Scientific American Magazine Vol 268 Issue 1

Scientific American Magazine

Volume 268, Issue 1

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Features

Coral Bleaching

Environmental stresses can cause irreparable harm to coral reefs. Unusually high seawater temperatures may be a principal culprit

Barbara E. Brown, John C. Ogden

How the Milky Way Formed

Its halo and disk suggest that the collapse of a gas cloud, stellar explosions and the capture of galactic fragments may have all played a role

Sidney van den Bergh, James E. Hesser

Carbohydrates in Cell Recognition

Telltale surface sugars enable cells to identify and interact with one another. New drugs aimed at those carbohydrates could stop infection and inflammation

Nathan Sharon, Halina Lis

The Earliest History of the Earth

Radioactive dating techniques have illuminated vast stretches of geologic history, bringing the most ancient eras of the earth's evolution into view

Derek York

Madagascar's Lemurs

These primates can tell us a great deal about our own evolutionary past. But many species are already extinct, and the habitats of those that remain are shrinking fast

Ian Tattersall

Quantum Dots

Nanotechnologists can now confine electrons to pointlike structures. Such “designer atoms” may lead to new electronic and optical devices

Mark A. Reed

The Mind and Donald O. Hebb

By rooting behavior in ideas, and ideas in the brain, Hebb laid the groundwork for modern neuroscience. His theory prefigured computer models of neural networks

Peter M. Milner

Adapting to Complexity

Russell Ruthen

Departments

Letters to the Editors, January 1993

Erratum

50 and 100 Years Ago: Silent Submarines and Homemade Fireworks

How Many Genes and Y

Endangered Genes

Pitohui!

Crunching Epsilon

A Gene for Hypertension

Anything Goes

Machos or Wimps?

Booby Prizes

Profile: Rita Levi-Montalcini

Back to Roots

National Conundrums

Soft Lego

Habeas Corpus

Geometry Acquisition

The Return on Infrastructure

Biodiversity in the Backyard

Heavenly Objects

The Life of a Black Scientist