Bhupendra Jasani and Martin Rees, in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Oct. 1989), 6042 S. Kimbark, Chicago, 111. 60637.
Space may be the Final Frontier, but it is also fast becoming the Ultimate Junkyard.
In addition to the roughly 350 active sat- ellites orbiting the Earth in "inner space," there are some 7,000 hefty pieces of space garbage-including upper stages of launchers, booster motors, and dead satel- lites. Far more hazardous are the 30,000- 70,000 pieces of junk, ranging...
Bhupendra Jasani and Martin Rees, in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Oct. 1989), 6042 S. Kimbark, Chicago, 111. 60637.
Space may be the Final Frontier, but it is also fast becoming the Ultimate Junkyard.
In addition to the roughly 350 active sat- ellites orbiting the Earth in "inner space," there are some 7,000 hefty pieces of space garbage-including upper stages of launchers, booster motors, and dead satel- lites. Far more hazardous are the 30,000- 70,000 pieces of junk, ranging...
!genetically engineering "supercucum- bers" to thrive in severe heat or "inject- ing" sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to reflect the sun's rays back into space. But the closer we move toward finding salva- tion in a "macromanaged" world, the more we hasten the end of nature.
But is there any way to quantify this dire forecast?
As it happens, McCloskey and Spalding, chairman and researcher, respectively, at the Sierra Club, recently completed a sur- vey of the...
Frederik ~ohl, in American Heritage
Birth of a Genre
(Sept.-Oct. 1989), 60 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10011.
Americans today are swamped inforrna- tion and speculation about science and technology. It was not always so. Fifty years ago, there was no Carl Sagan, no Nova (indeed, no television), no Discover
,,
magazine. Radio and newspaper coverage of science was skimpy. Pohl, a noted sci- ence fiction writer. speculates that "a ma-
r A
jority of the world's leading scientists to- da...
Richard Schickel, in the Gannett Center Journal (Summer 1989), Columbia Univ., 2950 The Story Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10027.
Consider the life cycle of a Hollywood film today. It begins with the selling of a brief story "concept" over drinks in Los Angeles and ends some years later as "word of mouth," when one moviegoer delivers a plot summary to her neighbor over the backyard fence.
All this talk of stories is a delusion, writes Schickel, a Time film critic. The tra- ditional...
Richard Schickel, in the Gannett Center Journal (Summer 1989), Columbia Univ., 2950 The Story Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10027.
Consider the life cycle of a Hollywood film today. It begins with the selling of a brief story "concept" over drinks in Los Angeles and ends some years later as "word of mouth," when one moviegoer delivers a plot summary to her neighbor over the backyard fence.
All this talk of stories is a delusion, writes Schickel, a Time film critic. The tra- ditional...
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PERIODICALS
cynicism, he says, has its origins in the aes- more than objects of consumerism. thetic theories of the Dadaist painter Mar- A booming art market and a generation cel Duchamp (1887-1968), who declared greedy for quick riches and fame have during the 1950s that artists produce only speeded the decline of art, Gray says. But a raw product; "it must be 'refined' as pure his particular peeve is the reproduction of sugar from molasses, the spectator art in 35-mm. slides now...
Paul Goble, in Problems of
Communism (July-August 1989) U.S. Information Agency, 301 Surprise 4th st. 5i.W., Washington, D.C. 20547.
Mikhail Gorbachev must dread reading Russian-born Gennadiy Kolbin in 1986, Pravda. Each day brings fresh news of eth- the appointment sparked mass demonstra- nic unrest in his country, whether it be tions. But Kolbin himself was soon forced Baltic states demanding their indepen- to become "more Kazakh than his Kazakh dence or Armenians and Azerbaijanis predecessor,"...
Sarvepalli Gopal, in Encounter (July-Aug. 1989), 44 Great Windmill St., London W1V 7PA, Great Britain.
In 1937, the Malagasy poet Jean Joseph Rabearivals killed himself in despair over his inability to reconcile his nationalism with his need to write in French. The reac- tion was extreme, but similar to that suf- fered people in many colonial lands, writes Gopal, a historian at Nehru College. India has been an exception.
The use of English has caused Indians no great discomfort in part because...
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOUTHERN
CULTURE. Edited by Charles Reagan Wilson
and William Ferris. Univ. of North Carolina.
1634 pp. $49.95