Sep/Oct 1999 Table of Contents

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COLUMNS
Physika • World on a String
By replacing point particles with unimaginably small pieces of thread, physicists may be able to tie gravity into a unified picture of the universe
HANS CHRISTIAN VON BAEYER

Field Notes • Vanishing Act
Is the law that protects endangered species itself endangered?
KEITH KLOOR

ESSAYS & COMMENT
Trial and Error
Jurors interpret the standard of "reasonable doubt" in different ways. The result may be an intolerable inconsistency in the law
HARRY D. SAUNDERS AND JOSHUA G. GENSER

FEATURES
Cover Story • Close Encounters
One by one the interactions of worker ants adjust the entire colony to the needs of the moment
DEBORAH M. GORDON

REVIEWS
Culture Vultures
The latest from culturology: infectious, self-replicating social analogues of genes. But do the ends of explanation justify the memes?
ROBERT AUNGER

Books in Brief • No End in Sight
PLUS: Apocalypse now?; on the mummy track
LAURENCE A. MARSCHALL

DEPARTMENTS
Initial Conditions • Editor's Notebook
Science-bearing Greeks
PETER G. BROWN

Peer Review
Letters from Readers

Working Hypotheses • The Futures Business
RODNEY W. NICHOLS

Quanta
Size Matters, Chilled to Perfection, Rat Trap, Heavy Hitters, Kissing Cousins, Q-Bits

Sep/Oct 1999

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