A Positron Named Priscilla is a book of wonder, offering a fascinating, readable overview of cutting-edge investigations by many of today's leading young scientists. Written for anyone who loves science, this volume reports on some of the most exciting recent discoveries and advances in fields from astronomy to molecular biology.
This new book is from one of the world's most prestigious scientific institutions, the National Academy of Sciences. The Academy provides an annual forum for the brightest young investigators to exchange ideas across disciplines—an exchange that was the spark for A Positron Named Priscilla.
Each chapter is authored by a popular science writer who offers helpful historical perspectives, clear and well-illustrated explanations of current scientific thinking, and previews of future developments. The scope of topics and breadth of discussion ensure interest at all levels. Topics include:
- Planetary science and the compelling glimpse through the clouded atmosphere of Venus afforded by the spacecraft Magellan.
- Astrophysics and the emergence of helioseismology, a new field that allows researchers to probe the interior workings of the sun.
- Biology and what we have learned about DNA in the 40 years since its discovery; our current understanding of protein molecules, the "building blocks" of living systems; and the high-tech search for answers to the AIDS epidemic.
- Physics and our new-found ability to move and manipulate individual atoms on a surface. The book also tells the remarkable story of "buckyballs," or buckminsterfullerenes, a form of carbon discovered only a few years ago, that have the potential to be used in a variety of important applications, from superconductivity to nanotechnology.
- Mathematics and the rise of "wavelet" theory, and how mathematicians are applying it in sometimes startling ways, from assisting the FBI with fingerprint storage to coaxing the secrets from a battered recording of Brahms playing the piano.
- Geosciences and the search for "clocks in the earth" to make life-saving earthquake predictions.
A Positron Named Priscilla is a "must" read for anyone who wants to keep up with a broad range of scientific endeavor.
- A Positron Named Priscilla
- Copyright
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Contents
- A POSITRON NAMED Priscilla
- Shake, Rattle, And Shine New Methods of Probing the Sun's Interior
- THE MUSIC OF THE SUN
- REWRITING THE TEXTBOOKS
- THE CHICKEN OR THE EGG?
- GONG
- THE ELUSIVE NEUTRINO
- THE SOLAR FURNACE
- UNDERGROUND TELESCOPES
- NOTES
- Bibliography
- Recommended Reading
- A Positron Named Priscilla Trapping and Manipulating Atoms
- THE SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPE
- TOTE THAT ATOM, LIFT THAT MOLECULE
- ATOMIC SWITCHING
- LIMITATIONS OF THE TECHNIQUE
- A POSITRON NAMED PRISCILLA
- THE PROBLEM OF PRECISION
- LASER COOLING
- OBSERVATIONS OF IONS
- TRAPPLING ATOMS
- THE ATOMIC FOUNTAIN
- SOME USES OF PRECISION
- APPLICATIONS IN BIOLOGY
- WHERE DO WE STAND?
- Bibliography
- Aids Solving the Molecular Puzzle
- ANCIENT HATREDS AND NEW PLAGUES
- VIRUSES
- THE IMMUNE SYSTEM
- LIFE CYCLE OF HIV
- Initial Contact, the Receptor
- The "Pick-up"
- Uncoating
- Replication
- CENTRAL DOGMA
- UNORTHODOX INFORMATION
- THE BIRTH OF NEW PARTICLES
- VIRAL ASSEMBLY
- HOW HIV CAUSES AIDS
- Infection
- T-cell Mystery
- Shedding
- VACCINES AND THERAPEUTICS
- Vaccines
- Therapeutics
- A New Generation of Drug Treatments
- Recommended Reading
- Doubling Up How The Genetic Code Replicates Itself
- STARTING AT THE VERY BEGINNING
- TACKLING THE NEXT STAGE OF COMPLEXITY
- SNARING KEY EVIDENCE
- IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE
- EPILOGUE
- Proteins That Keep Replication in Order
- Helicases and Single-Stranded Binding Proteins
- The Polymerases
- Exonucleases, Polymerases, and Ligases That Piece Together the Leading and Lagging Strands
- The Replisome Protein Complex Keeps All in Order
- The Topoisomerases Adjust Swivel to DNA
- Using Protein Editors to Correct Errors
- Bibliography
- Recommended Reading
- Magellan's Venus A World Revealed
- A VEILED WORLD
- A MATTER OF HEAT
- ORBITERS LIFT THE VEIL
- CONTROVERSY IN CRATES
- PROBING THE INTERIOR
- SCENARIO FOR AN ANCIENT CATASTROPHE
- VENUS IS ALIVE
- THE TECTONIC ALTERNATIVE
- MEANWHILE, IN THE UPPER MANTLE
- RETHINKING THE CRATERING RECORD
- THE GEOLOGIC LINK: DISTRIBUTED DEFORMATION
- TOO SOON FOR CERTAINTY
- NOTES
- Bibliography
- Clocks In The Earth? The Science of Earthquake Prediction
- THE RIDDLES AND RHYTHMS OF 1992: EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE IN THE MIRROR
- THE EARTH ITSELF
- THE LANGUAGE OF EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
- STALKING ELUSIVE PATTERNS
- The Characteristic Earthquake Hypothesis
- Hitting the Trail into Past Time
- Paleoseismology
- Slipping and a "Slidin"
- Reading the Historical Record
- Predictability and Politics
- GEOPHYSICS IN LABORATORY EARTH
- The Stress Dilemma
- Rupture Dynamics—Propagating Pulses of Slip?
- THE PARKFIELD "OBSERVATORY"
- Bibliography
- The Mathematical Microscope Waves, Wavelets, and Beyond
- A MATHEMATICAL POEM
- A RABBLE OF FUNCTIONS
- THE EXPLANATION OF NATURAL PHENOMENA
- BEING ACADEMIC OR BEING REAL
- DRIVING A CAR HALF A BLOCK
- TALKING TO HEATHENS
- "THIS MUST BE WRONG.…"
- A MATHEMATICAL MICROSCOPE
- MOTHER OR AMOEBA?
- AVOIDING REDUNDANCY
- UNIFICATION
- EVADING INFINITY
- HEISENBERG
- PUTTING WAVELETS TO WORK
- CUT THE WEEDS AND SPARE THE DAISIES
- WAVELETS DON'T EXIST…
- COMPRESSING INFORMATION
- TURBULENCE AND WAVELETS
- FINGERPRINTS AND HUNGARIAN DANCES
- BEYOND WAVELETS
- NOTES
- REFERENCES
- Recommended Reading
- BOOKS ACCESSIBLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC
- A SAMPLING OF TECHNICAL BOOKS
- A Family Affair The Top Quark And The Higgs Particle
- Bouncing Balls Of Carbon The Discovery and Promise of Fullerenes
- BUCKYBALLS AND THE OTHER FULLERENES KEEP ON ROLLING
- A CARBON PRIMER
- AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY
- First Hints of Something Strange
- A Soccer-Ball Solution
- Capturing Buckyballs
- FINGERPRINTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING BUCKYBALLS
- The Raman Spectrum
- NMR—The Chemist's Proof And a Surprise
- Surprise: Buckyballs Can't Sit Still
- First Buckyball Photos
- Buckyballs by the Bushel
- Nonfullerene Fullerenes
- 1001 USES FOR BUCKYBALLS—MAYBE
- From Insulator to Conductor to Superconductor
- Prisoners in a Carbon Cage
- A Fullerene Ready for Market
- Other Promising Uses and a Real Long Shot
- BUCKYBALL POSTSCRIPT: HOW IT ALL STARTED
- Bibliography
- Recommended Reading
- Fold, Spindle, And Regulate How Proteins Work
- THE IMPORTANCE OF THREE-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE
- ANATOMY OF PROTEINS
- THE SEARCH FOR STRUCTURE: X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY AND NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE
- THE STRUCTURE OF PROTEIN IS RESILIENT
- DESIGNING SUPERSTABLE PROTEINS
- THE LEUCINE ZIPPER AND GENE REGULATION
- THE LEUCINE ZIPPER IS A COILED COIL
- A CANINE PINCUSHION POINTS THE WAY
- X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY: FINDING THE MOLECULAR DETAILS
- THE COILED COIL: RULES OF FOLDING
- THE ASPARAGINE RULE
- ANOTHER APPROACH IN THE QUEST FOR THE HOLY GRAIL
- APPLICATIONS: A CANCER DIAGNOSTIC
- CONCLUSION
- Bibliography
- Appendix A Abstracts of Additional Sessions of the Frontiers of Science Symposia
- MATERIALS SCIENCE
- OZONE HOLES
- TOPOLOGY
- QUANTUM CONFINED SEMICONDUCTORS
- MASS EXTINCTIONS
- THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE
- Appendix B Symposia Programs
- THIRD ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE NOVEMBER 7–9, 1991
- Astrophysics:Looking Inside The Sun
- Biology:Basic Science Related to AIDS
- Computer Science:Aspects of Theoretical Computer Science
- Geosciences:Earthquake Prediction
- Geosciences:Mass Extinctions
- Material Science:Quantum Confined Semiconductors
- Mathematics:Topology
- Physics:Manipulating Atoms by Laser Atom Trapping and Scanning Tunneling Tips
- FOURTH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE NOVEMBER 5–7, 1992
- Atmospheric Science:Ozone Holes—Causes and Effects of Polar Ozone Depletion
- Biology:The Cell Cycle
- Biology:Structure and Function of Proteins
- Chemistry and Physics:Buckminsterfullerenes—A New Form of Carbon
- Geosciences:Venus—Results from Magellan
- Materials Science:New Materials—Conducting Polymers,Organic Magnets, Composites
- Mathematics:The Wavelet Transform
- Physics:Current Topics in Hadron Collider Physics—Prelude to the Superconducting Supercollider Era
- Appendix C About the Authors
- MARCIA BARTUSIAK
- BARBARA BURKE
- ANDREW CHAIKIN
- ADDISON GREENWOOD
- T.A. HEPPENHEIMER
- MICHELLE HOFFMAN
- DAVID HOLZMAN
- ELIZABETH J. MAGGIO
- ANNE SIMON MOFFAT
- Index
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