December 9, 1996
Headliners
Physicists Michael Dine and Howard Haber are helping
readers of Scientific American understand the nature of
an elusive particle called the "Higgs boson." Dine and
Haber responded to a question posed by a reader in the magazine's
online "Ask the Experts" column. Check out their response
at http://www.sciam.com/askexpert.
. . .
Sociologist Craig Reinarman penned an op-ed piece for the
San Francisco Chronicle about Clinton's failed drug policies,
urging the president to "just say no" to continued drug-baiting
and to instead convene an independent national commission on drug
policy to conduct a rigorous analysis comparing existing policy
with a range of alternatives. . . . Reinarman was also quoted
in the Christian Science Monitor recently about the origins
of crack cocaine and reports of the CIA's involvement with crack
distribution rings in Los Angeles. . . . Finally, he appeared
on Eric Schoeck's show on KSCO Radio, discussing drug policies.
. . .
Anthropologist Adrienne Zihlman's critical review of a
new book exploring whether violent human behavior is cultural
or has ancient roots in ape society appeared in a recent edition
of Nature magazine. . . .
Astrophysicist Doug Lin continues to gain notice for his
leading theories of planetary formation. The latest article, citing
his model of new planets that appear to revolve around their stars
in bizarre oval-shaped orbits, appeared in the Dallas Morning
News. . . .
The Santa Cruz County Sentinel ran a photo of graduate student Cliff Harris, a.k.a. the "Kid's Chemist," in action at the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose. Harris put on a series of fun chemistry demos for elementary school pupils at the museum.