Scientific American Magazine

The act calls for the substantial reduction of pollutants by 1975. Its provisions are now the subject of many adversary proceedings. In the long run a new kind of cost-benefit analysis may be needed

Over the past decade the world's largest fishery has been in the Peru Current. A periodic ecological disturbance, combined with the heavy fishing, now threatens to destroy the industry

The stars, dust and gas of this spiral galaxy are all in motion. Spectrographic observations show that they do not simply wheel around the galactic center but move in a quite complex pattern

Intense laser pulses a trillionth of a second in duration are harnessed to probe the extremely rapid energy-transfer times characteristic of events in the submicroscopic world

Numeric displays are now seen not only on laboratory and industrial devices but also on pocket calculators and wristwatches. Deciding what kind of display to use involves both technology and economics

The high forest canopy consists of more than branches and leaves. Entire communities of other plants and animals dwell within this unique ecosystem, helping to provide the trees with nitrogen

Maintained through many generations in laboratory cultures, the cells that make antibody lend themselves to studies of cell differentiation and diseases incolving the immune system, which may include cancer

It has now been 24 years since Claude Shannon outlined how a computer could play chess. Here is a description of the first machine able to take lessons from a master