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Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine
September 2002

This month's issue of Analog features an editorial by Stanley Schmidt who looks at the current trend in schools to make students pass standardised graduation examinations. He feels this is not good as all they do is penalise a student who may be good but got bad grades at the graduation tests due to pressure. In his opinion, better teaching is needed, rather than more tests.

Stories featured in this issue are:

• "In Spirit" by Pat Forde. A moving and gripping story about a prisoner convicted of a terrible crime committed at the beginning of the 21st century who is given a chance at rehabilitation. But the rehabilitation turns out to be an unusual kind of 'projection' back into the past and what he does there may well determine his future.
• "Protocol" by Timothy Zahn. A story set on a world where the violation for a protocol of behaviour towards some aliens results in instant death. A woman must now find out why a death occurs even though there was no apparent violation of the protocol. The answer would lead to an re-evalution of who the protocol applies to and lead to yet more questions.
• "Perchance to Dream" by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.. An interesting story set on a world inhabited by several different intelligent races. A team of interplanetary relations people decides to help one race that is being attacked by a another marauding race. But the help provided may, in the end, prove to cause even more problems for all concerned.
• "Far from the Emerald Isle" by James Van Pelt. An interesting story set on a intergalactic colony ship. After suffering a near catastrophic collision, its repair crew are awaken only to discover that some of the damage has been mysteriously repaired and the ship's AI does not seem to know about it. What is the truth and how should the crew deal with it?
• "Renewable Resources" by Jerry Oltion. An interesting story set at a time where environmental concerns is uppermost on people's minds. A coal miner is facing difficulty mining for some coal because he cannot find a use for the extra water that would be pumped out also. But help would come to him from an unexpected direction.
• "Chrysalis" by Larry Niven. A story set inside the "Draco Tavern" series. An alien suddenly asks the tavern's owner for a job. Puzzled but looking for help, he agrees. It is only later that he learns that the alien was trying to avoid its siblings for a sexual reason but the resolution would have a suprising twist to the tale.
• "Sedementology Gone Wild" by Richard A. Lovett, Ph.D. This Science Fact article looks at sedimentology, the science of studying rock layers, and shows that it can reveal a lot of detail not only about the climate of prehistoric earth but also climate of the earth in the recent past. For instance, lead in sediments can reveal when Bronze Age smelters first began. Similarly, ice cores reveal the temperature of the earth in the recent past and show that the earth's climate may have gone through tremendous temperature changes very rapidly. This information may help us determine just what may happen to the global climate in the future.
• Bumper Cars by Grey Rollins. A Probability Zero story that looks at an invention that may help keep cars from getting too close to each other and, incidentally, help its owner save some money; but only if nobody else notices it.
• Physics Goes Underground by John G. Cramer. In this Alternative View article, Cramer looks at the new National Underground Science Laboratory to be created and what it may be able to tell us about neutrinos from the sun and from supernovas. (Underground labs are the only way to study neutrinos.)

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