Science

Space Race

Writer-at-large Jan Reid on entrepreneur Richard Garriott and commercial space flights.

Dissing Darwin

Why Texas could lose the biotech revolution—and end up, once again, an economic also-ran.

About a Girl

Audra Thomas can't read these words and, in a few months, wouldn't remember them anyway. Nevertheless, she has an extraordinary sense of the world around her—and of herself.

Heaven & Earth

The break-up of the space shuttle Columbia was a chilling reminder that the astronauts who dare to dream and risk their lives for the benefit of all mankind are, at the end of the day, mere mortals.

Blood and Money

On the strength of a simple if indelicate question—“Who’s the Father?”—Houston’s Caroline Caskey has made a big splash in biotech.

Scorched Earth

This summer’s hot topic? Weather.

Never Say Die

Can Miller Quarles live forever? The 83-year-old Houstonian hopes so—and he’ll pay $100,000 to anyone who will help him.

Science • Richard E. Smalley

Good chemistry.

Food Fright

Eating a peanut shouldn’t be a particularly memorable experience, but for Dallasite Mona Cain and countless other allergic Americans, it’s a matter of life and death.

Cancer Patience

To perfect a promising new gene therapy, doctors at Houston’s M. D. Anderson need time. Unfortunately, that’s one thing people with malignant brain tumors don’t have.

It Came From Outer Space

The inside story of how industrious NASA scientists discovered signs of life in a Martian rock and boosted the fortunes of the tabloids, Hollywood producers, and even the president.

Beaming

Beaming over a new aircraft landing device.

Up and Atom

The death of the superconducting supercollider may have been traumatic, but at their core the people of Waxahachie haven’t changed.

Texas Twenty: Linda Aguilar-Bryan and Joseph Bryan

After a decade of lab work at Baylor College of Medicine, this husband-and-wife team has solved the mystery of hyperinsulinism.

The Outer Limits

Combining the latest technology with an old-fashioned passion for her work, Austin astronomer Anita Cochran redefined the solar system. Now her star is on the rise.

Drug War!

How a small Houston biotech company and a giant California-based rival are battling over who developed what may be a revolutionary cure for asthma and allergies.

Tom Caskey

Tracking down deadly genes.

Cretaceous Crash

The dinosaurs had been doing just fine for 150 million years. All of a sudden …

Dem Bones

A Texas scientist ruffled some feathers when he said he had found the first bird.

Alien Contact

Our fearless reporter survives a close encounter with UFO investigators.

The Case for Castration

Critics call it brutal and barbaric, but it may be the most effective treatment for sex offenders.

Bass on the Hook

A state breeding program aims to fatten up the trim, pugnacious bass.

Boneyard

Ken Barnes wants to keep his dinosaur fossils near home.

Animal House

At a Central Texas facility, researchers show lab-raised chimps things their mothers never taught them.

Big Bang

The Brain Trust

Computers will finally use commmon sense if an Austin high-tech team can make them think like people.

Superpolitics

Will Texas’ acquisition of the supercollider increase the state’s clout in Washington? We’d better hope so, because now that we’ve got it, we’ve got to get the money to deliver it

The Inventive Mr. Chu

Heat + pressure + yttrium + a politically savvy University of Houston physicist = a formula to change the world.

The Flash Flood

In a land of contrasts, a few hours can mean the difference between drought and deluge.

Where NASA Went Wrong

The seeds of the Challenger disaster were sowed long ago, in the space agency’s conflict between its ideals and its politics.

Mining the Moon, Selling the Stars

Their business may read like a sci-fi script, but these aging astronauts, former Nasa engineers, technocrats, and high-risk junkies are serious about selling space.

The Tree-Ear, The Comb Tooth, & The Destroying Angel

Alice in Wonderland never discovered a mushroom half as exotic as Texas’ own native fungi.

We Wanted a Test Tube Baby

The odds for having a child of our own were slim to none. We took a chance on slim.

All the Better to See You With, My Dear

Are eye surgeons miraculously changing the lives of folks with glasses as thick as Coke-bottle bottoms, or are they just making themselves rich ?

Texas, a Long, Long, Long, Long, Time Ago

When armadillos weighed three tons and the long horns were on dinosaurs.

Mr. Hannah’s Rocket

His first spacecraft blew up on the pad and his primary investor died, but the first free enterprise rocket finally flew from Matagorda.

The Dinosaur Darwin Missed

Side by side near a Texas river are dinosaur tracks and what appear to be the marks of a human foot—proof, in the creationist mind, that evolution is bunk.

The Inheritance Factor

In Austin, experts in genetics are helping parents of children with birth defects come to terms with the most painful questions of their lives.

The Secret Life of the Beach

Along the silent, lovely beach, tiny armies fight in the tide, fierce battles rage in the sky, and nocturnal marauders slither across the sand.

Moon Struck

Ten years ago the Apollo astronauts, technicians and scientists all, landed on the Moon and touched what poets only dreamed. But that touch changed their lives.

Laser Days

Lasers have been heralded as the greatest discovery since the computer, but they may be hazardous to your health.

Planet X! We’re Waiting for You!

That’s the message Ray Stanford sends nightly into outer space; so far no one has answered.

Star Struck

Star light, star bright, will the computer work tonight?

The Hottest Place in the Whole U.S.A.

How the Texas heat can sap your energy, dull your intelligence, send you to an early grave, and make you sweat.

Method Against Madness

What you eat affects the way you think; and what you think affects the way you eat.

So Long, Cosmic Cowboys

One giant step backward for the Moonmen.