Paul D. Buisseret, in Scien-
tific American (Aug. 1982), 415 Madison
Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017.
Allergy victims often curse the pollen, cats, or other allergens that trig-
ger their suffering. But according to Buisseret, a Louisiana State Uni-
versity medical professor, allergies are better blamed on malfunctions
in the body's immune system.
White blood cells called T or B lymphocytes begin the biochemical
process that ends in sneezing, sniffles, or itching. The cells mistakenly
react...
Richard A. Kerr, in Science 6, 1982), 1515 Massachusetts Ave.
for Rainmakers (AU~.
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005.
Weather-modification specialists have been trying for 35 years to seed clouds to produce rain, achieving only one documented success. Now that researchers have overcome many earlier problems, writes Kerr, a Science staff writer, they face damaging federal budget cutbacks.
A General Electric scientist named Vincent Schaefer discovered accident in 1946 that a piece of dry ice placed in...
15 percent in the target area. The second group of experiments confirmed the first, boosting rainfall 13 percent with only a 2.8 percent probability that the change was due to chance.
The Israelis succeeded by employing sound statistical techniques and good insights into cloud behavior-they estimated that cloudtop tem- peratures should be between -15�and -20�° for seeding to work. But luck is still a factor in such experiments. A 1979-80 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation test...
an average of 20 percent.
Indeed, Washington already has effective energy conservation pro- grams in place-tax credits for energy-saving investments, grants to schools and other institutions for "retrofittingw-though the Reagan administration wants to curtail some. The authors estimate that in 1980, federal conservation outlays of $1 billion yielded as much as $10 billion in energy savings.
Now is the time to expand such efforts, they urge, not end them.
The Killer Bee "Killer Bees:...
John R. Stilgoe, in The
Were Pretty Journal of American Studies (Apr. 1982),
Cambridge University Press, 32 East 57th
St., New York, N.Y. 10022.
In 1912, the English writer Arnold Bennett described "one of the finest and most poetical views" he had ever seen. It was Toledo, Ohio's "misty brown river flanked a jungle of dark reddish and yellow chimneys and furnaces that covered it with shifting canopies of white steam and smoke."
Bennett was not alone in his admiration f...
Annie Dillard, in The Massa-
of Fiction chusetts Review (Spring 1982), Memorial
Hall, Univ. of Mass.. Amherst. Mass.
Writers often lament the fact that serious literature seldom makes the best-seller lists, and that the marketplace plays such a large role in setting standards for their craft. But Dillard, herself a novelist, finds a "certain grim felicity" in the audience's control over fiction.
Fiction's large public distinguishes it from all the other contempo- rary arts. Today's...
Annie Dillard, in The Massa-
of Fiction chusetts Review (Spring 1982), Memorial
Hall, Univ. of Mass.. Amherst. Mass.
Writers often lament the fact that serious literature seldom makes the best-seller lists, and that the marketplace plays such a large role in setting standards for their craft. But Dillard, herself a novelist, finds a "certain grim felicity" in the audience's control over fiction.
Fiction's large public distinguishes it from all the other contempo- rary arts. Today's...
Martha Brill Olcott, in World Politics Muslims (~uly1982), 3175 Princeton Pike, Law-
renceville, N J. 08648.
Because the Soviet Union is home to some 40 million Muslims, many specialists argue that Moscow has reason to fear the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. But Olcott, a Colgate University political scientist, believes that the Kremlin sees the religious revival as an opportunity, not a problem.
In recent years, Moscow and its Muslim minority have reached a kind of accommodation. In part...
Juan M. in Costa Rica Del Aguila, in Journal of Interamerican
Studies and World Affairs (Aug. 1982), Box
24-8134, Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables,
Fla. 33124.
Alone among Central American nations, Costa Rica has managed to avert civil strife and to sustain democratic institutions. Today, how- ever, mounting economic woes imperil its long social peace.
Costa Rica enjoys the highest per capita gross domestic product ($1,311) of any nation in the region and has a growing middle class. Ninety percent...
Andrew
Boyd, in The Economist (Aug. 28, 1982), 515 Abbott Dr., Broomall, Pa. 19008.
Twenty years ago, Finland was a wintry country known chiefly for two exports: wood products and the workers it sent to other Scandinavian countries. Today, having turned to its advantage both its climate and its geography-its proximity to the Soviet Union-Finland has joined the front ranks of Europe's industrialized nations.
Neighboring Russia has always loomed large in the Finnish view of the world. The retirement...