Wave of the Future
One cold, snowy day, Ingrid Daubechies saw a wealth of hidden meaning in a confused jumble of wiggly lines. Now Daubechie's wavelets are some of the hottest math around.
by Hans Christian von Baeyer
Rocket on a Round Trip
Blasting off is easy--any rocket can do that. Climbing to Orbit in a single stage is harder. Coming back and landing on your feet is harder still. Can the Delta Clipper do all that? Nasa hopes so.
Gut Thinking
What makes fruit-eating spider monkeys so much smarter than leaf-eating howlers? Their gourmet diet, apparently--it's gone to their heads.
The Brain That Misplaced Its Body
Though paralyzed on one side, Mrs. M. claimed she wasn't--at least until she had cold water poured in her ear. Then, for a while, her brain could again perceive her body. And a neuroscientist could glimpse a secret about how we construct reality.
Better Bent Than Broken
Mother nature is a real softy: many of her structures won't stand up to the gentlest breeze. So why isn't she collapsing around our ears?
