Scientific American Magazine

A Japanese analyst reports on a study of China's struggle to become an industrial power. He estimates that a breakthrough to economic growth driven by industrial investment may be five to 10 years off

This species, until recently known by a multiplicity of other names, was probably the immediate predecessor of modern man. It now seems possible that the transition took place some 500,000 years ago

Solar activity is essentially an expression of changing magnetic fields in the sun's atmosphere. Recent observations substantiate a comprehensive theory that explains the 11-year magnetic cycle

The arrangement of atoms in an enzyme molecule has been worked out for the first time. The enzyme is lysozyme, which breaks open cells of bacteria. The study has also shown how lysozyme performs its task

Like all other lakes, they are subject to physical and biological processes that will eventually result in their extinction. These processes, however, are being accelerated by human activities

A new method of achieving particle interactions exploits the fact that the head-on collision of two moving objects releases greater energy than if one of the moving objects hits a stationary target

This marine alga grows to a length of an inch but has only one cell and one nucleus. It is therefore almost ideal for studying the relations between the nucleus and other parts of the cell

For severe pain the most widely used drug is still morphine. Other useful drugs have been found, however, in the course of the search for substances with morphine's good qualities but not its bad ones