QUICK ARTICLE SUMMARIES AUGUST 1997 MITOCHONDRIAL DNA IN AGING AND DISEASE Douglas C. Wallace Most human genes reside inside the nucleus of the cell, but some are also found in the energy-generating structures called mitochondria. These genes have already been linked to dozens of diseases and could prove particularly important in age-related disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Investigating Electricity in the Sky LIGHTNING CONTROL WITH LASERS Jean-Claude Diels, Ralph Bernstein, Karl E. Stahlkopf and Xin Miao Zhao Defenses against lightning, one of nature's most destructive forces, have not really improved since Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod. If these scientists are right, however, carefully tuned laser beams could safely redirect the electrical energies accumulating in thunderheads. LIGHTNING BETWEEN EARTH AND SPACE Stephen B. Mende, Davis D. Sentman and Eugene M. Wescott Once dismissed as figments of pilots' imaginations, strange flashes appearing above thunderstorms have been confirmed as entirely new forms of lightning. Known as sprites, elves, blue jets and gamma-ray events, these high-altitude phenomena arise through a physics all their own. SPACE AGE ARCHAEOLOGY Farouk El-Baz More and more, archaeologists are setting aside their picks and shovels in favor of satellite-based scanners, fiber-optic probes, chemical sensors and other instruments. Such devices can yield once unobtainable information about valuable sites and do so without damaging them. GLANDULAR GIFTS Darryl T. Gwynne "My love gave me a red, red rose...." But in the insect world, the nuptial gifts from males to females tend to be less romantic than edible--and much more personal. Proffering tasty body parts and secretions seems to be a male strategy for fertilizing as many of his mate's eggs as possible. THE TOP-SECRET LIFE OF LEV LANDAUT Gennady Gorelik This physics genius has been remembered as an apolitical victim of Soviet oppression. Secret KGB records, however, reveal that Landau was an outspoken foe of Stalin's regime, a self-described "scientist slave" who helped the Soviet bomb effort only to avoid severe retribution. Trends in Neuroscience THE MACHINERY OF THOUGHT Tim Beardsley, staff writer Using new brain-scanning technologies, researchers have identified the prefrontal cortex as the seat of "working memory"--the place that holds mental representations of the people, things and places on which thoughts are focused.