A Surge in Inequality
International competition and the feminization of poverty are distorting the distribution of income. The remedy may be an aggressive investment in education and technology
Features
The Cosmic Synthesis of Lithium, Beryllium and Boron
The three light elements, which cannot withstand the violent stellar environment where most elements were born, are created as cosmic rays collide with low-density clouds of gas and dust permeating the galaxy...
Synapses that Compute Motion
How do nerve cells process the information they receive from the environment? Studies of cells in the eye that interpret movement may define a mechanism involved in many other neural operations...
Climate Modeling
Will the "greenhouse effect" bring on another Dust Bowl? Would nuclear war mean nuclear winter? Computer models of the earth's climate yield clues to its future as well as to its checkered past...
Glucose and Aging
Once considered biologically inert, the body's most abundant sugar can permanently alter some proteins. In doing so it may contribute to age-associated declines in the functioning of cells and tissues...
Reappearing Phases
Matter becomes more orderly as it is cooled. Some systems, however, seem to become disordered again as the temperature con tin ues to fall. The reason lies in the interplay between energy and entropy...
The Detonation of Explosives
A detonation sweeps through an explosive as a supersonic shock wave driven by the energy-releasing chemical reactions the wave induces. A comprehensive theory that describes the process is still lacking...
Symbiosis in the Deep Sea
The remarkable density of life at deep-sea hydrothermal vents is explained by the mutually beneficial symbiosis of invertebrate animals and sulfide-oxidizing bacteria that colonize their cells...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: May 1987
Science and the Citizen
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, May 1987
- Recommended
Books, May 1987
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, May 1987
- Departments
The Authors, May 1987
Computer Recreations, May 1987
Bibliography, May 1987
