Scientific American Magazine

During the summer of 1988 fires swept across much of Yellowstone National Park. Why did so many acres burn in one year? A look at the ecological history of the region provides some answers

The future of fundamental theories that account for everything from the building blocks of the atom to the architecture of the cosmos hinges on studies of this rarest of all observed radioactive events

On their own, these key actors in the immune response are blind. Other cells must break down foreign material and enfold it in the body's own proteins before displaying it to the T cells

It serves as a "kidney" for the brain, bathing the delicate cells in chemically stable fluid. Although the choroid plexus is small, its role in nourishing and protecting the nervous system is great

Voyager 2's cameras unveil a stormy world and a frozen moon molded by volcanism

Objects in low earth orbit travel through a tenuous and yet highly reactive atmosphere. Some materials barely survive the trip; others glow along the way

It is the Sweet Track of England: a 6,000-year-old wooden walkway discovered in a peat bog by a laborer named Raymond Sweet. The remarkably well-preserved wood reveals much about the track's builders

The authors maintain that a move to pure methanol would reduce vehicular emissions of hydrocarbons and greenhouse gases and could lessen U. S. dependence on foreign energy sources