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On the Cover

January-February 2012 Volume 100, Number 1

Brian Bender lives in Martin, North Dakota, about 45 miles from Devils Lake. One day last June he drove toward the expanding lake for a fishing outing. ...

FEATURE ARTICLES

How to Be Manipulative *

Robert M. Pringle

Intelligent tinkering is key to understanding ecology and rehabilitating ecosystems

Artificial Noses *

David R. Walt, Shannon E. Stitzel, Matthew J. Aernecke

Electronic olfaction aims to mimic mammalian systems that can identify countless odors with relatively few types of sensors

Runaway Devils Lake

In the wake of climate change, a North Dakota lake swells without regard for people or property and with no easy fix in sight

The Experimental Analysis of Behavior

The 1957 American Scientist article, reproduced in full

Behaviorism at 100

Over its second 50 years, the study of behavior evolved to become a discipline, behaviorology, independent of psychology

* access restricted to members and subscribers

SCIENTISTS’ BOOKSHELF

Trust in Neurons

Robert J. Richards

A review of Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells us about Morality, by Patricia S. Churchland. Churchland regards oxytocin as fundamental to morality, but what is that hormone’s role in a decision to send a $50 check to Oxfam, wonders Richards

See all book reviews for this issue.

DEPARTMENTS

FROM THE EDITOR

American Scientist reaches Volume 100

David Schoonmaker

MACROSCOPE

Freakonomics: What Went Wrong?

Examination of a very popular popular-statistics series reveals avoidable errors

Andrew Gelman and Kaiser Fung

COMPUTING SCIENCE

A Box of Universe

Watch the cosmos evolve in a cube one billion light-years wide

ENGINEERING

The Washington Monument*

The story of the stone memorial to the first U.S. president spans a century

SLIDE SHOW

On the Cover Over the Years

American Scientist has told scientific stories through color cover images since 1970. See some of our favorites in this slide show.

Anna Lena Phillips

MARGINALIA

Rereading Darwin

Science now takes for granted the importance of forces and time spans we can’t perceive directly

Robert L. Dorit

SIGHTINGS

Finding Ground Truth from Above

Using LiDAR to make bare-earth maps

Catherine Clabby

SCIENCE OBSERVER

How a Fungus Boosts a Beetle’s Invasion

Microbial evolution helps explain why a mild-mannered American beetle has become a tree killer in Asia

Elsa Youngsteadt

Relative Risk, One Result at a Time

Evidence mounts for endocrine effects of a compound used in many antibacterial bar soaps

Anna Lena Phillips

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Caribbean Opportunity

Tardigrade Transgression

Multidimensional Mind Benders

Overcoming Bias

Fast-Food Publication

SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)

IN THIS SECTION

American Scientist Classics

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