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The Enduring Indian

Americans of European descent have always believed that the original Americans would somehow vanish. But despite slaughter, assimilation, disease and dislocation, Indians continue to maintain their identify

By Oliver La Farge

The Synthesis of Fat

When the way in which fat molecules are broken down was worked out, it was assumed that they are built up by the same steps in reverse. Now it has been found that the synthetic process is quite different

By David E. Green

The Magnetism of the Sun

Changing magnetic fields, local and general, play continuously across the solar surface. They account for many of its visible features and furnish a hint of the motions in the sun's interior

By Horace W. Babcock

Open-Heart Surgery

In the past five years surgeons have made large strides in correcting cardiac defect and damage. The key to this progress is the heart-lung machine, which makes it possible to by-pass the heart for some hours

By C. Walton Lillehei and Leonard Engel

Fracture in Solids

A solid is held together by the bonds between its atoms; why does it fracture under a stress that is insufficient to break the bonds? The answer lies in imperfections in the orderly arrangement of the atoms

By John J. Gilman

Insects and the Length of the Day

How is it that many insects prepare for winter well before the end of summer? They do so not primarily in response to temperature change but to the seasonal variation in the cycle of daylight and darkness

By Stanley D. Beck

Cosmic Spherules and Meteoritic Dust

Each year perhaps five million tons of these metallic particles are released in the air by the burning of meteorites. Their occurrence in ocean sediments may be a clue to the history of the solar system

By Hans Pettersson


These single-celled fungi, essential in the making of bread and alcoholic beverages, produce enzymes and vitamins as well. They have also helped to throw light on many areas of cell physiology

By Anthony H. Rose


  • 50 and 100 Years Ago: February 1960

  • Science and the Citizen: February 1960

  • Letters

    Letters to the Editors, February 1960

  • Recommended


  • Mathematical Recreation

    Mathematical Games

  • Amateur Scientist

    The Amateur Scientist

  • Departments

    The Authors

  • Bibliography

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Why Do Facts Fail?

Why Do Facts Fail?

Deconstructing Denial