Salt Talks Above all else, it sometimes seems, we desire to be "salt-free": liberated from the tang we have tasted in sweat and seawater, the stuff we have slung against both the Devil and Mr. Freeze. Yet from condiment to craving, road de-icer to building block, "The history of salt is synonymous with the history of mankind" -- and the subject of much research. Peace and Bamboo Only 1,200 or fewer wild pandas are left, all clustered on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. Since 1983, geographer Alan Taylor and his Chinese collaborators have studied the panda's bamboo habitat, looking for the keys that will ensure this near mythic creature's survival. The Art of Anesthesia "There are 50,000 general anesthesias a day," says Ralph Lydic, head of the division of anesthesia and neuroscience research, "and in every case, maintaining the upper airway is a priority. Anesthesia can eliminate the perception of pain, but in doing so, it also eliminates the normal drive to breathe." Through molecular and cellular studies of the brain, Lydic and his colleagues are untangling the brain's strange links between awareness and breathing. From the Editor: Synergy Outlook: Thinking Through Engineering Encyclopedia:       Save the Woodrat!       Sick Ice Cream       Mighty Meprin       Check on Health Care Costs       Green Germany       The Acoustic Ocean Thermometer       Bookishness       The Private Melville COVER STORY Exploring Shape Space "It's a very restricted view of statistics, to think solely in terms of comparing one set of numbers to another," says statistics professor Colin Goodall. Goodall and his students are statisticians of shape: triangles, quadrilaterals, the pharangeal bones of fish, stacks of papers, car parts, the heads of newborn rats. "It's not nearly so straightforward as in the traditional case of two batches of numbers."