Smart Weapons in Naval Warfare
The impressive performance of precision-guided weapons in the Falkland Islands war calls into question current plans to add more large, expensive surface ships to the Us. Beet
Features
Vibrations of the Atomic Nucleus
The nucleus can quiver, ring or even "breathe"; the coordinated motion of the nuclear particles reveals much about the forces between them. Six modes of vibration have been detected so far...
Microbodies in the Living Cell
A group of subcellular organelles linked by superficial structural similarities actually includes several distinct types, each having different sets of enzymes dedicated to different metabolic tasks...
Modern Pork Production
Pork currently provides some 25 percent of the energy and 9 percent of the protein human beings get from animal sources. The interaction of economics and biology has given rise to a new kind of pig farming...
New Inorganic Materials
Synthetic organic materials have come to play a key role in modern civilization, but unusual materials made out of sand, clay and other minerals have the advantage of requiring a smaller input of energy...
Computer-Intensive Methods in Statistics
They replace standard assumptions about data with massive calculations. One method, the "bootstrap", has revised many previous estimates of the reliability of scientific inferences
The Social Influence of the Motte-and-Bailey Castle
The motte was a medieval mound fort; the bailey was an associated enclosure. Their appearance in the second half of the 10th century diminished central authority in Europe and gave rise to chivalry...
Sudden Cardiac Death: A Problem in Topology
Many sudden deaths are the result of fibrillation: a disruption of the coordinated contraction of heart muscle fibers. The cause may lie in a state of affairs described by a mathematical theorem...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: May 1983
Science and the Citizen, May 1983
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, May 1983
- Recommended
Books, May 1983
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, May 1983
- Departments
The Authors, May 1983
Metamagical Themas, May 1983
Bibliography, May 1983
