a virus but have been unable to isolate it.
If scientists do locate the Alzheimer virus, their task will have only just begun, notes Trubo. What will they do with it? The Creutzfeldt- Jakob virus, for example, does not trigger an immune reaction from the body-a prerequisite for manufacturing antigens.
"It could be that all of us are infected sometime during our lives" with Alzheimer's virus, suggests Dr. David Kingsburg, a virologist at the University of California, Irvine. Yet some...
John
Gribbin, in New Scientist (Apr. 7, 1981),
New Science Publications, Common-
and South
wealth House, 1-19 New Oxford St., Lon- don WC1, United Kingdom.
For years, scientists have warned of the so-called greenhouse effect- asserting that extensive burning of fossil fuels will dangerously in- crease heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, causing the Earth's climate to warm. Now, some have added a new twist. Climatol- ogists at the University of East Anglia, in England, contend that...
the release of tons of hot water into streams and ponds from U.S. government plutonium reactors near Aiken, S.C. Nuclear reactors have been changing the environment of the region since the early 1950s-for better and for worse.
Three of the plant's original five reactors are still operating, regularly releasing 158OF water into manmade reservoirs and nearnatural streams, tributaries of the Savannah River. Waters in one 166-acre pond often exceed 122'F when the reactors are running. Some creeks that...
Dwight Conquergood, in Literature in Perform-ance (Apr. 1981), Dept. of Speech Commu- nication, university of ~rizona, Tucson, Ariz. 85721.
Nowadays, the "strong, silent type" is often considered the ideal hero. Not so in England during the Dark Ages, writes Conquergood, a North- western University professor of English. There, boasting of courageous deeds was not only commonplace; it bound warriors to lives of heroic sacrifice.
Modern critics (including J.R.R. Tolkien) have dismissed...
elaborately recounting noble lineages and past heroics. ("I came from battle [where I] destroyed a race of giants," declared Beowulf.) Brandishing of weapons and other theatrical gestures added emphasis. Yet, Conquergood argues, boasts were "future-oriented." "I did" was invariably followed "I must continue to do." And boasts were made only in preparation for crises, never after them.
The audience played a key role in boasting. To win praise and accept- ance,...
Jean-Baptiste Reg- nault-in which a tormented son must choose between rescuing his father or his wife and son-presents a rationale for abandoning tradi- tional authority. And, in Jacques-Louis David's Brutus (1789), the Roman leader is shown being forced to execute his traitorous sons, rendered powerless before a genderless abstraction-the state.
Made anxious reformist rumblings, Louis XV and Louis XVI hoped that these classical representations would inspire patriotism and reinforce the monarchy's...
Jim Brooke, in Foreign Policy (Fall 1981), P.O. Box 984, Farmingdale, N.Y 1 1737.
With 119 million people, Brazil is the fifth-largest nation on earth. It has the world's eighth-largest gross national product ($200 billion, up 100 percent since 1970) and ranks as the sixth-largest weapons exporter ($1 billion in 1980), selling light tanks and small missiles. Its modern factories churn out computers for China and turboprop planes for the Ivory Coast. According to Brooke, a Washington Post correspondent,...
John D. Stephens, in Com-
parative Political Studies (July 1981), 275
South Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, Calif.
90212.
In 1976, after 44 years in power, Sweden's Social Democratic Party (SDP) lost to a Central Party coalition-a loss that was narrowly re- peated in 1979.Some scholars suggest that growing affluence has made conservatives of Sweden's blue-collar class, the traditional mainstay of the SDP. It is true that th...
John D. Stephens, in Com-
parative Political Studies (July 1981), 275
South Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, Calif.
90212.
In 1976, after 44 years in power, Sweden's Social Democratic Party (SDP) lost to a Central Party coalition-a loss that was narrowly re- peated in 1979.Some scholars suggest that growing affluence has made conservatives of Sweden's blue-collar class, the traditional mainstay of the SDP. It is true that th...
1939, Hitler's massive war preparations had created one million new jobs. Employers found themselves at the mercy of laborers, who began changing jobs, on average, once every 12 months. Many employees were simply exploiting their new market value for better pay and benefits. But workers also resented the con- stant harassment from bosses under pressure to meet ambitious Nazi production targets.
Despite police intimidation, strikes became common in Germany after 1935. Nazi archives reveal 192 strikes...