The Changing Demography of the Central City
Since World War II the suburbs and exurbs of most U.S. cities have grown faster than the cities themselves. Today the decline of population in the central cities is not relative but absolute...
Features
The Surface of Venus
Shrouded by clouds, it has now been mapped by radar from the earth and from a spacecraft in orbit around Venus. The images suggest a geology intermediate between that of the earth and that of Mars...
Microtubules
They are structural organelles that are found in all nucleated cells. Assembled like scaffolding ftom protein subunits, they participate in cell division, cell movement and the maintenance of cell shape...
The Placenta
This remarkable organ is the intermediary between two different individuals: the fetus and the mother. After delivery it can also serve as an "experimental animal" for a wide variety of studies...
The Isolated Electron
From a single electron trapped in an artificial atom of macroscopic size a property of the electron called the g factor can be measured with unexcelled accuracy
The Antecedents of Civilization in the Indus Valley
One of the three earliest civilizations was that of the Indus. Excavations at Mehrgarh in Pakistan have uncovered farming settlements that flourished in the region 3,000 years earlier
Disk-Storage Technology
On the surface of a spinning disk the data for a computer are stored as minute magnetic regions. In devices being developed the data will be "written" and "read" by a laser
Newton's Apple and Galileo's Dialogue
Newton did see the apple fall, but what was it that inspired him to link the apple's descent to the moon in orbit and arrive at the law of universal gravitation? It may have been a diagram in the "Dialogue"...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago, August 1980
Science and the Citizen, August 1980
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, August 1980
- Recommended
Books, August 1980
- Mathematical Recreation
Mathematical Games, August 1980
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, August 1980
- Departments
The Authors, August 1980
Bibliography, August 1980
