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The article offers information on the enigma of the aerodynamic lift and also discusses why planes stay in air. Topics discussed include what generates the aerodynamic force known as lift; views of John D. Anderson, Junior curator of aerodynamics at the National Air and Space Museum, on issue; and also mentions that the Bernoulli's theorem attempts to explain lift as a consequence of the curved upper surface of an airfoil, the technical name for an airplane wing.

In February 2003, as the United States prepared to rid Iraq of its mythical weapons of mass destruction, it also began the process of dismantling its own, real biological-weapons plant […]

The article presents information about synthetic biology and the possibility of human cellular immortality, noting HeLa cells, so named because they were taken from an African American cervical cancer patient named Henrietta Lacks who died in 1951, can be kept alive in a laboratory setting indefinitely. Longevity in jellyfish and human life expectancy are discussed.

The article profiles Harvard Medical School genetics professor George M. Church and his projects. Church invented an automated genome sequencing machine that drastically reduced the price of genome mapping. This makes possible his Personal Genome Project (PGP), which aims to sequence the genomes of 100,000 people to encourage the field of personalized medicine. Church is also interested in techniques of reprogramming DNA, including his multiplex automated genome engineering (MAGE) methods.

The article focuses on the various residences and workplaces occupied by the physicist Albert Einstein. Accounts of several noteworthy locations are given, including his home in Bern Switzerland, his vacation spot in Caputh, Germany, and his office in Princeton, New Jersey. The reverence given to the places by tourists and scientists alike is also discussed.

Byline: George Church and Ed Regis Matt Manley for The Chronicle Review The idea of improving the human species has always had an enormously bad press, stemming largely from the [...]

We eradicated smallpox once. Will we have to do it again? SCOURGE The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox. By Jonathan B. Tucker. 291 pp. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. [...]

Great books for the biological century In the November 1995 issue of REASON ('Biology 2001'), Gregory Benford declared the end of the era of physics and the coming of the [...]

The Arcanum The Extraordinary True Story. By Janet Gleeson. 324 pp. New York: Warner Books. $23. On Nov. 28, 1701, Augustus the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, [...]

THE UNITED STATES AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE Secrets From the Early Cold War and Korea. By Stephen Endicott and Edward Hagerman. Illustrated. 274 pp. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. $29.95. On March [...]

A Geography of Time The Temporal Misadventures of a Social Psychologist, or How Every Culture Keeps Time Just a Little Bit Differently. By Robert Levine. 258 pp. New York: Basic [...]

VIRUS HUNTER Thirty Years of Battling Hot Viruses Around the World. By C. J. Peters and Mark Olshaker. Illustrated. 323 pp. New York: Anchor Books/Doubleday. $23.95. BEFORE the late 20th [...]

BEHIND THE CRYSTAL BALL Magic, Science, and the Occult From Antiquity Through the New Age. By Anthony Aveni. Illustrated. 406 pp. New York: Times Books/ Random House. $28. Throughout history, [...]

THE PINBALL EFFECT How Renaissance Water Gardens Made the Carburetor Possible -- and Other Journeys Through Knowledge. By James Burke. Illustrated. 310 pp. Boston: Little, Brown & Company. $23.95. Twenty [...]

THE COLLAPSE OF CHAOS Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World. By Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart. Illustrated. 495 pp. New York: Viking. $23.95. FROM its title, you might expect 'The [...]

THE PORSCHE 918 SPYDER certainly is a car of many superlatives ['Shakedown Cruise,' March], Base price, $848K. Paint job, $63K ('scratch proof' and self-healing?). 'Authentic' leather, $26K (fake leather is [...]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in the November 2015 issue including "Knocked Flat" by Aaron Robinson, "From Tacorado to Eternity," and "Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada Group."

YOUR MOTTO IS ALLEGEDLY 'No boring cars.' Yet in May [Driven, 'Bread-Box Battle'] you review four ... minivans! Please tell me what more boring category of car exists in the [...]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including one on the Mustang Ecoboost, automobile from Ford Motor Co., the other on the use of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles in police force and the third on the cost of cars.

THE COMMON THREAD A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics, and the Human Genome. By John Sulston and Georgina Ferry. Illustrated. 310 pp. Washington: The Joseph Henry Press. $24.95. It has [...]

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including "The Name Game" in the March 2014 issue, the Corvette Z06 car on the cover of the March 2014 issue, and "Getting a grip" by John Phillips, in the March 2014 issue.

The article discusses the various state sponsored research projects aimed at increasing the speed of commercial air travel. Plans to develop a hypersonic rocket plane that could fly from Germany to Australia in 90 minutes by the German FAST 20XX program funded by the European Commission are described. Research by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency into environmentally friendly supersonic transport is discussed. A European Space Agency project to make a Mach 5 hypersonic craft is explained.

The article discusses the proposed sites for spaceports and issues concerning suborbital flights. Spaceport is a site dedicated to launching rockets that can carry tourists into space for private profit. Proposed sites for international spaceports include Singapore, Canada and Sweden. There are several factors that could weaken demand for suborbital flights, these include price, delays and safety. Companies in the space tourism business include Virgin Galactic and UP Aerospace.

Presents information on the McKinley Climatic Laboratory in Florida which serves as a torture chamber for aircraft in search of U.S. Federal Aviation Administration of military certification. Capability of the laboratory to create every weather condition to test military and civilian aircraft; Scale and complexity of the cooling system at the laboratory; Description of the tests conducted on several aircraft at the laboratory.

Discusses the expansion of the universe. Views of Andy Fabian of the University of Cambridge in England on the knowledge of scientists regarding the composition of the universe; Actions taken by astrophysicists to determine what composed a percentage of the universe; Factor that shows an increase in the expansion rate of the cosmos.

The article discusses potential developments in computer technology in the 150 years following 2013, presenting comments from computer researchers including George Dyson, Ivan Sutherland, and Stewart Brand. Topics include the impact of decision-making on the development of the computer industry, the possible development of small computers that communicate directly with human brains, and the possible construction of computers that are not electronic. The reservations expressed by some computer scientists in regards to making predictions are emphasized.

Details the Superman Jet Week rally at Metropolis Municipal Airport in Illinois in 2004. Inception of the rally; Information on the scale-model jet turbine engine; Experiences of several participants in the said rally.

Discusses the dismantling of the biological weapons plant Building 470 at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, which coincides with the Iraq war in 2003. Microbes produced at the plant; Approaches adopted by Controlled Demolition Inc. for the dismantlement; Obstacles to the dismantling of the plant.

LEAD: THE EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY By George Basalla. Illustrated. 248 pp. New York: Cambridge University Press. Cloth, $32.50. Paper, $10.95. THE EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY By George Basalla. Illustrated. 248 pp. [...]

LEAD: FREE RADICAL Albert Szent-Gyorgyi and The Battle Over Vitamin C. By Ralph W. Moss. Preface by Studs Terkel. Illustrated. 316 pp. New York: Paragon House Publishers. $22.95. FREE RADICAL [...]