Table of Contents June 2009

Digital editions


Two new designs aim to make nuclear reactors safer and vastly more efficient.
Renewable power is inspiring clever new ways to store electricity—and to uncork it exactly when and where it is needed.
The Fobos-Grunt mission might pave the way for humanity's first permanent space base—on Phobos, Mars' bizarre moon.
Four scientists discuss where the climate is and where it's going.


Will the next generation of computers, phones, and even energy storage be built on a form of carbon?
The simple step of drying out animal waste can help turn it into a safer, more practical energy source.
Gregory Erickson studies the life cycles of dinosaurs and teaches concert-like classes.
Tracing the flow of a blood-red fluorescent dye may reveal the ultimate fate of Greenland's ice.
Computing cells, humans as chefs, time twisting on the dark side of the moon, and more.
Astronomers at the Mount Wilson Observatory sketch sunspots every day, continuing a tradition started by Galileo.
A dying patient faces a dropping blood count—and a faith that forbids transfusions.
Hint: It's related to the rose and can put the "white" back in your pearly whites.
The first skin flicks, setting actors on fire (safely), the great bluff that turned into IMAX, and more.


The population of American shad rebounded in the 1990s but is again on the wane.
Researchers find that the tale of the "Hero Twins" goes back more than 2,000 years.
A computer simulation predicts that ravens should have evolved a behavior called "gang foraging," which is then observed in real ravens.
A new mobile EEG system now lets researchers probe the brain function while people move around naturally.