Scientific American Magazine

During the summer the uniform weather of the tropics is periodically disturbed. Occasionally these disturbances ripen into hurricanes. Why they do not do so more often is still a basic question of meteorology

When a luminescent substance such as zinc sulfide is placed in an alternating electric field, it emits light. This effect makes possible thin illuminating panels and many other useful devices

In which the speed of small fishes is measured in the laboratory and their power calculated. Similar observations in nature suggest that water may flow over a dolphin completely without turbulence

It translates sound between some 16 cycles per second and 20,000 into nerve impulses. Together with the auditory centers of the brain, it is an instrument that is not only remarkably sensitive but also selective

Magnetohydrodynamic effects in an electric arc generate a beam of electrons and ions with a temperature of 30,000 degrees F., the highest maintained beyond an instant by a man-made device

when a suspension of bacteria is spread on a layer of nutrient, each bacterium gives rise to a colony of genetically uniform descendants. The same thing can now be done with cells of various human tissues

Schizophrenia is not one disease but many. It varies particularly with the cultural background of the individual. An account of its variation between two cultural groups, one Irish and one Italian

The French now eat more than 8,000 tons of snails in a year. The cultivation and shipping of these succulent creatures are a triumph over their delicate adjustment to their environment