asexual parthenogenesis:
Each seed will grow, without being fertilized, into an exact genetic
copy of its parent plant.
Sex has some obvious advantages. For a species adapting to a chang-
ing environment, "the myriad natural variations that sex produces can
spell the difference between success and failure, survival and extinc-
tion." The chief disadvantage of sex is uncertainty. Because male and
female each contribute half of their offspring's genes, the result can be
the worst...
Her-man F. Mark, in American Scientist (Mar.-Apr. 1984), P.O. Box 2889, linto on, Iowa 52735.
Nearly everything in the industrialized world seems to be made of plas- tic or at least to contain some of it. Yet it was only a few decades ago that scientists began to understand this remarkable material.
As is so often the case with great discoveries, writes Mark, Dean Emeritus of the Polytechnic Institute of New York, plastic was first cre- ated accident. In 1846, Swiss chemist Christian Schoenbein...
Rochelle L. Stanfield, in National Journal
For Electricity S AD^. 14, 1984). 1730 M St. N.W., Wash- ington, D.C. 20036.
Americans take electricity almost as much for granted as they do the air they breathe. "Flick the switch," says National Journal correspondent Stanfield, "and the lights are sure to go on." But in Washington and at util- ity company headquarters around the country, specialists are debating how to ensure that the lights will still go on during the next century.
The...
Car- lisle Ford Runge, in The Journal of Con- temporary Studies (Winter 1984), Transaction Periodicals Consortium. Dept. 541, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903.
The Reagan administration's efforts to "privatize" large tracts of feder- ally owned land auctioning it off to individuals and corporations strike some critics as a sellout to "special interests."
In fact, says Runge, a University of Minnesota economist, "privatiza- tion" is chiefly motivated by...
Car- lisle Ford Runge, in The Journal of Con- temporary Studies (Winter 1984), Transaction Periodicals Consortium. Dept. 541, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. 08903.
The Reagan administration's efforts to "privatize" large tracts of feder- ally owned land auctioning it off to individuals and corporations strike some critics as a sellout to "special interests."
In fact, says Runge, a University of Minnesota economist, "privatiza- tion" is chiefly motivated by...
natural gas, but methanol or synthetic gas can also be used. The cells are enormously efficient. They capture about 40 percent of the energy in natural gas; conventional gas tur- bines, contrast, achieve only 30 percent efficiency.
A fuel cell provided electricity and drinking water for the two U.S. as- tronauts who flew Gemini V in 1965, but there have been problems bringing the technology down to earth. A small demonstration plant in New York City is already a year late for start up thanks to...
Dave Kehr,
in American Film (May 1984), American
Film Institute, Box 966, Farmingdale,
N.Y. 11737.
Although Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers might not consider them wor- thy of the name, three of Hollywood's most successful movies last year-Flashdance, Staying Alive, Yentl-were musicals.
Movie musicals have changed drastically over the years, notes Kehr, film critic for the Chicago Reader. During the "golden age," from Monte Carlo in 1930 to My Fair Lady in 1964, the hallmark of the...
Christopher Clausen,
in The Georgia Review (Spring 1984), Uni-
versity of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 30602.
Sherlock Holmes surely would have enjoyed unraveling the mysteries of his own existence.
Starting with A Study in Scarlet, in 1887, author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) made a career for his famous character that spanned three other novels and 56 short stories over 40 years. The Holmes canon cov- ers so much ground, writes Clausen, who teaches at the Virginia Poly- technic Institute, that it...
Christopher Clausen,
in The Georgia Review (Spring 1984), Uni-
versity of Georgia, Athens, Ga. 30602.
Sherlock Holmes surely would have enjoyed unraveling the mysteries of his own existence.
Starting with A Study in Scarlet, in 1887, author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) made a career for his famous character that spanned three other novels and 56 short stories over 40 years. The Holmes canon cov- ers so much ground, writes Clausen, who teaches at the Virginia Poly- technic Institute, that it...
PERIODICALS
ARTS & LETTERS
complains, "there just isn't much new opera to be seen." Among the 87 opera companies that make up OPERA America, opera's equivalent of a national trade association, the most frequently performed work during the 1981-82 season was Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, written in 1851. Of the 47 operas that were performed at least 10 times during the season, only 13 were creations of the 20th century (and six of those were Puc- cini operas from the early 1900s).
A l...