Preface<br > Science writer Arthur C. Clarke once formulated three scientific<br > laws， one of which says: "An~) sufficiently advanced technology is<br > indistinguishable from magac." This "law" describes a fundamental<br > challenge for science w.~ters and editors. Just as we know that so-<br > called magic can be explained， so do we know that science and tech-<br > nology can be explained--in language that literate people， if they<br > have sufficient interest， can understand.<br > The difficulty lies in bringing all subjects in science to a common<br > level of understanding. Different areas of research have different de-<br > grees of complexity. Stories about the environment， endangered an-<br > imals， or advances in medical research can be described in ways that<br > are relatively easy to follow and that we can relate to. This is not<br > necessarily so with stories about high-energy physics or molecular<br > biology. Here， researchers compose theories and use mathematics to<br > describe the fundamental pieces of the universe--in language that is<br > incomprehensible to the average reader.<br > This range of scientific endeavor and the editorial approaches to<br >it is reflected in the current Science Year. In the Special Report，<br >STALKING THE MEDFLY， for example， a description of the insect s<br >simpl~ life cycle and fruit-destroying habits is all that is necessary to<br >set the scene for a social-scientific story about how not to handle a<br >scientific problem. NEW LIGHT ON THE ANCIENT MAYA describes<br >the life style of an ancient people. Since we all have a life style， it is<br >not difficult to relate to this anthropological story.<br > On the other hand， to appreciate CATCHING NATURE S VANISH-<br >ING ACT， the reader must first learn what a proton is made of， and<br >how its parts behave. Understanding DIVERSIFYING OUR DEFENS-<br >ES-how a million different types of antibodies are made from a<br >substantially smaller number of genes--requires concentration and<br >a good memory for new words.<br > The same things can be said of the Science File. There are inter-<br >esting， easily related stories told in ENVIRONMENT or NUTRITION<br >or ZOOLOGY. For SOLAR ASTRONOMY， or OCEANOGRAPHY， the<br >reader has to pay a little closer attention. And if he undertakes to<br >learn about what is going on in CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS， or<br >GENETICS， he must be ready for some serious reading.<br > The editorial staff works harder to reduce the more difficult con-<br >cepts to readable terms. We think that the interested reader is also<br >willing to work a little harder on these subjects. The reward should<br >be a better appreciation of the scope of science and technology; ~，<br >better understanding of the magic. [Arthur G. Tressler]~<br > f<br ><br >