Scientific American

Irving Geis, 88, illustrator of obscure scientific concepts. Geis, as illustrator for Scientific American from 1948 to 1983, helped readers understand and visualize such topics as continental drift, DNA's double helixes and space exploration. He illustrated textbooks on immunology, chemistry and biochemistry and did the artwork for the popular book "How to Lie With Statistics." Geis regularly exhibited his portraits of molecules around the country.

Valentine's Day without chocolate would be like Thanksgiving without turkey -- but scientists are saying that thanks to climate change and plant diseases, a cocoa shortage for future holidays is a very real possibility. Americans alone will spend about $700 million on chocolate for Valentine's Day this year. And with more of the world's growing population now able to afford the sweet, international demand is soaring, according to a report in Scientific American . Manufacturers are currently producing about 3.7 million metric tons of the crop -- an amount that is expected to be too small to satisfy customers by 2020, according to the report.

Gerard Piel, 89, the former publisher of Scientific American magazine who oversaw a dramatic upswing in the periodical's fortunes, died Sunday at a hospital in Queens, N.Y., of complications from a stroke, his family said. Piel and several associates bought Scientific American in 1947 during a lull in its popularity. He oversaw several years of reforms, including having scientists write articles about their research.

Every five years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services revised their dietary guidelines for Americans, which are intended to set the direction for federal nutrition education programs. The next set of guidelines, published later this year, could prove more controversial than usual, because increasing scientific evidence suggests that some current federal recommendations have simply been wrong. Will a public health establishment that has been slow to admit its mistakes over the years acknowledge the new research and shift direction?

Martin Gardner, for 25 years the master of matters mathematical for Scientific American's "Mathematical Games" column and later the punisher of the paranormal and the pseudoscientific in his column "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" for the Skeptical Inquirer, died Saturday at a hospital in Norman, Okla. He was 95. No cause of death was announced. A prolific, insightful, concise and clear writer, Gardner was the author of more than 70 books about mathematical puzzles, pseudoscience, philosophy, and the arcana of "Alice and Wonderland," G.K. Chesterton and other popular works and authors.

Dennis Flanagan, longtime editor of Scientific American magazine who helped introduce lay readers to complex scientific issues, has died. He was 85. Flanagan, who worked at the magazine more than three decades, beginning in 1947, died of prostate cancer Jan. 11 at his New York City home. At Scientific American, Flanagan published pieces from leading figures such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Women's health gets a head-to-toe examination by a team of specialists in a stand-alone issue of Scientific American currently on the newsstands. Titled "Scientific American Presents Women's Health: A Lifelong Guide," the 120-page magazine outlines new findings in specific age groups from the teens to 70s and older, examines lifelong measures to ensure good health and explains why such measures should be taken.

An unprecedented seventh year of drought faces us (Nov. 17) and I have yet to hear any official even consider a possible correlation with the greenhouse effect. Reputable publications such as Scientific American and Natural History have had articles showing possible scenarios that look ominously similar to what we are experiencing. If indeed a buildup of atmospheric CO2 is a possible contributing factor to this drought, then our hydrologists need to be looking to politicians, not God, for relief.

Jim Montgomery says (Letters, Nov. 3): "One writer correctly stated that electric vehicles are not truly pollution-free because electricity used to charge the cars may be generated from polluting sources. But his concern that the EVs will be more polluting than an internal combustion vehicle (ICV) is incorrect. Numerous studies, from organizations such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District, document that EVs pollute less than ICVs even when accounting for electric generation needed by EVs. According to Scientific American (November 1996)

It's a shame that science magazines for the general public, which got off to a rousing start six years ago, have fallen on hard times and have started to disappear. Science 86 from the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science has been gobbled up by Time Inc.'s Discover. Scientific American is being sold after having suffered a 50% decline in advertising pages since 1981. What happened? Back in 1980 these magazines were all the rage.

Martin Gardner, for 25 years the master of matters mathematical for Scientific American's "Mathematical Games" column and later the punisher of the paranormal and the pseudoscientific in his column "Notes of a Fringe Watcher" for the Skeptical Inquirer, died Saturday at a hospital in Norman, Okla. He was 95. No cause of death was announced. A prolific, insightful, concise and clear writer, Gardner was the author of more than 70 books about mathematical puzzles, pseudoscience, philosophy, and the arcana of "Alice and Wonderland," G.K. Chesterton and other popular works and authors.

Dennis Flanagan, longtime editor of Scientific American magazine who helped introduce lay readers to complex scientific issues, has died. He was 85. Flanagan, who worked at the magazine more than three decades, beginning in 1947, died of prostate cancer Jan. 11 at his New York City home. At Scientific American, Flanagan published pieces from leading figures such as Albert Einstein, Linus Pauling and J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Gerard Piel, 89, the former publisher of Scientific American magazine who oversaw a dramatic upswing in the periodical's fortunes, died Sunday at a hospital in Queens, N.Y., of complications from a stroke, his family said. Piel and several associates bought Scientific American in 1947 during a lull in its popularity. He oversaw several years of reforms, including having scientists write articles about their research.

Women's health gets a head-to-toe examination by a team of specialists in a stand-alone issue of Scientific American currently on the newsstands. Titled "Scientific American Presents Women's Health: A Lifelong Guide," the 120-page magazine outlines new findings in specific age groups from the teens to 70s and older, examines lifelong measures to ensure good health and explains why such measures should be taken.

Irving Geis, 88, illustrator of obscure scientific concepts. Geis, as illustrator for Scientific American from 1948 to 1983, helped readers understand and visualize such topics as continental drift, DNA's double helixes and space exploration. He illustrated textbooks on immunology, chemistry and biochemistry and did the artwork for the popular book "How to Lie With Statistics." Geis regularly exhibited his portraits of molecules around the country.

Jim Montgomery says (Letters, Nov. 3): "One writer correctly stated that electric vehicles are not truly pollution-free because electricity used to charge the cars may be generated from polluting sources. But his concern that the EVs will be more polluting than an internal combustion vehicle (ICV) is incorrect. Numerous studies, from organizations such as the South Coast Air Quality Management District, document that EVs pollute less than ICVs even when accounting for electric generation needed by EVs. According to Scientific American (November 1996)

ONLY ONE WORLD by Gerard Piel (W. H. Freeman: $21.95; 336 pp.) What would you guess the founder and chairman emeritus of Scientific American prescribes to save the earth from self-destruction? Right: Technology! Is he optimistic? You bet! And do you think the father of the magazine that assumes real science ought to be a part of everyday life is a simpleton? Not on your life. Scientific American and its publisher, W. H. Freeman, pride themselves on tight, unemotional editing.

John Langley Howard made his reputation as a Social Realist with a Depression-era mural in San Francisco's Coit Tower in 1934. And, while it's tempting to try to see a certain militant idealism in his more recent perfectionist paintings of nature, that would give the work an unwarranted ecological rather than a transcendental emphasis. What is immediately clear from this exhibit is that after the rampant politics of the '30s Howard let go of social commentary altogether. He began instead to display a robust fascination with landscape and minutely observed nature.

An unprecedented seventh year of drought faces us (Nov. 17) and I have yet to hear any official even consider a possible correlation with the greenhouse effect. Reputable publications such as Scientific American and Natural History have had articles showing possible scenarios that look ominously similar to what we are experiencing. If indeed a buildup of atmospheric CO2 is a possible contributing factor to this drought, then our hydrologists need to be looking to politicians, not God, for relief.

ONLY ONE WORLD by Gerard Piel (W. H. Freeman: $21.95; 336 pp.) What would you guess the founder and chairman emeritus of Scientific American prescribes to save the earth from self-destruction? Right: Technology! Is he optimistic? You bet! And do you think the father of the magazine that assumes real science ought to be a part of everyday life is a simpleton? Not on your life. Scientific American and its publisher, W. H. Freeman, pride themselves on tight, unemotional editing.