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May-June 2010 cover

On the Cover

May-June 2010 Volume 98, Number 3

The developmental paths of the human eye—shown on the cover in a colored scanning electron micrograph during the eighth week of gestation—and the octopus eye are examples of convergent evolution. ...

FEATURE ARTICLES

To Signal Is Human *

Alex (Sandy) Pentland

Real-time data mining unmasks the power of imitation, kith and charisma in our face-to-face social networks

Revealing the True Solar Corona

Imaging may have inadvertently led astrophysicists astray in understanding the Sun

Development Influences Evolution *

Katherine E. Willmore

A range of factors—including genetics and physics, location and timing— can either constrain an animal’s features or amplify changes

To See for One’s Self

The art of autopsy has a long history and an uncertain future

* access restricted to members and subscribers

SCIENTISTS’ BOOKSHELF

Pleistocene Pioneers

Douglas K. Charles

A review of First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America, by David J. Meltzer. When did the first humans arrive in the Americas? What route—or routes—did they take? Was there more than one wave of settlers? What did they do when they got here? Meltzer explains why archaeology has not yet been able to provide very precise answers to such questions

See all book reviews for this issue.

DEPARTMENTS

MACROSCOPE

Designing Minds

How should we explain the origins of novel behaviors?

Edward A. Wasserman and Mark S. Blumberg

COMPUTING SCIENCE

Statisticians can reuse their data to quantify the uncertainty of complex models

ENGINEERING

Reusing Infrastructure*

When the need for a bridge changes, sometimes so too can the bridge

MARGINALIA

Darwin's Literary Models

It may not be structured like a journal paper, but On the Origin of Species was written according to classical rules of rhetoric

SIGHTINGS

Detecting Irregular Gravity

Catherine Clabby

SCIENCE OBSERVER

If Not for Plants, Could Rivers Bend?

Geologists strengthen the case that early rooted plants engineered the look of modern rivers

Catherine Clabby

Amphibious Caterpillars

Hawaii hosts the first-known insects that are equally happy living underwater or on dry land

Fenella Saunders

The Institute for Systems Biology celebrates an anniversary, a triumph in impact ranking and a growing role in the ecology of life science

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

The Wrong Culprit?

Harness DNA Memory

Can't Break that Law

Water Molecules Not Repelled

SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)

IN THIS SECTION

American Scientist Classics

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