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    Features

    Observatories on the Moon

    Hostile to life, the moon could be a haven for astronomy. Observatories on its surface could yield extraordinarily detailed views of the heavens and open new windows through which to study the universe

    By Jack O. Burns, Nebojsa Duric, G. Jeffrey Taylor and Stewart W. Johnson

    Interleukin-2

    The first hormone of the immune system to be recognized, it helps the body to mount a defense against microorganisms by triggering the multiplication of only those cells that attack an invader

    By Kendall A. Smith

    New Radioactivities

    An atomic nucleus can spontaneously restructure itself, occasionally ejecting rare clusters of protons and neutrons. Observations of these new radioactivities have illuminated theories of nuclear dynamics

    By Walter Greiner and Aurel Sandulescu

    Earthquakes in Stable Continental Crust

    Earthquakes can strike even in stable crust, well away from the familiar earthquake zones at the edges of tectonic plates. What accounts for these enigmatic events?

    By Arch C. Johnston and Lisa R. Kanter

    Suspension-Feeding Vertebrates

    Animals that filter their food out of the water can reap the abundance of plankton and grow in huge numbers or to enormous size

    By Richard Wassersug and S. Laurie Sanderson

    Unconscious Mental Functioning

    Rigorous, quantitative studies of psychotherapy are challenging certain widely held views of how the unconscious mind works and how patients in therapy make progress

    By Joseph Weiss

    The Early History of Indo-European Languages

    The common ancestor of these languages has been traced to Asia rather than to Europe, the authors say. The once-clear distinction between the family's Eastern and Western branches is now blurred

    By Thomas V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov

    Departments

    • 50 and 100 Years Ago: March 1990

    • Test Negative

    • Polar Heat

    • Vapor Trail

    • Astronomy Potpourri

    • Broadcast Warning

    • Bee Police

    • Who's the Dealer?

    • Down to the Wire

    • Smelling Better

    • Heli-Hopper

    • Fallout

    • Punctuated Equilibrium

    • Safe Passage?

    • Likely Litigation

    • Not Just a Pretty Face

    • Fischer Black

    • One if by Land

    • One-Step Steel

    • Trends in Communications: The Road to the Global Village

    • Letters

      Letters to the Editors, March 1990

    • Recommended

      Books, March 1990

    • Mathematical Recreation

      Mathematical Recreations, March 1990

    • Departments

      The Analytical Economist: Changing Money in the East Bloc

    • Essay: Holographic Science to Meet Energy Needs

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    March 1990

    See the World from a Different Perspective

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