Decoding Life's Instruction Book

"It’s at least as momentous as trying to put a man on the moon." From drug-design to issues of privacy, from family planning to food production, from evolution to environmentalism to medical ethics, the results of the Human Genome Project will color our arguments from now on. A special report from the 2001 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science.

The Agateer

Why are agates less precious than diamonds? How do their intricate patterns form? Why don’t we know? An excursion with historian and rockhound Robert Proctor.

Machining With Molecules

With roots in both microelectronics and chemistry, nanotechnology promises evolutionary advances in computers, biotechnology, medicine, and almost any other field you can name. But "the doing part," says Stephen Fonash, director of Penn State’s Nanofabrication facility, "is not trivial." Out at the Nanofab, academic and industrial users are just starting to realize the possibilities of thinking very, very small.

Cracking the Ice

Portal to the Future