Concepts in 2002

The laws that describe the behaviour of a complex system are qualitatively different from those that govern its units.

For a century, the strange and variable behaviour of this 'mirror in the sky' has puzzled scientists and infuriated users of radio communications.

This famous thought experiment sets out to show a paradox in the second law of thermodynamics, but in reality Maxwell's "neat fingered being" would not get away with it.

Genetic markers — unlike ancient chroniclers — do not lie. But their interpretation can be as perilous as attempts to decipher ancient inscriptions in an unknown tongue.

Preventing the international spread of disease is not a matter of charity from rich countries to poor. It is a global, collective enterprise from which all countries benefit.

Asymmetric cell division offers a possible explanation of the spiral patterns seen in many plants.

Oil and water molecules actually attract each other, but not nearly as strongly as water attracts itself.

In the social sciences, an equilibrium is a situation that involves several individuals or groups, in which each one's actions turn out to be the best reply to everyone else's.

Centromeric DNA repeats can be thought of as selfish elements that constantly compete to beat the odds and make it into the egg at meiosis.

Despite the ubiquity of astrophysical jets, there is no generally accepted theory for the mechanism of their formation.

The molecular motors on which life depends are driven by brownian motion.

Stable isotopes are natural labels on all processes in the environment, allowing us to see a dynamic universe normally hidden from view.

Natural selection has created many species in which individual survival rests on computations performed by the organism's own physiology.

Success in the synthesis of natural products often requires the ability to react a single part of a molecule to the exclusion of others.

Toxicology research should urgently appraise its performance and join mainstream biomedical science.

The conceptual review should take its place as an essential component of scientific research.

Plant–herbivore interactions are frequently described as an ongoing biochemical warfare that occurs on an evolutionary timescale.

It is useful to consider the concept of grammar as primary and that of language as derived.

To predict the future impact of mankind on living organisms, we need to know how organisms become adapted to a rapidly changing world and determine the limitations of adaptive processes.

The vulnerability of the Y chromosome will be a key factor in shaping the evolutionary future of our species.