The resident population of large mental hospitals has been reduced by two-thirds in 20 years, but chronic patients are being discharged to a lonely existence in hostile communities without adequate care
The geochemical processes that give rise to metal-rich minerals are largely localized in mid-ocean ridges: "spreading centers" where new material is added to the plates of the earth's crust
High-volume products are assembled by people or by special-purpose machines. An experimental programmable robot suggests that robots would be cost-effective for the assembly of products in lower volumes
Nerve circuits are usually analyzed in terms of the axon, the long fiber of the nerve cell. It now appears that there are many circuits involving only the nerve cell's shorter extensions, the dendrites
The luring, capturing and digesting mechanisms they have evolved to devour insects augment their supply of mineral nutrients and enable them to survive in habitats where few other plants can live
A new experimental approach makes it possible in certain cases to identify the specific human chromosome involved in the transformation of a normal cell into a tumor cell
In this new theory the gravitational force arises from a symmetry relating particles with vastly different properties. The ultimate result may be a unified theory of all the basic forces in nature
They have no energy sources other than the sun and wind, and yet they circulate cool air through buildings and traditionally provided cold water and ice for the hot summer of the country's arid regions
Subscribe to Scientific American MIND