Issue 1713 | Magazine cover date: 21 April 1990

This week's magazine

21 April 1990

Issue 1713

On the cover

Features

Space - Japan's new frontier: When Japan launched its first lunar mission in January, other nations feared that they would soon lose their lead in another field of lucrative technology. But for the moment local squabbles, tight budgets and international

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Technology: Polymer concrete set to toughen tunnels

Opinion

Comment: Too much hot air

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Space - Japan's new frontier: When Japan launched its first lunar mission in January, other nations feared that they would soon lose their lead in another field of lucrative technology. But for the moment local squabbles, tight budgets and international

Features

Science by degrees: Perhaps Britain suffers from a severe shortage of physicists because it is too difficult to get a degree in the subject. Universities are having to rethink their academic traditions

Features

More room for the woollies: The Monkey Sanctuary at Looe in Cornwall has been so successful that it must now expand and perhaps divide. What lessons does it hold for traditional zoos?

Features

The greening of chemistry

Features

Sex and the single cell: In August, the first babies sexed by testing only one of a tiny cluster of eight cells are due to be born. Their births will prove that it is feasible to screen embryos for genetic diseases

Features

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Technology

Technology: Polymer concrete set to toughen tunnels

A NEW material which can be pumped as a fluid and which solidifies in water may make tunnel building easier. The material, developed by civil engineering researchers in Japan, is a composite of bitumen, cement and a polymer that absorbs water. The team that made it has called it Aquafalt. Aquafalt's developers claim that the …

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Technology

Technology: Independent radio takes adverts from space

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Technology

Technology: Surprise success for genetic jabs

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Technology

Technology: Medical scanning turns to the bright lights

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Technology

Technology: Automatic meter readings are coming - down the mains

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Science: Chemical clues to the origin of life

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Technology

Technology: Cartoon time for holograms

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Technology

Technology: Satellites stake out the San Andreas fault

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Science: Does amniocentesis have a long-term affect on children?

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Science: Salty food stays cool to its core in microwaves

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Science: Not tonight, darling - it isn't Christmas

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Slime again?

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Eggs wanted

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Science: Twilight of the frogs

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Heavenly foursome

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Citations track the fate of cold fusion

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Longer life

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Tropical poll

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China launches bid to recover reputation

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Bright future for New Zealander's comet

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Caribbean sunset

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Ministers back research into childhood cancers

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Hackers 'plan revenge' for police clampdown on computer crime

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Soviet villagers fear radar plan may pose risk to health

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The forgotten rag that brought down Ariane

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Giant meteor shatters Dutch calm

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Court challenge looms over Thames development

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Colombia calls on rich to fund forest protection

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Replanted rainforest could 'offset' Dutch coal-fired power stations

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Concern grows over health of 'Chernobyl children'

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Romanian physicists plead for Ceausescu's son

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Gene linked with excessive drinking

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Uncertainty hangs over future of cell collection

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Opinion

Comment: Too much hot air

WHEN will politicians begin to appreciate the urgency of the problems posed by global warming? Just before Easter, a report leaked from a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made news with its warnings of rising temperatures and sea level, storms, droughts and floods. But the document was news only because …

Opinion

Features

Space - Japan's new frontier: When Japan launched its first lunar mission in January, other nations feared that they would soon lose their lead in another field of lucrative technology. But for the moment local squabbles, tight budgets and international

AMONG the exhibits in the museum at the Tanegashima Space Centre is a model of a future space colony. It shows people living on the inside surface of a gigantic rotating cylinder, in a landscape complete with mountains, lakes and cities - in fact an idealised version of Japan's own landscape. Probably every country's space …

Features

Science by degrees: Perhaps Britain suffers from a severe shortage of physicists because it is too difficult to get a degree in the subject. Universities are having to rethink their academic traditions

Features

More room for the woollies: The Monkey Sanctuary at Looe in Cornwall has been so successful that it must now expand and perhaps divide. What lessons does it hold for traditional zoos?

Features

The greening of chemistry

Features

Sex and the single cell: In August, the first babies sexed by testing only one of a tiny cluster of eight cells are due to be born. Their births will prove that it is feasible to screen embryos for genetic diseases

Features

Forum: In search of the ideal student - Stephen Harris on the selection of PhD students

With the season for selecting PhD students upon us, many academics will be wondering if the expenditure of so much time and effort is worth it, particularly when studentships and good graduate students are both getting more difficult to find. The long haul begins at the start of the academic year, when project proposals have …

Forum

Forum: Communications breakdown - Talk of a global village is premature

Forum

Thistle Diary - More Comment from Westminster: Of capercaillie, bees and power stations

Forum

Forum: The selfish ugh! - Evolution is child's play

Forum

Forum: The green missionaries of Africa - National parks are endangering the very people who can best preserve the environment

Forum

The high cost of preservation / Review of 'Return of the Whooping Crane' by Robin W. Doughty, University of Texas Press, pp 192, $29.95

Books & Arts

Weaverbirds, the eighth plague / Review of 'Quelea quelea: Africa's Bird Pest' edited by Richard L. Briggers and Clive C. H. Elliot, Oxford University Press, pp 402, Pounds sterling 45

Books & Arts

Japanese designs on the market / Review of 'Between MITI and The Market: Japanese Industrial Policy for High Technology' by Daniel I. Okimoto, Stanford University Press, pp 260, $27.50 Computers Inc: and 'Japan's Challenge to IBM' by Marie Anchordoguy, H

Books & Arts

Pick of the Paperbacks

Books & Arts

Where the wild things are / Review of 'The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Sciences of Complexity' by Heinz R. Pagels, Bantam, New York, pp 352, $9.95

Books & Arts

A view from the other end of the telescope

Books & Arts

Regulars

Feedback

IT TOOK a long time to happen, but environmentalism has finally begun to change the way in which things are done in Japan. Surprisingly, the crunch came not over whaling, or the concreting of most of the nation's coastline, but over golf courses. Japan has about 15 million golfers, most of whom have to be …

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This week's magazine

21 April 1990

On the cover

Space - Japan's new frontier: When Japan launched its first lunar mission in January, other nations feared that they would soon lose their lead in another field of lucrative technology. But for the moment local squabbles, tight budgets and international

Science by degrees: Perhaps Britain suffers from a severe shortage of physicists because it is too difficult to get a degree in the subject. Universities are having to rethink their academic traditions

More room for the woollies: The Monkey Sanctuary at Looe in Cornwall has been so successful that it must now expand and perhaps divide. What lessons does it hold for traditional zoos?

The greening of chemistry

Sex and the single cell: In August, the first babies sexed by testing only one of a tiny cluster of eight cells are due to be born. Their births will prove that it is feasible to screen embryos for genetic diseases

Table of contents

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Technology

Technology: Polymer concrete set to toughen tunnels

Technology

Technology: Independent radio takes adverts from space

Technology

Technology: Surprise success for genetic jabs

Technology

Technology: Medical scanning turns to the bright lights

Technology

Technology: Automatic meter readings are coming - down the mains

Science: Chemical clues to the origin of life

Technology

Technology: Cartoon time for holograms

Technology

Technology: Satellites stake out the San Andreas fault

Science: Does amniocentesis have a long-term affect on children?

Science: Salty food stays cool to its core in microwaves

Science: Not tonight, darling - it isn't Christmas

Slime again?

Eggs wanted

Science: Twilight of the frogs

Heavenly foursome

Citations track the fate of cold fusion

Longer life

Tropical poll

China launches bid to recover reputation

Bright future for New Zealander's comet

Caribbean sunset

Ministers back research into childhood cancers

Hackers 'plan revenge' for police clampdown on computer crime

Soviet villagers fear radar plan may pose risk to health

The forgotten rag that brought down Ariane

Giant meteor shatters Dutch calm

Court challenge looms over Thames development

Colombia calls on rich to fund forest protection

Replanted rainforest could 'offset' Dutch coal-fired power stations

Concern grows over health of 'Chernobyl children'

Romanian physicists plead for Ceausescu's son

Gene linked with excessive drinking

Uncertainty hangs over future of cell collection

Opinion

Comment: Too much hot air

Features

Space - Japan's new frontier: When Japan launched its first lunar mission in January, other nations feared that they would soon lose their lead in another field of lucrative technology. But for the moment local squabbles, tight budgets and international

Science by degrees: Perhaps Britain suffers from a severe shortage of physicists because it is too difficult to get a degree in the subject. Universities are having to rethink their academic traditions

More room for the woollies: The Monkey Sanctuary at Looe in Cornwall has been so successful that it must now expand and perhaps divide. What lessons does it hold for traditional zoos?

The greening of chemistry

Sex and the single cell: In August, the first babies sexed by testing only one of a tiny cluster of eight cells are due to be born. Their births will prove that it is feasible to screen embryos for genetic diseases

More

Forum: In search of the ideal student - Stephen Harris on the selection of PhD students

Forum: Communications breakdown - Talk of a global village is premature

Thistle Diary - More Comment from Westminster: Of capercaillie, bees and power stations

Forum: The selfish ugh! - Evolution is child's play

Forum: The green missionaries of Africa - National parks are endangering the very people who can best preserve the environment

The high cost of preservation / Review of 'Return of the Whooping Crane' by Robin W. Doughty, University of Texas Press, pp 192, $29.95

Weaverbirds, the eighth plague / Review of 'Quelea quelea: Africa's Bird Pest' edited by Richard L. Briggers and Clive C. H. Elliot, Oxford University Press, pp 402, Pounds sterling 45

Japanese designs on the market / Review of 'Between MITI and The Market: Japanese Industrial Policy for High Technology' by Daniel I. Okimoto, Stanford University Press, pp 260, $27.50 Computers Inc: and 'Japan's Challenge to IBM' by Marie Anchordoguy, H

Pick of the Paperbacks

Where the wild things are / Review of 'The Dreams of Reason: The Computer and the Sciences of Complexity' by Heinz R. Pagels, Bantam, New York, pp 352, $9.95

A view from the other end of the telescope

Regulars

Feedback

Ariadne

Regulars

Letters

Regulars

The last word

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