordinary Stars

  The demise of the sun in five billion years will be a spectacular sight. Like other stars of its ilk, the sun will unfurl into nature's premier work of art: a planetary nebula

  Bruce Balick and Adam Frank   | July 1, 2004  |

• Magnetic Field Nanosensors

  Tiny devices that take advantage of a recently discovered physical effect called extraordinary magnetoresistance could be used in blazingly fast computer disk drives with huge capacities and in dozens of other applications involving the sensing of magnetic fields

  Stuart A. Solin   | July 1, 2004  |

• Detecting Mad Cow Disease

  New tests can rapidly identify the presence of dangerous prions--the agents responsible for the malady--and several compounds offer hope for treatment

  Stanley B. Prusiner   | July 1, 2004  |

• The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript

  New analysis of a famously cryptic medieval document suggests that it contains nothing but gibberish

  Gordon Rugg   | July 1, 2004  | 6

• When Methane Made Climate

  Today methane-producing microbes are confined to oxygen-free settings, such as the guts of cows, but in Earth's distant past, they ruled the world

  James F. Kasting   | July 1, 2004  |

• The Shapes of Space

  A Russian mathematician has proved the century-old Poincaré conjecture and completed the catalogue of three-dimensional spaces. He might earn a $1-million prize

  Graham P. Collins   | July 1, 2004  |

• Gene Doping

  Gene therapy for restoring muscle lost to age or disease is poised to enter the clinic, but elite athletes are eyeing it to enhance performance Can it be long before gene doping changes the nature of sport?

  H. Lee Sweeney   | July 1, 2004  | 1