<a href="http://americanscientist.advertserve.com/servlet/click/zone?zid=4&pid=0&lookup=true&position=1" target="_top"> <img src="http://americanscientist.advertserve.com/servlet/view/banner/image/zone?zid=4&pid=0&position=1" height="60" width="234" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" alt="Click Here!"> </a>

MY AMERICAN SCIENTIST

Keep me signed in

Would you like us to keep you signed in on this computer ?

SEARCH

HOME > PAST ISSUE

On the Cover

July-August 2008 Volume 96, Number 4

The polar bear on a melting iceberg has become the universal cliché sy...

FEATURE ARTICLES

Binary Stars with Habitable Planets *

Nader Haghighipour

Although they have not yet been found, Earthlike worlds with two suns most likely exist

Ecological Responses to Climate Change on the Antarctic Peninsula

James McClintock, Hugh Ducklow, William Fraser

The peninsula is an icy world that's warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, threatening a rich but delicate biological community

The Psychoacoustics of Harmony Perception *

Norman D. Cook, Takefumi Hayashi

Centuries after three-part harmony entered Western music, research is starting to clarify why different chords sound tense or resolved, cheerful or melancholy

The First Discovery of DNA *

Few remember the man who discovered the "molecule of life" three-quarters of a century before Watson and Crick revealed its structure

* access restricted to members and subscribers

SCIENTISTS’ BOOKSHELF

Sea Change

Elizabeth Tyler

A review of The Unnatural History of the Sea, by Callum Roberts. Roberts offers a moving glimpse of the amazing abundance of marine life in earlier times and of the reasons for its decline, says Tyler, but in her view, the book’s policy recommendations leave a lot to be desired

See all book reviews for this issue.

DEPARTMENTS

MACROSCOPE

Examining the Vision

A group of scientists, engineers, astronauts and policy analysts ponders the president's "New Vision for Space Exploration"

Louis D. Friedman and G. Scott Hubbard

COMPUTING SCIENCE

The Britney Spears Problem

Tracking who's hot and who's not presents an algorithmic challenge

ENGINEERING

William Barclay Parsons*

The man behind the subway brought engineering to New York high society

MARGINALIA

All Things Small and Great

It's time for a new, conservation-minded view of the microbial communities that live on and in us

SIGHTINGS

Symmetric Bat Flight

An award-winning image models the flow of air around a bat's wings

SCIENCE OBSERVER

You might think that farming salmon would relieve pressure on wild populations. But, in fact, it only makes things worse

David Schneider

Addicts Bet on the Present

Smokers don't put stock in "what might have been" when making choices

Fenella Saunders

Sites for Change

Thousands of Superfund sites are designated as active by the U.S. government. An online project will highlight 365 of the worst

Anna Lena Phillips

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Concrete Solutions
Getting Our Heads Together
Safety First
Mistakes Were Made

SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)

IN THIS SECTION

American Scientist Classics

Purchase a Back Issue

BROWSE BY

- Publication Type

Subscribe to American Scientist

<a href="http://americanscientist.advertserve.com/servlet/click/zone?zid=6&pid=0&lookup=true&position=1" target="_top"> <img src="http://americanscientist.advertserve.com/servlet/view/banner/image/zone?zid=6&pid=0&position=1" height="600" width="160" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" alt="Click Here!"> </a>

<a href="http://americanscientist.advertserve.com/servlet/click/zone?zid=5&pid=0&lookup=true&position=1" target="_top"> <img src="http://americanscientist.advertserve.com/servlet/view/banner/image/zone?zid=5&pid=0&position=1" height="60" width="468" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" alt="Click Here!"> </a>