Six Months on Mir
As the Shuttle-Mir program draws to a close, a veteran NASA astronaut reflects on her mission on board the Russian spacecraft and the implications for the International Space Station...
Features
How Cicadas Make their Noise
The loudest known insects, male cicadas are designed for sound. Their internal instrument is surprisingly complex
The Genetics of Cognitive Abilities and Disabilities
Investigations of specific cognitive skills can help clarify how genes shape the components of intellect
Television's Bright New Technology
The plasma display panel is finally making good on a decades-old promise: a big, bright screen so thin it can be hung on a wall. But mainstream success requires that engineers find a way to get prices down from the current $11,000...
Digital Television: Here at Last
After a long and contentious process, a digital standard in the U.S. has finally emerged. It will soon replace today's antiquated television system
Japanese Temple Geometry
During Japan's period of national seclusion (1639--1854), native mathematics thrived, as evidenced in sangaku- wooden tablets engraved with geometry problems hung under the roofs of shrines and temples...
A Calculus of Risk
Financial engineering can lessen exposure to the perils of running a multibillion-dollar business or a small household. But mathematical models used by this discipline may present a new set of hazards...
Departments
- From the Editor
Outsmarting Our Genes
- Letters
Errata
Letters to the Editors, May 1998
- Recommended
Reviews and Commentaries--On the Origin of Body Language
- Anti Gravity
Now you see it, now you don't
- 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
50, 100 and 150 Years Ago: Future of the Amazon, Aztec Warrior and Wire Fence
- Wonders
Double Bass Redoubled
- In Brief
In Brief, May 1998
- Profile
Rebottling the Nuclear Genie
- Mathematical Recreation
Cementing Relationships
- Amateur Scientist
Sensing Subtle Tsunamis
- Science and the Citizen
Making a Deep Impact
Snow Men
Water, Water Everywhere
Dances of Worms
- By the Numbers
The Future of the Old
- Working Knowledge
Working Knowledge on Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Connections
Cheers
- Cyber View
Bringing Down the Internet
- Technology and Business
When Less is More
Resistance Fighting
Seeing the Light
A Tongue for Love
A Cool Idea
- In Focus
Taking Aim at Tumors
