- News
DSM-5 enters the diagnostic fray
Fifth edition of the widely used psychiatric manual focuses attention on how mental disorders should be defined. - Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor
- 50 Years Ago
Balloon Clears Arteries
A tiny balloon inserted into dangerously clogged arteries at the tip end of a long tube is saving lives by sweeping away the blood clots. A 29-year-old resident in surgery invented the device…. It has been used on 22 patients at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. Dr. Thomas J. Fogarty, now at the University of Oregon Medical School, originated the new … balloon-catheter technique…. A small incision is made either in the groin or other location nearest the clot, and the tube is inserted as far as i
- People
Tim Samaras, 1957–2013
Tim Samaras spent the past twenty years chasing tornados. He was killed in a storm in May. - Reviews & Previews
A Tale of Seven Elements
The periodic table, which arranges elements based on chemical behavior and physical properties, is a triumph of science. Yet the first table, developed in the late 1860s, was riddled with gaps created by undiscovered elements.
By the time researchers recognized in 1913 that elements should be arranged by atomic number (the number of protons in their nuclei) rather than by atomic weight, only seven gaps remained in the list of naturally occurring elements. Chapter by chapter and element by element, Scerri, a historian of scien
- Reviews & Previews
Math on Trial
“Torture numbers and they will confess to anything,” author Gregg Easterbrook once wrote in a magazine piece on climate change. But his quip could have been thesubtitle for this new book on the abuse of numbers in the courts.
Its authors, mother-daughter mathematicians, belong to a research group devoted to improving the use of statistics in criminal trials. Each chapter focuses on cases exemplifying a particular class of statistical error. Poignant tales detail exonerations resulting from faulty math used in the
- Feature
In the Eye of the Tiger
Global spread of Asian tiger mosquito could fuel outbreaks of tropical disease in temperate regions. - Feature
Hard times for theorists in a post-Higgs world
The Large Hadron Collider’s big success leaves no clear avenue for new physics. - Feature
Mystery Meteorite
The case for (and against) a rock from Mercury. - News
Research prods brain wiring underlying compulsive behavior
Complementary studies, focusing on repetitive grooming in mice, offer potential for new treatment strategies in humans.