Magazine
September-October 2024
September-October 2024
Volume: 112 Number: 5
Chilis have been laid out to dry along the walkway in front of a modern Maya house in Quintana Roo, Mexico, in this 1988 photograph. In “The Enduring Forest Gardens of the Ancient Maya,” archaeologist Anabel Ford looks back on her 50-plus years of studying the ancient Maya, through which she came to know their descendants as field team members, collaborators, and friends. Through these relationships, she saw the ways that their contemporary lifeways connected to the archaeological questions she had about ancient Maya settlements and farming practices. Her work overturned assumptions in her field about how the ancient Maya lived and why their society collapsed. Collaborating with local Maya to document their unique approaches to forest gardening became key to these breakthroughs and has led to new ways of presenting Maya monuments and temples to the public. (Photograph by Macduff Everton.)
In This Issue
- Agriculture
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Communications
- Computer
- Engineering
- Environment
- Ethics
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Physics
- Sociology
- Technology
Mud Acoustics
Charles W. Holland, Stan E. Dosso, Jason D. Chaytor
Mathematics Physics
Imaging the ocean requires an understanding of how different seafloor sediments interact with sound waves.
Estuaries Face a Stormy Future
Michael J. Kennish, Hans W. Paerl, Joseph R. Crosswell, Kenneth A. Moore
Biology
More frequent extreme-precipitation events, continued warming, and sea level rise pose significant threats to coastal ecologies.
Scientists' Nightstand
Milestones in Deep Time
Steven Christian Semken
Environment Geology Review Scientists Nightstand
A geologist explores the lives of rocks and the roles they have played in history.
A Year that Changed Everything
Jaime Herndon
Physics Excerpt Scientists Nightstand
An excerpt from the new graphic narrative from Ken Krimstein, Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came Up with the Universe.
Unveiling A Molecular Superstar
Keriayn Smith
Biology Review Scientists Nightstand
While DNA has largely been the star of biology, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist illustrates how RNA plays a central part in the development of life and in disease processes.
A Dive into the Seas of Physics
André de Gouvêa
Physics Review Scientists Nightstand
A theoretical physicist breaks down our Universe and explains how physics is everywhere.
