Gas-Cooled Nuclear Power Reactors
Although the U.S. has only one such reactor, they have served well overseas. They have an attractive safety feature: a loss-of-coolant accident such as the one at Three Mile Island is all but impossible...
Features
The Decay of the Proton
The proton is known to have a lifetime at least 10 20 times the age of the universe, but theory indicates that it may not live forever. If it is not immortal, all ordinary matter will ultimately disintegrate...
The Beta-Lactam Antibiotics
The penicillins and cephalosporins are chemically characterized by the beta-lactam ring. Their molecular structure has been much modified to increase their efficacy and combat resistant bacteria...
Archaebacteria
These unusual bacteria are genealogically neither prokaryotes nor eukaryotes. This discovery means there are not two lines of descent but three: the archaebacteria, the true bacteria and the eukaryotes...
The Allocation of Resources by Linear Programming
Abstract, crystal-like structures in many geometrical dimensions can help to solve problems in planning and management. A new algorithm has set upper limits on the complexity of such problems...
The Regulation of Temperature in the Honeybee Swarm
Honeybees must be warm in order to fly. Therefore the temperature of an immobile swarm must be closely controlled so that when scout bees have found a new nest site the swarm is ready for a fast takeoff...
The Formation of the Earth from Planetesimals
The rocky inner planets of the solar system may have formed by coalescence in a swarm of small, colliding bodies in orbit around the sun. The process can be simulated with a computer
Lead and Silver in the Ancient Aegean
The two metals are linked because they were smelted from the same ores. The characteristic pattern of the abundances of the isotopes of the lead shows that most of the ore came from only two sources...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: June 1981
Science and the Citizen, June 1981
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, June 1981
- Recommended
Books, June 1981
- Mathematical Recreation
Mathematical Games, June 1981
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, June 1981
- Departments
The Authors, June 1981
Bibliography, June 1981
