Scientific American Magazine Mar 06 PDF 3444356 TPB

Content:



# Shielding Space Travelers

The perils of cosmic rays pose severe?if not insurmountable hurdles for human spacefl ight to Mars and beyond.



# Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity Genes

A handful of genes may hold the keys to extending the human life span and banishing the diseases of old age.





# The Dangers of Ocean Acidification

Carbon from burning fossil fuels goes into the ocean, where it changes the acid balance of seawater. The repercussions for marine life may be enormous.



# Cognitive Radio

Smart radios and other new wireless devices will avoid transmission bottlenecks by switching instantly to nearby frequencies that they sense are clear.



# The Limits of Reason

Seventeenth-century ideas about complexity and randomness, combined with modern information theory, imply that a ?theory of everything? cannot exist for math.



# Little Green Molecules

A new class of catalysts can destroy some of the worst organic chemical pollutants before they get into the environment.



# The Elusive Goal of Machine Translation

Statistical methods hold the promise of lifting computerized translation out of the doldrums.



From the Demonoid SciAm Q1 bundle.