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Editor's picks

Embryo research and genetic disease: By studying mice, scientists have found ways of detecting specific gene defects in very early embryos. Could such diagnosis be offered to people who risk passing on a severe genetic disease to their children?

Follow that fin – the technology of tailing fish

Earth

Time and tide wait for no plaice

Living of the fault line: The San Andreas fault is where the modern science of earthquake prediction began, yet quakes still surprise Californians. Last October’s earthquake encouraged geologists who are finding clues to the next Big One in the landscape

Sing a song of megabytes: The music industry is hijacking technology designed for computers to herald the advent of the tapeless recording studio – and more electronic manipulation of sound

Balancing the carbon budget

Dreams that do what they’re told: Most of us are deceived by dreams, manipulated while asleep. It doesn’t have to be like that – lucid dreaming can put you back in control

Are we missing the grass for the trees?: Amazonian rainforest going up in smoke has become a powerful image of environmental destruction and the growing threat from the greenhouse effect. Tropical grasslands have been almost totally ignored

Table of contents

News

The quake Australia thought could never happen

The bitter legacy of Romania’s ‘first lady of science’

Cabinet papers reveal lost fight for science ministry

Japan drags its feet on project to map the human genome

Government faces row over pollution data

Nuclear news suppressed to thwart CND

Science: Arctic ozone threatened

Technology

Technology: Ovulation captured live with ultrasound

Technology

Technology: Rechargeable battery unlocks the power of polymers . . .

Technology

Technology: .. while a flatter pack and thin electrodes squeeze energy into awkward spaces

Technology

Technology: Japan puts neural computers to work in their own write

Science: Astronomers gain insight into black hole accretion

Science: ‘Unimolecular’ reaction breaks the chemical rules

Science: Cell transplant relieves Parkinson’s disease in rats

Science: Dark matter ‘seen’

Technology

Technology: Sloppy software was AIDS disc’s Achilles heel

Science: ‘Scars’ connect classical and quantum theory

Science: Warmer seas increase greenhouse effect

Balloon prepares to swoop on drugs traffic

Hiroshima study shows higher risks of low-level radiation

Nuclear weapons industry ‘swept health risks under the carpet’

Gaia theorist receives royal recognition

Morocco braces as oil heads for coastline

Screening could cut risk of hip fractures

Canada’s lawyers push for 14-day limit on embryo research

Museums look for ‘artistic’ scientists

Opinion

Ole Moore’s Maniac

Features

Embryo research and genetic disease: By studying mice, scientists have found ways of detecting specific gene defects in very early embryos. Could such diagnosis be offered to people who risk passing on a severe genetic disease to their children?

Follow that fin – the technology of tailing fish

Earth

Time and tide wait for no plaice

Living of the fault line: The San Andreas fault is where the modern science of earthquake prediction began, yet quakes still surprise Californians. Last October’s earthquake encouraged geologists who are finding clues to the next Big One in the landscape

Sing a song of megabytes: The music industry is hijacking technology designed for computers to herald the advent of the tapeless recording studio – and more electronic manipulation of sound

Balancing the carbon budget

Dreams that do what they’re told: Most of us are deceived by dreams, manipulated while asleep. It doesn’t have to be like that – lucid dreaming can put you back in control

Are we missing the grass for the trees?: Amazonian rainforest going up in smoke has become a powerful image of environmental destruction and the growing threat from the greenhouse effect. Tropical grasslands have been almost totally ignored

More

Forum: The horsetail’s tale – A relic from the Palaeozic era

Thistle Diary – More Comment From Westminster: Genes, tax and charity

Forum: Dark days for stereo systems

Forum: Going on a summer expedition? – Some advice for would-be Livingstones

Forum: Falling on your feet – A lesson in Japanese shoe etiquette

Forum: Roses are black, violets are green – The emergence of amateur genetic engineers

Positive health in Peckham / Review of ‘Being Me and Also Us, Lessons from the Peckham Experiment’ by Alison Stallibrass

A caver’s centenary / Review of ‘A Man Deep In Mendip, The Caving Diaries of Harry Savory 1910-1921’ edited by John Savory

History under wraps / Review of ‘Mummies, Myth and Magic’ by Christine El Mahdy

Tribal demarcation / Review of ‘Academic Tribes and Territories’ by Tony Becher

Morality and the test tube / Review of ‘Experiments on Embryos’ edited by Anthony Dyson and John Harris

Evolution’s background noise / Review of ‘The Darwinian Paradigm, Essays on its History, Philisophy and Religious Implications’ by Michael Ruse

Regulars

Ariadne

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23 December 1989