FROM THE EDITOR

Getting Personal

Despite occasional appearances, science is a highly personal pastime

David Schoonmaker

MACROSCOPE

An Interlude with Dirac

A geodesist remembers Paul Dirac’s visit to the University of Hawaii Lunar Laser Ranging Observatory

William E. Carter

COMPUTING SCIENCE

The Science of Sticky Spheres

On the strange attraction of spheres that like to stick together

Brian Hayes

ENGINEERING

Overarching Problems*

Keystones, whether employed to complete an arch or as a metaphor, require care in their use

Henry Petroski

SLIDE SHOW

100 Years by the Numbers

Take a numerical journey through American Scientist's 100-year history

MARGINALIA

The Cost of the Wild

Restoring an ecosystem to primitive grandeur is no simple matter in a complex world

Pat Shipman

ETHICS

Mentor vs. Monolith

Finding and being a good graduate advisor

Mohamed Noor and Caiti Heil

SIGHTINGS

Computing Dolphin Fin Photo IDs

Image-processing software helps biologists tell which dolphin is which

Catherine Clabby

EVERYDAY SCIENTIST

The Buzz of New Beginnings

Rigging up a new life abroad can be revitalizing

Ralf Dahm

SCIENCE OBSERVER

Interface Facts

Video games allow people all over the world to do scientific research

Katie L. Burke

Kind of a Drag

Hurricane intensity predictions may benefit from more refined estimates of momentum transfer at the sea surface

David Schoonmaker

In the News

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Emotional Literacy

Mechanical Drawing

Reluctant Book Reviewers

What a Fir Tree Feels

Tilted Cones

Vocal Spectra

An Experimental Subject

SIGMA XI TODAY (PDF)