Magazine
July-August 2005
July-August 2005
Volume: 93 Number: 4
Vestiges of ancient Maya handiwork, such as this 7th-century ceramic face, abound in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and Belize. From the artifacts and ruins found there, archaeologists have learned a considerable amount about Classic Maya culture. Yet the reason for the collapse of this great civilization near the end of the first millennium A.D. remains something of a mystery. In "Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization," Larry C. Peterson and Gerald H. Haug describe geological evidence for a series of severe droughts coincident with the abandonment of many ancient Maya cities, lending support to the notion that abrupt climate change contributed to the sudden decline. (Photograph from The Art Archive/National Anthropological Museum Mexico/Dagli Orti.)
In This Issue
- Agriculture
- Art
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Communications
- Computer
- Economics
- Engineering
- Environment
- Ethics
- Evolution
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Physics
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Technology
A New Understanding of Protein Mutation Unfolds
Biology
Long believed to be nonfunctional, mutant proteins that cause disease can often behave normally when refolded with the help of a pharmacological template
Feeling Smart: The Science of Emotional Intelligence
Daisy Grewal, Peter Salovey
Psychology
A new idea in psychology has matured and shows promise of explaining how attending to emotions can help us in everyday life
Climate and the Collapse of Maya Civilization
Larry Peterson, Gerald Haug
Agriculture Environment
A series of multi-year droughts helped to doom an ancient culture
The Collapse of the Kinzua Viaduct
Thomas Leech
Engineering Environment
A combination of design oversight and material fatigue left a century-old railroad bridge vulnerable to an F-1 tornado
