COVER STORY

Troubled Waters
While deserts bloom, rivers and aquifers run dry.
Meeting the demands of a thirsty world will call
for squeezing every drop out of a severely limited resource

SANDRA POSTEL

Anecdotal Evidence: Genetic Hyping
While the media lauded the smarts of the "Dougie" mouse, another study quietly undermined much of the ballyhoo about links between genetics and behavior
ROBERT M. SAPOLSKY

Idylls of the Mind: On Keeping the Faith
PETER TAUBER

FEATURES

The End of Polio?
WENDY ORENT

On Common Ground: Typecasting a Bit Part
Photograph by ROSAMOND PURCELL
Text by STEPHEN JAY GOULD

Froth with Meaning
SYDNEY PERKOWITZ

The Fight for Science and Reason
JOHN DUPRÉ

Books in Brief: The Literate Lepidopterist
LAURENCE A. MARSCHALL

DEPARTMENTS

Event Horizon
An arbitrary guide to cultural pursuits in the sciences

Quanta
Lunar optical illusions; minimum forms of life; solitary black holes?; nanotweezers for picking up molecules

Initial Conditions
Editor's Notebook: The Discipline of Doubt

Working Hypotheses
Wenzhu Yitou, Fangkai Yipian
RODNEY W. NICHOLS

Peer Review
Letters from Readers

Strange Matter
Internal Affairs
ROZ CHAST