Scientific American Magazine Vol 230 Issue 6

Scientific American Magazine

Volume 230, Issue 6

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Features

Psychiatrists and the Adversary Process

How should the determination of individual responsibility be made in a criminal case? It is argued here that the facts and reasoning of expert witnesses should be subjected to close cross-examination

David L. Bazelon

Fusion Power by Laser Implosion

Laser-fusion schemes are based on the ignition of a pellet of fuel by focused laser beanls. For the laser approach to succeed the fuel must be imploded to 10,000 times normal liquid density

John L. Emmett, John Nuckolls, Lowell Wood

Population Cycles in Rodents

Field populations of many small rodents rise and fall in a cycle lasting three to four years. Associated with these fluctuations is a periodic change in the genetic constitution of the population

Charles J. Krebs, Judith H. Myers

Neurotransmitters

These chemicals released from nerve-fiber endings are the messengers by means of which nerve cells communicate. Neurotransmitters mediate functions ranging from muscle contraction to the control of behavior

Julius Axelrod

The Steady State of the Earth's Crust, Atmosphere and Oceans

The main divisions of the earth's surface are linked by vast geochemical cycles to form a stable worldwide system in which the inputs and outputs of the key constituents are in balance

Raymond Siever

Rotating Chemical Reactions

Certain colorful reactions visibly organize themselves in space and time as a spiral wave. They suggest that many other chemical reactions have a geometrical aspect that needs to be investigated

Arthur T. Winfree

Ice-Age Hunters of the Ukraine

In the span between 75,000 and 10,000 years ago men hunted other mammals in the rigorous environment of eastern Europe. At some sites they amassed mammoth bones to build shelters

Richard G. Klein

Wines, Grape Vines and Climate

Why are wines so different? An important part of the answer is that the more rigorous (and thus more variable) grape-growing conditions give rise to the more idiosyncratic (and thus more intriguing) wines

Philip Wagner

Departments

Letters to the Editors, June 1974

50 and 100 Years Ago, June 1974

The Authors, June 1974

Science and the Citizen, June 1974

Mathematical Games, June 1974

The Amateur Scientist, June 1974

Books, June 1974

Bibliography, June 1974