Scientific American Magazine Vol 280 Issue 1

Scientific American Magazine

Volume 280, Issue 1

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Features

Supersoft X-ray Stars and Supernovae

Several years ago astronomers came across a new type of star that spews out unusually low energy x-rays. These so-called supersoft sources are now thought to be white dwarf stars that cannibalize their stellar companions and then, in many cases, explode

Peter Kahabka, Edward P. J. van den Heuvel, Saul A. Rappaport

Cichlids of the Rift Lakes

The extraordinary diversity of cichlid fishes challenges entrenched ideas of how quickly new species can arise

Melanie L. J. Stiassny, Axel Meyer

A Multifractal Walk down Wall Street

The geometry that describes the shape of coastlines and the patterns of galaxies also elucidates how stock prices soar and plummet

Benoit B. Mandelbrot

How Limbs Develop

A protein playfully named Sonic hedgehog is one of the long-sought factors that dictate the pattern of limb development

Robert D. Riddle, Clifford J. Tabin

Space Tethers

Robert L. Forward and Robert P. Hoyt

Highways of Light

Leik N. Myrabo

Reaching for the Stars

Stephanie D. Leifer

Light Sails

Henry M. Harris

The Puzzle of Hypertension in African-Americans

Genes are often invoked to account for why high blood pressure is so common among African-Americans. Yet the rates are low in Africans. This discrepancy demonstrates how genes and the environment interact

Richard S. Cooper, Charles N. Rotimi, Ryk Ward

Air-Breathing Engines

Charles R. McClinton

High Blood Pressure and the Slave Trade

The Way to Go in Space

To go farther into space, humans will first have to figure out how to get there cheaply and more efficiently. Ideas are not in short supply

Tim Beardsley

Compact Nuclear Rockets

James R. Powell

Departments

Erratum

50, 100 and 150 Years Ago: Research Money, Panama Canal, and New Whaling Ground

This is only a Test

Tackling the Triple Point

Origami Tessellations

Reviews: The Narrative of Numbers

Working Knowledge on Giant Crawler Cranes

Letters

Breath of Fresh Liquid

Bones to Pick

Reviews: The Narrative of Numbers

Private Parts

Worm Gets the Early Bird

Attack of the Fire Ants

Noah's Flood?

Tranquility, Turmoil and Chaos for International Business

Taming Maxwell's Demon

A Laser in Tune With Itself

Not Cleaning Up