Phase coherence length and quantum interference patterns at step edges

The accepted approximation used to describe quantum interference patterns at steps is shown to be incorrect. As a result, electron lifetimes determined using it are in error by a factor 2.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figur

Early perceptions of an epidemic

This article surveys some descriptions of the Fore people made on early contact in the 1950s by patrol officers, social anthropologists and medical doctors. Sorcery accusations and cannibalism initially impressed these outside observers, though gradually they came to realize that a strange and fatal condition called kuru was a major affliction of the Fore, especially women and children. Fore attributed kuru to sorcery, anthropologists speculated on psychosomatic causes and medical officers began to wonder if it was a mysterious encephalitis