Humans hunted this cinnamon-colored predator to near extinction, then saved it. Should they have? Some biologists argue that Canis rufus is not a true species at all but a crossbreed of gray wolves and coyotes created by environmental disruptions. The authors explain the genetic evidence that red wolves are hybrids--but also argue that such creatures still deserve protection.
Protecting the Greenback
Robert E. Schafrik and Sara E. Church
Counterfeiting, a crime as old as money itself, has long influenced the design of American currency. Unfortunately, with the recent rise of high-quality color photocopiers and computer scanners, making bogus banknotes has become easier than ever. Next year the U.S. Treasury will retaliate by introducing new bills with more extensive anticounterfeiting features. A preview of what to expect.
Treating Diabetes with Transplanted Cells
Paul E. Lacy
Insulin injections have saved the lives of many people with diabetes mellitus, but they are not a cure. Very soon, however, medical technology may go to the root of the problem by replacing the pancreatic cells such patients need. The major obstacle is preventing the immune system from destroying these grafted cells. Several avenues of promising research offer solutions.
Light in the Ocean's Midwaters
Bruce H. Robison
Between the sunlit waters near the surface and the pitch darkness at the seafloor is our planet's largest and most fantastic community, illuminated only by the chilly radiance of its luminous natives. Jelly-soft animals 40 meters long, saucer-eyed fish and wary squid call this place home. Now tiny submarines and submersible robots are letting humans get a glimpse.
The Trebuchet
Paul E. Chevedden, Les Eigenbrod, Vernard Foley and Werner Soedel
This medieval engine of war could demolish castle walls; modern reconstructions can hurl a small automobile 80 meters through the air. The Islamic and Mongol empires used it to expand their domains, and the Black Death rode its projectiles into Europe. Yet the precision of the trebuchet's pendulumlike architecture also seems to have inspired clockmakers in their craft.
Cookstoves for the Developing World
Daniel M. Kammen
Call it a low-tech success story: millions of new affordable stoves that efficiently burn firewood and other traditional fuels are raising standards of living in poor nations. Building a better cookstove was a challenge, however--one in which local women's groups had to teach their would-be benefactors a few lessons.
J. Robert Oppenheimer: Before the War
John S. Rigden
His name, for most people, is synonymous with the invention of nuclear weapons. Yet even before the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer was a brilliant experimental and theoretical physicist, who recognized quantum-mechanical tunneling, described how black holes could form and nearly predicted the existence of antimatter.
TRENDS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE
Plastics Get Wired
Philip Yam, staff writer
Transistors and other electronic components have recently been built for the first time entirely out of plastics and similar organic polymers. In theory, a new age of bendable, durable, lightweight circuitry might be dawning. Don't sell your copper futures yet, though: polymers have a long way to go before they can replace metal wires or silicon in most devices.
DEPARTMENTS
Science and the Citizen
Creationism grips U.S. schools.... Are black holes collapsing?... One lake up, one lake down.... Regulation of toxins looks sickly.... Insect detectives.... Cancer and IL-12.... Atom movers and shakers.... Mount Pinatubo's muddy aftermath.
The Analytical Economist
Return of the Babylonians.
Technology and Business
Spying on the environment.... Superconductors get tough.... Homemade smog.
Profile
Skeptic James Randi rips apart pseudoscience.
Letters to the Editors
Reducing the population.... Mental illness and the arts.
50 and 100 Years Ago
1945: The electrostatic duster. 1895: The air up there.
Mathematical Recreations
Sometimes rigging an election is the only way to get a fair vote.
Reviews
Serengeti studies.... Crowd control.... The physics of God?
Essay: Anne Eisenberg
Computer users enthusiastically play in the MUD.
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN July 1995 Volume 273 Number 1 Pages 4-5
Scientific American (ISSN 0036-8733), published monthly by Scientific American, Inc., 415 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017-1111. Copyright 1995 by Scientific American, Inc. All rights reserved. Except for one-time personal use, no part of any issue may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted or otherwise copied for public or private use without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding back issues, reprints or permissions, E-mail SCAinquiry@aol.com.