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On the Cover

July-August 1999 Volume 87, Number 4

On the cover:

Recent ice- and ocean sediment-core studies have revealed that the ave...


FEATURE ARTICLES

Rapid Climate Change

Kendrick Taylor

New evidence shows that earth's climate can change dramatically in only a decade. Could greenhouse gases flip that switch?


Human Embryonic Stem-Cell Research: Science and Ethics *

Shirley Wright

A discovery that could revolutionize medicine raises the question of where to draw the line on human embryonic research


The Mystery of Ticklish Laughter *

Christine Harris

Pleasure or pain? Social response or reflex? Tickling and the laughter it induces are an enigmatic aspect of our primate heritage


Polarized Starlight and the Handedness of Life *

Stuart Clark

The asymmetry of the amino acid molecules found in all living things may have originated in space billions of years ago


DNA Vaccines as Cancer Treatment *

Edwin F. de Zoeten, Edward Cohen, Morton Schatzman

No longer limited to warding against infectious agents, vaccines may help treat diseases after they have been diagnosed


* access restricted to members and subscribers


SCIENTISTS’ BOOKSHELF

Behind Das Iron Curtain

Alexander Gurshtein

A review of Science under Socialism: East Germany in Comparative Perspective, edited by Kristie Macrakis and Dieter Hoffman.

See all book reviews for this issue.


DEPARTMENTS

COMPUTING SCIENCE

The Vibonacci Numbers

Brian Hayes

Variations on a familiar theme

MARGINALIA

Pulse, Pump & Probe

Roald Hoffmann

Capturing the vanishingly brief

ENGINEERING

Drawing Bridges *

Henry Petroski

Washington D.C.'s Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge

SCIENCE OBSERVER

Tornado Rising

Dana Mackenzie

The dangers of "nondescending" twisters

Fusion from Television?

David Schneider

Tabletop nuclear fusion gets a second look

Stardust Memories

Michael Szpir

Chemistry probes the secrets of extrasolar dust grains

Archimedes Unbound

William Cannon

New life for an ancient Greek palimpsest

From the President