On the Cover
March-April 2009 Volume 97, Number 2
The first transistor was a relatively monstrous device, about half an ...
FEATURE ARTICLES
Chintu Lai, Ting-Kuei Tsay, Chen-Ho Chien, I-Ling Wu
We’ve learned to predict typhoons. What is required to predict the floods they bring?
Theodore Hill
How to gamble if you must—the mathematics of optimal stopping
Robert W. Keyes
The basic unit of the computer revolution has changed in form, material and fabrication, but nothing has come along in half a century to displace it
Lawren M. Smithline
A collection of decryption techniques and the analysis of various texts combine in the breaking of a 200-year-old code
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SCIENTISTS’ BOOKSHELF
Jenifer Neils
A review of Loot: The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World, by Sharon Waxman, and Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle over Our Ancient Heritage, by James Cuno. Waxman describes high-profile cases of museums returning stolen works of ancient art to their country of origin, focusing on the flamboyant personalities involved, whereas Cuno, a museum director, defends the mores of his profession, decrying the nationalism that has given rise to demands that objects be returned
See all book reviews for this issue.