Scientific American (may 2002)

PLUTO AND BEYOND THE SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST REPLIES ■ MAY 2002 WWW.SCIAM.COM AFIRE WITHIN Inflammation’s Link to Heart Attacks PLUS: Extreme Lasers Rent a Rain Forest When Whales Walked COPYRIGHT 2002 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. $4.95 contents may 2002 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN Volume 286 Number 5 features REBUTTAL 14 The Skeptical Environmentalist Replies BY BJØRN LOMBORG The author responds to our January feature criticizing his book. BIOTECHNOLOGY 46 Atherosclerosis: The New View BY PETER LIBBY A long-held idea about how atherosclerosis develops has been overturned, offering clues to fighting this deadly disease. PLANETARY SCIENCE 56 Journey to the Farthest Planet BY S. ALAN STERN Scientists are finally preparing to send a spacecraft to Pluto, the last unexplored world in the solar system. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 64 Wireless Data Blaster BY DAVID G. LEEPER Radio’s oldest technology provides a new way for portable electronics to transmit large quantities of data rapidly without wires. EVOLUTION 70 The Mammals That Conquered the Seas BY KATE WONG Using recently discovered fossils and DNA analyses, scientists are at last unraveling the mysterious evolutionary history of whales. PHYSICS 80 Extreme Light BY GÉRARD A. MOUROU AND DONALD UMSTADTER Tabletop lasers focus light with the power of 1,000 Hoover Dams onto a tiny point for applications from physics and fusion research to medicine. ENVIRONMENT 88 Rethinking Green Consumerism BY JARED HARDNER AND RICHARD RICE Buying “green” products isn’t enough to save biodiversity in the tropics. A plan for marketing conservation services may be the answer. www.sciam.com COPYRIGHT 2002 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, INC. 56 The surface of Pluto<