FROM THE EDITOR

Hooked on Conics

Where geometry and art meet

David Schoonmaker

MACROSCOPE

The Survival of the Fittists

Understanding the role of replication in research is crucial for the interpretation of scientific advances

Howard Wainer

COMPUTING SCIENCE

Alice and Bob in Cipherspace

A new form of encryption allows you to compute with data you cannot read

Brian Hayes

ENGINEERING

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Engineer*

Alexander Calder’s years at Stevens Institute of Technology likely influenced his later artistic paths

Henry Petroski

SLIDE SHOW

The Big Picture

A second collection of noteworthy American Scientist illustrations

MARGINALIA

Bonding to Hydrogen

The simplest molecule, made for connection

Roald Hoffmann

SIGHTINGS

Forest Elephant Chronicles

Using infrared to monitor social dynamics

Catherine Clabby

SCIENCE OBSERVER

Cracking with Electricity

Faults seem to give off a warning signal before they slip

Fenella Saunders

In the News

POETRY

Matter and Void

Susan B. A. Somers-Willett

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Infrared Dating

Lowering Limits

Science’s 99 Percent

Those Puppy-dog Eyes

Questions and Answers

SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)

SLIDE SHOW

Forest Elephant Chronicles

Cornell's Elephant Listening Project experiments with heat-sensitive cameras

Catherine Clabby