Features

• Nanobodies

  Antibodies, often described as magic bullets, are actually more like tanks: big, complicated and expensive. Tinier "nanobodies," derived from camels and llamas, may be able to infiltrate a wider range of diseases at lower cost. That is the hope, at least, of one small start-up in Belgium

  W. Wayt Gibbs   | August 1, 2005  |

• Beating a Sudden Killer

  When a young woman nearly died from a ruptured aneurysm, the author and the woman's husband began searching for ways to save other aneurysm patients from catastrophe

  John A. Elefteriades   | August 1, 2005  |

• Mindful of Symbols

  On the way to learning that one thing can represent another, young children often conflate the real item and its symbol. These errors show how difficult it is to start thinking symbolically

  Judy S. DeLoache   | August 1, 2005  |

• Morphware

  Magnetic logic may usher in an era in which computing devices can change instantly from one type of hardware to another

  Reinhold Koch   | August 1, 2005  | 1

• The Early Evolution of Animals

  Tiny fossils reveal that complex animal life is older than we thought--by at least as much as 50 million years

  David J. Bottjer   | August 1, 2005  |

• Is the Universe Out of Tune?

  Like the discord of key instruments in a skillful orchestra quietly playing the wrong piece, mysterious discrepancies have arisen between theory and observations of the "music" of the cosmic microwave background. Either the measurements are wrong or the universe is stranger than we thought

  Glenn D. Starkman and Dominik J. Schwarz   | August 1, 2005  |

• Test-Tube Teeth

  More complicated than they look, teeth are actually tiny organs. If tissue engineers can manufacture living replacement teeth, they would blaze a trail for engineering larger organs while leading dentistry into the age of regenerative medicine

  Paul T. Sharpe and Conan S. Young   | August 1, 2005  |