ScienceWeek

SCIENCEWEEK

New Books & Miscellany in the Sciences

August 8, 2003

Vol. 7 - Number 32C

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Contents:

1. On Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometry
2. Physics: Definitions of Crystals
3. Chemistry: Manipulation of Single Molecules
4. Chemistry: Engineered Dimerization
5. Microbiology: Viruses of Extreme Thermophiles
6. Medical Biology: Cereal Fiber and Cardiovascular Disease
7. Medical Biology: Necrosis vs. Apoptosis
8. New Books and Books Noted

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1. ON EUCLIDEAN AND NON-EUCLIDEAN GEOMETRY

Scanning the history of science we notice a kind of cycle,
periods of experimental expansion alternating with periods of
theoretical development. Theories have a tendency to become more
and more abstract and general. They culminate in principles which
are first opposed by the philosophers, but later assimilated. As
soon as they have become a part of a philosophical system there
begins a process of dogmatization and petrification. This feature
is already noticeable in the oldest quantitative sciences,
mathematics and astronomy. There is no doubt that the first
geometrical knowledge discovered by the Sumerians, Babylonians
and Egyptians was purely empirical. The Greeks discovered the
logical interdependence of geometrical facts and founded the
first deductive science as formulated in Euclid's work.

If you are a modern mathematician you can of course look at
geometry as a product of pure thinking, taking the axioms and
postulates as definitions and the whole system as an entertaining
game. But that is certainly not what the Greek philosophers meant
their geometry to be: they believed they were dealing with
properties of real things. The fact that the predictions of their
theories were confirmed by experience in all cases led to the
conviction that the axioms of Euclidean geometry contain final
truth.

The Euclidean system has lived 2000 years. It has survived the
decline and fall of the Greco-Roman civilisation, and all the
later upheavals of history. It went through all phases of more or
less conscious dogmatization. Even after the dawn of the modern
scientific age with its critical revision of traditional
opinions, the actual validity of Euclid's statements was not
doubted, but its possibility was made the object of philosophical
speculations. Kant took it for granted that we have some direct
and exact knowledge about certain things -- space, time,
causality, etc. -- and explained it by the assumption that
actually we have to do not with the things themselves, but with
the forms of our intuition of these things. It is plausible that
these forms of thinking are given to us a priori, that is prior
to experience. Kant's main examples of a priori knowledge were
the theorems of geometry, ipso verbo understood to mean Euclid's
canon.

The idea that we can produce knowledge a priori has its roots in
the historical fact of the persistence of Greek geometry, which
was replaced by a more general theory only in our own time. The
real reason for the longevity of Greek geometry is the accuracy
with which it describes the behavior of bodies in our terrestrial
surroundings. The first doubts were raised not on account of
experimental evidence, but on logical grounds. Some
mathematicians found one of Euclid's axioms, that about parallel
lines, less evident than the others and began to wonder whether
it could not be proved from the rest. All efforts to do this were
in vain, and in the end the attempt was made -- first by Karl
Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), but not published, then
independently by Janos Bolyai (1802-1860) and by Nikolai
Lobachevsky (1793-1856) -- to prove the independence of the axiom
of parallels by constructing a system of geometry in which it did
not hold. These constructions of non-Euclidean geometry were
successful. Gauss even made measurements in order to find out
which geometry is valid in the real world. He and his successor
George Friedrich Riemann (1826-1866) clearly realized the
empirical character of geometry. Riemann created the mathematical
foundations on which Albert Einstein (1879-1955), in our own
time, succeeded in reducing geometry to a part of physics by his
general theory of relativity.

Adapted from: Max Born: Experiment and Theory in Physics.
Cambridge University Press 1943, p.3.

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ON RIEMANN'S GEOMETRY

In 1854 Riemann became a professor at Gottingen, at which time he
was required to deliver an introductory lecture for the faculty.
His paper entitled, "On the Hypotheses Which Lie at the
Foundations of Geometry," may well have been the most influential
lecture ever given in mathematics. The notion that other
geometries existed besides Euclidean geometry had already been
determined, for the Russian mathematician Nicolai Ivanovitch
Lobachevsky (1793-1856) had delivered a paper as early as 1826 on
the characteristics of at least one non-Euclidean geometry. Yet,
non-Euclidean geometries were still considered somewhat in the
backwaters of mathematics. Riemann's paper changed all that. He
proposed that geometry not be thought of as collections of points
and lines, but as sets of ordered n-tuplets and the rules for
determining the distances between elements in the set. An n-
tuplet is simply an ordered set of n numbers. For example, in
two-dimensional Euclidean space, every point is uniquely defined
by an ordered pair of real numbers (x,y). In three-dimensional
space every point is uniquely defined by three numbers (x,y,z).
In n-dimensional space, each point has a unique address given by
an n-tuplet (x,y,z,...,n). The rules for determining the
distances between elements in the set are the geometry's metric,
and they define space's curvature. Classical geometry studied
curves and surfaces in their entirety, but modern geometry was
concerned with the microscopic shape of space that surrounded
each point of the space.

Riemann generalized the idea of geometry as the study of possible
manifolds, rather than any rigidly defined metric. In the
broadest sense, a manifold is nothing more than a collection of
objects of a set. Geometry then becomes the study of the
conditions placed upon the objects of sets, rather than implying
the characteristics of space by visualizing the shape of the
space. Riemann was not interested in just the study of three-
dimensional space or even four-dimensional space, but the more
general characterization of n-dimensional spaces.

Riemann not only has the distinction of delivering possibly the
most profound lecture on geometry, but he repeated his
accomplishment by delivering in 1858 an equally profound eight-
page paper on number theory. Whether he could have produced a
third such thunderous paper the world will never know, for he
died tragically from tuberculosis when he was only 39.

Adapted from: Calvin C. Clawson: Mathematical Sorcery: Revealing
the Secrets of Numbers. Plenum 1999, p.207,210. More information
at: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0306460033/scienceweek

Notes:

Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann (1826-1866) was the son of a
Lutheran pastor and his original ambition was to follow in his
father's footsteps. Riemann studied Hebrew and attempted to prove
the truth of the Book of Genesis by mathematical reasoning. After
he failed in this, his ambitions shifted to mathematics. The most
famous application of Riemann's geometry is that of Albert
Einstein (1879-1955) in the general theory of relativity. The
metric equation (the equation defining distances between
elements) in that theory is developed directly from the general
metric equation first proposed by Riemann in his 1854 lecture. It
is often said that Riemann's geometry is "non-Euclidean". This is
not quite correct: Riemann's geometry is simply more universal
than Euclid's, with Euclidean geometry a special case of
Riemannian geometry.

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2. PHYSICS: DEFINITIONS OF CRYSTALS

The following points are made by Gautam R. Desiraju (Nature 2003
423:485):

1) The dictionary definition of crystal is clinical, referring to
"forms assumed by substances with a definite internal structure
and external shape of symmetrically arranged plane surfaces". But
the idea that crystals are cold and static has persisted since
the time of ancient Greece -- the term crystallos ("ice" or
"quartz") evolved from cryos ("cold") and halas ("salt"). As
recently as the mid-1900s, the Nobel prizewinner Leopold Ruzicka
(1887-1976) dismissed crystals as "chemical cemeteries". Crystals
were dead and so no chemistry could take place within them.

2) Physicists have taken a phenomenological approach. According
to the International Union of Crystallography, a crystal is any
solid that gives a discrete X-ray diffraction diagram. A crystal
is thus defined not by what it is but by how it appears. But when
an entity is defined by an observed property, its very existence
depends on the method of observation. Crystals were first
observed by eye, then by microscope, then by X-rays. What will be
next?

3) The result of an X-ray structure analysis is a
crystallographic unit cell and its constituent atoms. These
supposedly identical building blocks are repeated along three
principal axes (an arrangement known as periodicity) and
crystallographers speak of crystals as entities with long-range
order. But this unit cell is an averaged measurement. No two unit
cells are exactly the same and no unit cell looks exactly as it
did a moment ago. If we are able to examine the contents of a
single unit cell at a fixed point in time, will we change our
definition of a crystal? The present definition was prompted by
the discovery of quasicrystals. These have long-range order but
lack the structural periodicity of classical crystals. Will there
be other new forms of long-range order? Do sharp spots and a
discrete diffraction pattern imply order? Already we know of
giant biological crystals, such as ribosomes, that produce
typical diffraction patterns despite their lack of strict
periodicity. There is also evidence that if very intense X-rays
are used, diffraction could be observed for non-crystalline
materials. Indeed, crystallography today looks through a small
window at what is potentially an expansive landscape.

4) Chemistry provides a more pragmatic definition of a crystal --
bridging the divide between the austerity and accuracy of physics
and the exuberance and excitement of biology. To a chemist,
crystallization brings atoms, ions or molecules together to form
a condensed phase that is characterized by some degree of order.
A crystal is a manifestation of mutual recognition, a storage
device for structural information and a victory of enthalpy over
entropy. From the fluid state, in which molecules move randomly
and ceaselessly, to the ordered cloister that is the crystal is a
long journey, and one of the most remarkable reactions in all of
chemistry. In this supramolecular reaction, it is weak
intermolecular interactions, rather than strong covalent bonds,
that are made and broken.

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3. CHEMISTRY: MANIPULATION OF SINGLE MOLECULES

The following points are made by Dennis C. Jacobs (Nature 2003
423:488):

1) Most chemical reactions require that some of the existing
bonds within the reactants are weakened or broken before new
bonds can form. This means that the reactants must receive a
critical amount of energy from their surroundings to begin their
metamorphosis. Raising the temperature of the sample is a
relatively inefficient way of doing this, because fluctuations
due to thermal energy are typically ten to a hundred times
smaller than the activation energy for a reaction. Furthermore,
under thermal conditions, the energy is distributed over many
types of molecular motion -- translational, rotational or
vibrational, for example -- whereas usually only one specific
type of motion (such as a vibrational stretch) is associated with
crossing over the reaction barrier.

2) So a more controlled approach is needed. In 1991, Bronikowski
et al. showed that stretching vibrations could be excited between
the atoms in molecules of deuterated water vapour (HOD instead of
H2O) by laser radiation. If the stretch mode of the O–D bond was
excited, they found that an approaching hydrogen atom
preferentially abstracted the deuterium atom from HOD to produce
HD; if instead the O–H bond was excited, H2 was produced. But
similar experiments in reaction control are rarely successful in
condensed phases (liquids, glasses, and solids) because a
specific vibrational excitation becomes redistributed rapidly
over other modes within the molecule or among its neighbors. To
decipher the effect that the local environment exerts on an
individual molecule, investigators turned their attention to
experiments on single molecules.

3) Another line of approach in single-molecule spectroscopy
involves the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), invented in
the 1980s by Binnig and Rohrer. An immense collection of solid-
surface images has since been produced by STMs, with sufficient
resolution to reveal the atomic and molecular adsorbates that
might decorate a surface. Then in 1998, Stipe et al made the
remarkable discovery that the current flowing from the tip of an
STM can selectively excite different modes of vibration in a lone
molecule that is bonded onto a surface. Other investigations have
shown that an STM tip can be manipulated to translate or rotate,
or fragment, an atom or molecule bonded to a surface -- or even
to eject it from the surface (desorption). An STM tip can be used
to force two molecules to dissociate, and the resulting fragments
can be rearranged and fused together to form a new product
molecule. In each of these cases, however, the STM tip has served
either as an atomic-scale poker to push a molecule physically
across the surface or as a localized heater (through electron
bombardment) for inducing non-selective thermal excitations.

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4. CHEMISTRY: ENGINEERED DIMERIZATION

The following points are made by V. Ramamurthy (Nature 2003
423:394):

1) The inspiration of nature has led chemists to investigate
confinement as a means of achieving selectivity in reactions:
from the remarkable selectivities exhibited by enzymes in diverse
thermal and photochemical processes, to the exquisite phenomenon
of photosynthesis, a confined environment has the power to drive
a reaction. Intrinsic reactivity frequently becomes of secondary
importance compared with features such as site symmetry, nearest-
neighbor separation and other geometric considerations. In a
confined environment, the familiar electronic and steric effects
of solution chemistry are replaced by structural and topological
factors that frequently result in products that display a level
of selectivity or stereospecificity that has hitherto been
unobtainable in solution.

2) Notable among the many ordered or constrained media that have
been investigated as selective environments are micelles,
microemulsions, liquid crystals and solid phases -- particularly
porous solids such as silica, alumina, clay and zeolites. But,
despite considerable progress using such media, the important
problem of localizing and aligning two different types of
molecules has remained. Yoshizawa et al (2003) have had success
in bringing two different molecules within reactive distance by
using a self-assembled confined environment -- a nanocage.

3) In earlier work, this group demonstrated the assembly, in
water, of a nanocage consisting of six palladium ions and four
tridentate ligands. The empty cage, with an interior diameter of
8 angstroms, can accommodate various hydrophobic guest molecules.
Localizing reactive molecules in hydrophobic cages is not
unprecedented, but it was realized that trapping two different
molecules (say, A and B) in a single cage would work best if the
other possible combinations (A and A, and B and B) were either
too large or too loose a fit. Selective inclusion would then be
driven by the size compatibility of the host and its guests.

4) This idea has been explored by Yoshizawa et al (2003) by
investigating the light-initiated cycloaddition of acenaphthylene
(molecule A) to 5-ethoxynaphthoquinone (molecule B) and to N-
benzylmaleimide (molecule C). In the absence of the nanocage,
irradiation of a mixture of A and B or A and C in benzene gave
only the acenaphthylene homodimer (AA); neither the heterodimer
(AB or AC) nor the homodimer of B or C was obtained. On the other
hand, when mixtures of A and B or A and C in water were
irradiated in the presence of the nanocage, heterodimers did
form. A small change in the structure of one of the reactants
(for example, replacing an ethyl group on molecule B with a
methyl group, or replacing the benzyl group on molecule C with a
methyl group) led to loss of selectivity for the heterodimeric
products.

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5. MICROBIOLOGY: VIRUSES OF EXTREME THERMOPHILES

The following points are made by G. Rice et al (Proc. Nat. Acad.
Sci. 2001 98:13341):

1) Viruses of extreme thermophiles are of great interest because
they serve as model systems for understanding the biochemistry
and molecular biology required for life at high temperatures. Of
the three domains of life, Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea,
organisms belonging to the archaeal domain are well represented
in extreme environments. Because of their recent discovery, our
understanding of archaeal organisms is in its infancy. Unlike the
other domains of life, very few viruses of Archaea have been
characterized to date. Only 12 different virus morphologies have
been described from the Archaea. Most of these viruses have been
isolated from extreme halophiles (especially Halobacterium spp.)
or methanogens (Methanobacterium spp.). The majority of these
viruses, with two exceptions, have similar head and tail
morphologies to T phages and lambdoid phages belonging to the
Myoviridae and Siphoviridae groups. In contrast, four completely
unique virus morphotypes, which have necessitated the formation
of four unique taxonomic groups, have been isolated from the
thermophilic archaeal genera Sulfolobus and Thermoproteus.

2) Viruses of extreme thermophiles are of great interest because
they serve as model systems for understanding the biochemistry
and molecular biology required for life at high temperatures. Of
the three domains of life, Eukarya, Bacteria, and Archaea,
organisms belonging to the archaeal domain are well represented
in extreme environments. Because of their recent discovery, our
understanding of archaeal organisms is in its infancy. Unlike the
other domains of life, very few viruses of Archaea have been
characterized to date. Only 12 different virus morphologies have
been described from the Archaea. Most of these viruses have been
isolated from extreme halophiles (especially Halobacterium spp.)
or methanogens (Methanobacterium spp.). The majority of these
viruses, with two exceptions, have similar head and tail
morphologies to T phages and lambdoid phages belonging to the
Myoviridae and Siphoviridae groups. In contrast, four completely
unique virus morphotypes, which have necessitated the formation
of four unique taxonomic groups, have been isolated from the
thermophilic archaeal genera Sulfolobus and Thermoproteus.

3) Sulfolobus solfataricus is one of the best-characterized
members of the Archaea. Sulfolobus spp. are aerobic acidophiles
that grow at an optimum of 80°C (with a range of 70°C to 87°C)
and pH 3 (with a range of 1.5 to 5.5) and have been isolated from
acidic hot springs in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Japan,
Iceland, New Zealand, El Salvador, The Dominican Republic,
Russia, and Italy. Sulfolobus is likely to be present in most hot
springs of the world that maintain this temperature and pH range.
S. solfataricus is emerging as a model organism for the study of
Archaea, because it can be easily cultured in the laboratory, the
sequence of its 3-MB genome is complete, and transformation
systems have been developed that greatly facilitate its genetic
analysis.

4) In summary: The authors report the discovery, isolation, and
preliminary characterization of viruses and virus-like particles
from extreme thermal acidic environments (70-92°C, pH 1.0-4.5)
found in Yellowstone National Park. Six unique particle
morphologies were found in Sulfolobus enrichment cultures. Three
of the particle morphologies are similar to viruses previously
isolated from Sulfolobus species from Iceland and/or Japan.
Sequence analysis of their viral genomes suggests that they are
related to the Icelandic and Japanese isolates. In addition,
three virus particle morphologies that had not been previously
observed from thermal environments were found. These viruses
appear to be completely novel in nature.

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6. MEDICAL BIOLOGY: CEREAL FIBER AND CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

The following points are made by D. Mozaffarian et al (J. Am.
Med. Assoc. 2003 289:1659):

1) Currently 35 million persons aged 65 years or older live in
the United States, accounting for nearly 13% of the population.
These older adults are the fastest-growing segment of the
population, and by 2030, it is projected that 70 million persons,
or 1 in every 5, will be 65 years old or older. Cardiovascular
disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability among
these older adults, who also account for a disproportionately
large share of the $200 billion annual US health care
expenditures for CVD. Better understanding of CVD risks and
outcomes in this population is clearly of merit; however,
relatively few studies have focused on such relationships in
elderly persons, especially with regard to diet and CVD risk. 

2) Dietary fiber, comprising nondigestible polysaccharides,
naturally occurring resistant starch and oligosaccharides, and
lignins in plants, has been associated with reduced incidence of
ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in predominantly middle-
aged populations. Potential cardiovascular benefits of dietary
fiber include effects on serum lipid levels, postprandial glucose
and triglyceride levels, insulin sensitivity, and blood pressure,
which may prevent or delay development of atherosclerosis in
young adulthood and middle age. However, such influences may be
less effective among elderly persons, when atherosclerosis is
more advanced, so that dietary fiber consumption late in life may
not be associated with CVD risk. However, the impact of dietary
fiber intake on CVD risk has not been specifically evaluated
among older adults.

3) The authors report they prospectively evaluated the
association of dietary fiber consumption with risk of incident
CVD in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based,
longitudinal cohort study of determinants of coronary heart
disease and stroke among persons aged 65 years or older (mean
age, 72 years at baseline). Based on epidemiologic evidence in
predominantly middle-aged adults, the primary hypothesis was that
greater consumption of cereal fiber, but not fruit or vegetable
fiber, would be associated with lower risk of incident CVD in
this elderly population.

4) From their results, the authors conclude: "Cereal fiber
consumption late in life is associated with lower risk of
incident CVD, supporting recommendations for elderly individuals
to increase consumption of dietary cereal fiber."

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7. MEDICAL BIOLOGY: NECROSIS VS. APOPTOSIS

The following points are made by Robert M. Friedlander (New Engl.
J. Med. 2003 348:1365):

1) Acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases are illnesses
associated with high morbidity and mortality, and few or no
effective options are available for their treatment. A
characteristic of many neurodegenerative diseases -- which
include stroke, brain trauma, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's
disease, and Parkinson's disease -- is neuronal-cell death. Given
that central nervous system tissue has very limited, if any,
regenerative capacity, it is of utmost importance to limit the
damage caused by neuronal death. During the past decade,
considerable progress has been made in understanding the process
of cell death.

2) Cell death occurs by necrosis or apoptosis. These two
mechanisms have distinct histologic and biochemical signatures.
In necrosis, the stimulus of death (e.g., ischemia) is itself
often the direct cause of the demise of the cell. In apoptosis,
by contrast, the stimulus of death activates a cascade of events
that orchestrate the destruction of the cell. Unlike necrosis,
which is a pathologic process, apoptosis is part of normal
development (physiologic apoptosis); however, it also occurs in a
variety of diseases (aberrant apoptosis). 

3) Necrotic cell death in the central nervous system follows
acute ischemia or traumatic injury to the brain or spinal cord.
It occurs in areas that are most severely affected by abrupt
biochemical collapse, which leads to the generation of free
radicals and excitotoxins (e.g., glutamate, cytotoxic cytokines,
and calcium). The histologic features of necrotic cell death are
mitochondrial and nuclear swelling, dissolution of organelles,
and condensation of chromatin around the nucleus. These events
are followed by the rupture of nuclear and cytoplasmic membranes
and the degradation of DNA by random enzymatic cuts in the
molecule. Given these mechanisms and the rapidity with which the
process occurs, necrotic cell death is extremely difficult to
treat or prevent.

4) Apoptotic cell death, also known as "programmed cell death",
can be a feature of both acute and chronic neurologic diseases.
After acute insults, apoptosis occurs in areas that are not
severely affected by the injury. For example, after ischemia,
there is necrotic cell death in the core of the lesion, where
hypoxia is most severe, and apoptosis occurs in the penumbra,
where collateral blood flow reduces the degree of hypoxia.
Apoptotic death is also a component of the lesion that appears
after brain or spinal cord injury. In chronic neurodegenerative
diseases, it is the predominant form of cell death.

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8. NEW BOOKS AND BOOKS NOTED

A History of Yale's School of Medicine: Passing Torches to
Others. Gerard N. Burrow. Yale University Press 2002, 368pp. An
authoritative and readable account of the complex story of
institutional survival. The author is former dean of the Yale
University School of Medicine. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0300092075/scienceweek

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers. Mary Roach. W.W.
Norton 2003, 303pp. A wide-ranging journalistic approach aimed at
the general reader. Focuses on cadavers and those who work with
them. Should be of interest to physicians, pathologists,
anatomists, biomechanical engineers, anthropologists, and
historians. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393050939/scienceweek

Brain Architecture: Understanding the Basic Plan. Larry W.
Swanson. Oxford University Press 2003, 281pp. Provides readers
with an elementary knowledge of the nervous system, combining
historical and comparative biological approaches. The author is a
neuroscientist at the University of Southern California (US). The
book can serve as a general introduction for undergraduates and
researchers in other fields. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195105044/scienceweek

Complex Population Dynamics: A Theoretical/Empirical Synthesis.
Peter Turchin. Princeton University Press 2003, 468pp. An attempt
to clarify how ecologists should analyze population fluctuations.
The author seeks a unified framework for analyzing extant
population data and for finding the best feasible model to
explain the relevant features in population dynamics. The author
is a theoretical population ecologist at the University of
Connecticut (US). More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0691090203/scienceweek

Storms from the Sun: The Emerging Science of Space Weather. M.J.
Carlowicz and R.E. Lopez. Joseph Henry Press 2002, 256pp. A
discussion of space-weather phenomena: solar proton events,
geomagnetic storms, geomagnetically induced currents and
spacecraft charging, etc. For policy makers: "A useful reference
book on space-weather issues." -- Nature. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0309089409/scienceweek

Does Stress Damage the Brain? Understanding Trauma-Related
Disorders from a Mind-Body Perspective. J. Douglas Bremner. W.W.
Norton 2002, 311pp. An account of brain functioning and stress
that adds facts, depth, and detail to the subject. The author is
a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. Emphasizes experiments from
the author's own laboratory. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393703452/scienceweek

Knots: Mathematics with a Twist. Alexei Sossinsky. Transl.
Giselle Weiss. Harvard University Press 2003, 160pp. First
published in French in 1999. The author is a knot theorist and
professor of mathematics at the University of Moscow (RU). The
test is an introductory analysis of mathematical knots -- closed
curves in 3-dimensional space. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674009444/scienceweek

The Century of Space Science. J.A. Bleeker et al (Eds.). Kluwer
2002, 1868pp. The editors are noted space scientists. The authors
are many of the pioneers of space science and its current
researchers. "A truly unique publishing accomplishment... a
splendid collection of authoritative reviews that transcends
academic disciplines." -- Nature. An important milestone in space
science. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0792371968/scienceweek

Coral Reef Fishes: Diversity and Dynamics in a Complex Ecosystem.
Peter Sale (Ed.). Academic Press 2002, 724pp. A new edition of a
classic text. "Full of fascinating details, new evidence, and new
ideas." -- Nature. Chapters describing data at the cutting edge
of ecology are balanced with more classical textbook material.
More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0126151858/scienceweek

Biodiversity, Sustainability, and Human Communities:Protecting
Beyond the Protected. T. O'Riordan and S. Stoll-Kleemann (Eds.).
Cambridge University Press 2002, 334pp. Assesses the threats to
biodiversity and the need to change paradigms and include the
people seeking solutions. Presents nine case studies that include
failures and tentative starts. More information at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0521890527/scienceweek

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