rik@ucla-cs.UUCP (10/20/84)
Table of Contents SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Volume 251 Number 4 October 1984 "COMPUTER RECREATIONS," Yank D. Weed, pp. 20-27. [A computational garden sprouting anagrams, pangrams and few weeds.] "SPACE-BASED BALLISTIC-MISSILE DEFENSE," Hans A. Bethe (Cornell University), Richard L. Garwin (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center), Kurt Gottfried (Cornell University) and Henry W. Kendall (M.I.T.), pp. 39-49. [It will set yet another heat in the arms race.] "PRIONS," Stanley B. Prusiner (University of California, San Francisco), pp. 50-59. [A new variety of infectious agent, 100 times smaller than a virus, appears to lack genetic material.] "SEISMIC TOMOGRAPHY," Don L. Anderson and Adam M. Dziewonski (California Institute of Technology), pp. 60-68. [Geologists borrow an idea from medicine to make three- dimensional images of the earth's mantle.] "CARTILAGE," Arnold I. Caplan (Case Western University), pp. 84-94. [The molecules that make up cartilage enable it to play key structural roles in the human body.] "EPSILON AURIGAE," Margherita Hack (Astronomical Observatory of Trieste), pp. 98-105. [For 163 years this binary star has puzzled astronomers; its structure has now been clarified.] "A LATE ICE-AGE SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHERN CHILE," Tom D. Dillehay (University of Kentucky), pp. 106-117. [A forest site reveals that wood and plants were as important to its inhabitants as stone and bone.] "THE CONTINUOUS PROCESSING OF METALS IN THE U.S.S.R.," A.I. Tselikov (Moscow), pp. 120-129. [A remarkable engineering institution has made major innovations in this industrial technology.] "THE CRYSTAL PALACE," Folke T. Kihlstedt (Franklin and Marshall College), pp. 132-143. [Admired, yet not taken seriously as architecture, it heralded contemporary method and aesthetic.] "THE AMATEUR SCIENTIST," Jearl Walker, pp. 144-152. [The troublesome teapot effect, or why a poured liquid clings to the container.] ----- Rik Verstraete. rik@UCLA-CS.ARPA ...!{cepu,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!rik
rik@ucla-cs.UUCP (10/24/84)
Table of Contents SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Volume 251 Number 5 November 1984 "COMPUTER RECREATIONS," A.K. Dewdney, pp. 19-28. [Yin and yang: recursion and iteration, the Tower of Hanoi and the Chinese rings.] "THE VALUE OF FUNDAMENTAL SCIENCE," Leon M. Lederman (Fermilab, Batavia, Ill.; Columbia University), pp. 40-47. [Pure science deserves support for its own sake; the support also yields handsome dividends.] "THE INFRARED SKY," Harm J. Habing (University of Leiden) and Gerry Neugebauer (Caltech), pp. 48-57. [Comets, stars, galaxies, gas and dust clouds as seen by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite.] "HOW LDL RECEPTORS INFLUENCE CHOLESTEROL AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS," Michael S. Brown and Joseph Goldstein (University of Texas, Dallas), pp. 58-66. [Receptors maintain a literally vital balance.] "MODERN BAKING TECHNOLOGY," Samuel A. Matz (consultant), pp. 122-134. [This $30 billion-a-year industry relies on mass production to meet demand for its varied product.] "THE CANOPY OF THE TROPICAL RAIN FOREST," Donald R. Perry (pollination biologist), pp. 138-147. [Once inaccessible, this aerial habitat has been opened to exploration by the author's invention.] "THE C3 LASER," W.T. Tsang (AT&T Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ), pp. 148-161. [Its beam of infrared radiation is so pure that it can easily transmit a billion bits per second.] "MAMMOTH-BONE DWELLINGS ON THE RUSSIAN PLAIN," Mikhail I. Gladkih (Kiev State University), Ninelj L. Kornietz (Institute of Zoology, Kiev) and Olga Soffer (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), pp. 164-175. [They reveal a new and rapidly developing social order.] "GOTHIC STRUCTURAL EXPERIMENTATION," Robert Mark (Princeton University) and William W. Clark (Queens College of the City University of New York), pp. 176-185. [The builders of the cathedrals learned from experience; they also learned from one another.] "THE AMATEUR SCIENTIST," Jearl Walker, pp. 186-93. [A ball bearing aids in the study of light and also serves as a lens.] ----- Rik Verstraete. rik@UCLA-CS.ARPA ...!{cepu,ihnp4,trwspp,ucbvax}!ucla-cs!rik