Magazine

September-October 2001

Current Issue

September-October 2001

Volume: 89 Number: 5

In the early spring of 1991, a volcanic eruption 2,500 meters below the ocean surface on the East Pacific Rise destroyed a thriving community of organisms living around hydrothermal vents. Investigators aboard the deep submersible Alvin were fortunate enough to be on the scene at Nine North (named for the latitude) within days of the eruption. In "Life After Death in the Deep Sea," Richard A. Lutz, Timothy M. Shank and Robert Evans describe the destruction, colonization and succession of life at Nine North over a 10-year period. This image, taken in November 1999, shows two "black smoker" vents at Nine North. At bottom right is an instrument containing a temperature probe. When the instrument was placed two years before the image was taken, the top of the vent was at its height.

In This Issue

  • Astronomy
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Communications
  • Computer
  • Economics
  • Engineering
  • Evolution
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine
  • Physics
  • Psychology
  • Technology

The Shape of the Universe: Ten Possibilities

Joey Shapiro

Astronomy Mathematics Physics

An Argument for the Cometary Origin of the Biosphere

Armand Delsemme

Astronomy Physics

The evidence suggests that a rain of comets brought the Earth its water, its organic molecules and its atmosphere—key ingredients for life's beginnings

Pathogens, Host-Cell Invasion and Disease

Erich Gulbins, Florian Lang

Chemistry Medicine

Invading pathogens can co-opt even the cells of the immune system. New anti-infective drugs may arise from an understanding of this chemical warfare

Life After Death in the Deep Sea

Richard Lutz, Timothy Shank, Robert Evans

Biology Evolution

Following immolation by volcanic eruption, the community around a hydrothermal vent recovers spectacularly

Microspheres, Photonic Atoms and the Physics of Nothing

Stephen Arnold

Physics Technology

Light can become trapped within tiny, transparent spheres. The surprising properties that result may turn "microsphere photonics" into an important new technology

Scientists' Nightstand

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