The Yellowstone Fires
During the summer of 1988 fires swept across much of Yellowstone National Park. Why did so many acres burn in one year? A look at the ecological history of the region provides some answers...
Features
Double-Beta Decay
The future of fundamental theories that account for everything from the building blocks of the atom to the architecture of the cosmos hinges on studies of this rarest of all observed radioactive events...
How T Cells see Antigen
On their own, these key actors in the immune response are blind. Other cells must break down foreign material and enfold it in the body's own proteins before displaying it to the T cells...
The Mammalian Choroid Plexus
It serves as a "kidney" for the brain, bathing the delicate cells in chemically stable fluid. Although the choroid plexus is small, its role in nourishing and protecting the nervous system is great...
Science in Pictures: Neptune
Voyager 2's cameras unveil a stormy world and a frozen moon molded by volcanism
Shuttle Glow
Objects in low earth orbit travel through a tenuous and yet highly reactive atmosphere. Some materials barely survive the trip; others glow along the way
The World's Oldest Road
It is the Sweet Track of England: a 6,000-year-old wooden walkway discovered in a peat bog by a laborer named Raymond Sweet. The remarkably well-preserved wood reveals much about the track's builders...
The Case for Methanol
The authors maintain that a move to pure methanol would reduce vehicular emissions of hydrocarbons and greenhouse gases and could lessen U. S. dependence on foreign energy sources...
Departments
50 and 100 Years Ago: November 1989
Not so Hot
Ningún Nombre
Wires that Think
Hungry to Evolve?
Economies of Scale
Sweet and Sour
Siberian Snake
Hard-Pressed
Just a Veneer
Winning Candidate
Stillborn
Quantum Consciousness
Myocardial Infraction?
Polluting Rights
Nets Work
Space Available
- Letters
Letters to the Editors, November 1989
- Recommended
Books, November 1989
- Amateur Scientist
The Amateur Scientist, November 1989
- Departments
The Analytical Economist: Markets Unbound?
Computer Recreations, November 1989
Essay: How to Lose: the Story of Maglev
