Scientific American Magazine

A decade ago the Federal Government endorsed the concept of prepaid medical care. Today the number of HMO's is less than was envisioned then, but it is nevertheless increasing

Displaced emission lines found in the spectrum of this extraordinary stellar object suggest that it is spewing two narrow high-speed jets of matter in opposite directions. How can such behavior be explained?

Cells that secrete antibodies can be made immortal by fusing them with tumor cells and cloning the hybrids. Each clone is a long-term source of substantial quantities of a single highly specific antibody

They are diverse, but they all stem from the same root: It is the electrons in matter, through their varied responses to different wavelengths of light, that make the world a many-colored place

A large seismic-reflection survey suggests that for at least half of the history of the earth continents have evolved by the stacking and shuffling of relatively thin sheets of material at their margins

This technique displays the concentration of radioactively labeled substances in the living body with improved clarity. It holds much promise for both biological investigations and clinical diagnosis

Conventional drilling and pumping removes less than half of the oil in an average petroleum reservoir. As the price of oil rises, mining it underground or at the surface becomes economically more attractive

The animal trims its weight and gains mobility by dividing its shell into compartments and removing their watery content. It succeeds in spite of the ocean's pressure, which tends to drive water back in