The Challenge of Acid Rain
Acid rain's effects in soil and water leave no doubt about the need to control its causes. Now advances in technology have yielded environmentally and economically attractive solutions
Features
The High Fidelity of DNA Duplication
Generation after generation, through countless cell divisions, the genetic heritage of living things is scrupulously preserved in DNA. Why are so few mistakes made when the DNA is copied?...
Measuring Crustal Deformation in the American West
Continental crust is actively deforming as the Pacific and North America plates slide past each other. Direct measurements of the process rely on extraterrestrial reference points such as quasars...
Beyond Truth and Beauty: A Fourth Family of Particles
Three families of the fundamental particles called quarks and leptons are known. Recent experiments hint that there is one more family, but there are probably no more than five
Light-Activated Drugs
A patient ingests an inert substance. The substance is removed from the body in a small amount of blood and activated by light. The result? Effective treatment for a stubborn cancer
Perceiving Shape from Shading
Shading produces a compelling perception of three-dimensional shape. One way the brain simplifies the task of interpreting shading is by assuming a single light source
X-Ray Imaging with Coded Masks
A variant of the pinhole camera that has many apertures arranged in a peculiar pattern can image high-energy X-ray sources, such as plasmas in reactors and black holes in space
Dr. Atanasoff's Computer
The men who for decades were credited with inventing the first electronic digital computers were not, in fact, first. That honor belongs to a once forgotten physicist named John V. Atanasof...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: August 1988
B-2 or Not B-2
Report from Stockholm
K.A.L. 007
What Price Cost Controls?
Complexity Counted?
Going for Gold
A Match Made in Heaven
A Better Crystal Ball
Truth or Consequences?
So Long, Lefty
Son of Rubber
Robots Rampant
Picture Computation
Sunny Prospects?
Testing Sales
Entrepreneurial Spirit
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, August 1988
- Recommended
Books, August 1998
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, August 1988
- Departments
Computer Recreations, August 1988
