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November-December 2011 Volume 99, Number 6

Algae frequently are heralded as future feedstocks for biofuels, alternatives to the fossil fuels that so much of the world depends on even though their combustion keeps pumping greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere. ...

FEATURE ARTICLES

Empirical Software Engineering

Greg Wilson, Jorge Aranda

As researchers investigate how software gets made, a new empire for empirical research opens up

Making Biofuel from Microalgae

Philip T. Pienkos, Lieve Laurens, Andy Aden

So much potential coexists with so many scientific, environmental and economic challenges

Whatever Became of Holography? *

Sean F. Johnston

The once-futuristic technology has less public glamour nowadays, but it still plays a current role in science

* access restricted to members and subscribers

SCIENTISTS’ BOOKSHELF

Quantum Subversives

Eric Cavalcanti

A review of Coming of Age with Quantum Information: Notes on a Paulian Idea, by Christopher A. Fuchs. Fuchs’s e-mail correspondence with friends and colleagues from 1995 to 2000 about philosophical ideas in quantum physics shows that debates about the fundamental nature of our world are very much alive. The book is not easy reading and is not a coherent treatise, notes Cavalcanti, “but in it readers will find a delightfully poetic vision for our world”

See all book reviews for this issue.

DEPARTMENTS

FROM THE EDITOR

Building Themes

American Scientist approaches its centenary

David Schoonmaker

MACROSCOPE

Lessons of the Lost

Amphibians are all but gone, bequeathing us lessons that must not be squandered

Joseph R. Mendelson III

COMPUTING SCIENCE

An Adventure in the Nth Dimension

On the mystery of a ball that fills a box, but vanishes in the vastness of higher dimensions

ENGINEERING

Moving Obelisks*

Second millennium B.C. Egyptian stone monuments have been the subject of considerable engineering ingenuity

MARGINALIA

The Rarest Snail in the World

Do development and scientific study conflict with conservation?

ETHICS

Raising Scientific Experts

Competing interests threaten the scientific record, but courage and sound judgment can help

SLIDE SHOW

Large-Format Science

Some of our favorite coffee-table books from 2011 are the stars of this slide show

Anna Lena Phillips

SIGHTINGS

Narrowing In on Negawatts

A new MIT system "sees" radiant energy leaks in buildings

Catherine Clabby

SCIENCE OBSERVER

Improved materials help convert waste heat into electricity

Fenella Saunders

Crowdsourcing Gender Equity

Ada Lovelace Day, and its companion website, aims to raise the profile of women in science and technology

Anna Lena Phillips

An Unexpected Debut for Wood

Evidence suggests its first role involved water, not structural support

Catherine Clabby

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Date Distinctions

Where Will Driverless Cars Take Us?

Transparent Engineering

SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)

WHITE PAPER

Team Science: Heaving Walls & Melding Silos

A Sigma Xi white paper, discussing the intricacies of Team Science and how it pertains to science, society and Sigma Xi today and toward the future.

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