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September 2003

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Features

Cattle suffocated by carbon dioxide from Lake Nyos

Defusing Africa's Killer Lakes

In a remote region of Cameroon, an international team of scientists takes extraordinary steps to prevent the recurrence of a deadly natural disaster

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Two Weeks at Camp David

There was no love lost between Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin. But at the very brink of failure, they found a way to reach agreement

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Beacon of Light

Groundbreaking art shines at the extraordinary new Dia: Beacon museum on New York's Hudson River

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Keeping Up with Mark Twain

Berkeley researchers toil to stay abreast of Samuel Clemens' enormous literary output, which appears to continue unabated

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Focus on the Blues

Richard Waterman's never-before-published photographs caught the roots music legends at their down-home best

Chemical structure of the Penicillin core

Eureka!

Accident and serendipity played their parts in the inventions of penicillin, the World Wide Web and the Segway super scooter

Yorkshire Dales National Park

A Walk Across England

In the 1970s, British accountant Alfred Wainwright linked back roads, rights-of-way and ancient footpaths to blaze a beguiling trail across the sceptered isle

Departments

Indelible Images

September 11 From a Brooklyn Rooftop

Photographer Alex Webb captured a moment that showed, he says, the "continuity of life in the face of disaster"

The Object at Hand

Dressed to Kill

In beating the pants off Bobby Riggs, Billie Jean King inspired feminists and fashionistas alike

Phenomena & Curiosities

Uncle Sam's Dolphins

In the Iraq war, highly trained cetaceans helped U.S. forces clear mines in Umm Qasr's harbor

People File

Talking to Horses

Stanford Addison uses intuition, compassion and persistence to "break" wild horses

Presence of Mind

Stopping a Scourge

No one knows if SARS will strike again. But researchers' speedy work halting the epidemic makes a compelling case study of how to combat a deadly virus

Editor's Note

Picture This

Five Categories, 50 Finalists, Six Winners

From the Secretary

Man's Reach

The Cooper-Hewitt explores the wide-ranging impact of historical and contemporary designs

Books

James Smithson's Legacy

The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum