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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.