Values and Attitudes of the Polish People
Recent events in Poland, illuminated by 25 years of social research, are shown to stem not from a change in values but from a demand for social institutions more in accord with values consistently held...
Features
The Salinity of Rivers
Rivers normally wash into the ocean the salts dissolved out of rock. When the flow is held up by irrigation, however, evapotranspiration concentrates the salt in the soil, creating problems for agriculture...
The Atmosphere of Venus
A decade of exploration by spacecraft now shows that it consists almost entirely of carbon dioxide. Its clouds of sulfuric acid are driven by winds that attain a speed of 360 kilometers per hour...
Genetic Engineering in Mammalian Cells
One goal of recombinant-DNA technology iS the cure of human genetic diseases. As a step toward the goal a hereditary defect is corrected by microinjecting a single gene into a mammalian cell...
Fiber Bundles and Quantum Theory
A branch of mathematics that extends the notion of curvature to topological analogues ofa Mobius strip can help to explain prevailing theories of the interactions of elementary particles...
Mimicry in the Sexual Signals of Fireflies
Male fireflies flash as they fly seeking mates at night, and females of the same species flash answers hom the ground. Females of other species also answer and devour any males they can lure within reach...
Binocular Depth Inversion
Sometimes a solid object seen with both eyes can seem to reverse perspective. A study of this geometrically irrational experience suggests that ordinary depth perception is somewhat precarious...
The Architecture of Christopher Wren
He was a prominent man of science and a renowned architect at the height of the Scientific Revolution, but he did not exploit principles of theoretical mechanics in designing his buildings...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: July 1981
Science and the Citizen, July 1981
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, July 1981
- Recommended
Books, July 1981
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, July 1981
- Departments
The Authors, July 1981
Metamagical Themas, July 1981
Bibliography, July 1981
