In Essence

Michael Scl~rage, with Don Peppers, Martha Rogers, and Robert D. Shapiro, in Wired (Feb. 1994), 544 Second St., San Francisco, Calif. 94119-9866.
These days, we always seem to be poised on the brink of an utterly new era in which life will be very, very different. The latest new age on the horizon, according to Schrage, a columnist for Adweek magazine, and his fellow seers, is the "Interactive Ageu-and in this brave new realm, advertising and the relationship between adver- tisers and potential...

"The Toxins of Cyanobacteria" Wayne W. Carmichael, in Scientific American (Jan. 1994), 415 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017-1111.
To scientists, the blue-green microorganisms are known as cyanobacteria; non-scientists more often call them by a different name: pond scum. By any name, tlie many forms of cyanobacteria tliat are toxic may be posing an increasing 11az- ard to humans, warns Cannicliael, a professor of aquatic biology and toxicology at Wriglit State University, in Dayton,...

JohnCrewdson,in Niemnn Reports (Winter 1993),Nieman Foundation, Harvard Univ., One Francis Ave., Cambridge, Mass. 02138.
vends on thisyear's discoveries." When there are no important discoveries,"non-discoveriesand marginal discoveriesand problematic discover-ies are spiffed up and published in iournals like

In 1989 the Philadelphia-based Wistar Institute
Science and Nature, which [distribute]them to the

reported in Science magazine that multiple scle-...

1934, writes Clark, who has a doctorate in the history of technology from the University of Delaware, "magnetic recording had become a practical method for sound reproduction, one which had a number of potential commercial applications." A prototype telephone-answering machine built that year, although large and com- plicated, "met all reasonable engineering re- quirements for performance," Clark says. Simi- lar equipment was used successfully in field tests. Yet AT&T did...