Scientific American Magazine Vol 277 Issue 1

Scientific American Magazine

Volume 277, Issue 1

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Features

China's Buddhist Treasures at Dunhuang

Cave temples along the ancient Silk Road document the cultural and religious transformations of a millennium. Researchers are striving to preserve these endangered statues and paintings

Neville Agnew, Fan Jinshi

Gamma-Ray Bursts

New observations illuminate the most powerful explosions in the universe

Gerald J. Fishman, Dieter H. Hartmann

Xenotransplantation

After struggling for decades with a shortage of donated organs from cadavers, transplant surgeons may soon have another source to tap

David K. C. Cooper, Robert P. Lanza, William L. Chick

Strong Fabrics for Fast Sails

Composite fabrics first developed for the sails of racing yachts may soon find use in parachutes and research balloons

Brian E. Doyle

Asbestos Revisited

Once considered safe enough to use in toothpaste, this unique substance has intrigued people for more than 2,000 years

James E. Alleman, Brooke T. Mossman

Global Population and the Nitrogen Cycle

Feeding humankind now demands so much nitrogen-based fertilizer that the distribution of nitrogen on the earth has been changed in dramatic, and sometimes dangerous, ways

Vaclav Smil

Taking Computers to Task

W. Wayt Gibbs

Departments

The Future and Past of China

Letters to the Editors, July 1997

Errata

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago: Guzzling Gas, Good Bacteria and Hatching Fish in China

Strategic Investments

Rights of Passage

Twist and Shout

Moroto Morass

In Brief

Parrots and Plunder

The Emperor's New Toilet Paper

Access to the Internet

What will Really be

Dam Safety

Tunnel Visions

The Infinitesimal Gets Smaller

Helping Heartache

Mug Machine

www.batmobile.car

How-To's of Butterfly Rookeries

Squaring the Square

Reviews and Commentaries--Sex and Complexity

Bandwidth Galore

Cool Stuff

Guitar-Effects Pedals--Working Knowledge