the destruction of brain cells in the substantia nigra (an area just above the spinal cord) that secrete the chemical dopamine, Parkinson's symptoms abate when the level of doparnine is raised. Since the adrenal glands (located above the kidneys) also produce dopamine, its cells are excellent candidates-for transplants.
Olson and Seiger tried adrenal-brain grafts in rats and partially re- versed Parkinson's debilitating effects. In 1982, they made the leap to humans, grafting adrenal cells into...
David Osbome, in
The Atlantic (Feb. 19861, 8 Arlington St., Bos-
ton, Mass. 02116.
Following the much-publicized energy crisis of the 1970s, many Western pundits warned that diminishing petroleum reserves might threaten future economic growth.
Such fears are unfounded, says Thomas Gold, a Comell astrophysicist. Indeed, he claims that the Earth still harbors an enormous untapped supply of oil and gas.
The prevailing geologists' theory of oil and natural gas formation, notes Osbome. a contributor...
Anthony V. Nero, Jr., in Technology Review (Jan. 19861, Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology, Rm. 10-140, Cambridge, Mass. 02139.
Few phenomena are as worrisome to Americans as radiation, commonly associated with nuclear power plants. Yet the greatest source of radiation exposure for most Americans may be the air in their own homes.
"Significant amounts of radon-a natural radioactive gas-accumulate in our houses simply because we tend to build them on the largest source of radioactivity...
Molly Nesbit, in Art in America (Feb. 1986), 980 Madison Ave., New -. York, N.Y. 10021.
In 1926, when American artist Man Ray first published a photograph Eugene Atget, an unknown French photographer, Atget insisted: "Don't put my name on it. These are simply documents I make."
Today, Atget (1856-1927) is considered to be not only a leading docu- mentary photographer of the 20th century but also a significant artist. Nesbit, a Bamard art historian, argues that the two, seemingly contradic-...
Rudolf Arnheim. in American Scientist (Ian.-Feb. 1986), 345 Whitney Ave., New ~aven, Conn. 06511.
The visual landscape ofschizophrenics lies beyond the grasp of rational people. Their "cracked" minds, commented British psychiatrist R. D. Laing in 1965, "may let in light which does not enter the intact minds of many sane people."
A half century earlier, such thoughts occurred to Hans Prinzhom, a Heidelberg psychiatrist with a background in philosophy and art history. He collected...
"No Illusions: Israel Reassesses Its Chances for Peace" Thomas L. Friedman, in The New York Times Magazine (Jan. 26, 19861, 229 West 43rd St., New York, N.Y. 10036.
June 1986 marks a milestone in Israel's history. The Israelis will have
possessed the West Bank of the River Jordan for as long as they lived
without it-19 years.
Israel took control of the West Bank after its victory over Egypt, Syria, and Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War. Since then, the fate of the captured territory...
Western diplomats and Israelis alike for an "ultimate solution." Yet their grand designs have led, so far, to no solution.
"Racial Conflict in Britain' David Winder, in
@ 's The Journal of the Institute for Socioeconomic
Studies (Winter 1986), Airport Rd., White
Plains, N.Y. 10604.
Once the hub of an expanding empire, Britain today is having trouble absorbing newcomers from the Asian, African, and Caribbean territories it formerly ruled.
Last summer, frustrations over economic...
Pierre Papazian, in The Midwest Quarterly (Winter 1986), Pitts- burg State Univ., Pittsburg, Kans. 66762-5889.
In January 1973, Gourgen Yanikian assassinated the Turkish Consul and Vice-consul in Los Angeles. Yanikian claimed revenge for the massacre of roughly one million fellow Armenians (half the total Armenian population) Ottoman Turks in 1915.
Since 1973, at least 41 Turkish diplomats and officials have been slain in more than 200 attacks worldwide. The worst came in July 1983, when Armenian...
Shortly after Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's move to Vermont in 1976, a Soviet diplomat told an American television interviewer that the Nobel laureate was like the kidnapped boy in 0. Henry's story "The Ransom of Red Chief." One day, he warned, the United States would pay the Soviet Union to take its troublemaker back. So far, Washington has not made any offers, despite Solzhenitsyn's repeated denunciations of the West as weak-willed, decadent, and godless. Readers of Solzhenitsyn's novels...
public agencies and private institutions
"Mexico in Crisis." ..
Foreign Policy Institute of the School of Advanced International Studies, 1740 Massachusetts Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 17 pp. $3.95. Author: Bruce Bagley
On January 3,1986, President Ronald Rea- gan and President Miguel de la Madrid of Mexico met for their fourth "Border Sum- mit," at Mexicali, Mexico. Both leaders waxed optimistic. Reagan praised de la Ma- drid's "strenuous efforts" to deal...