CONTRIBUTORS 



RENe KREKELS studied biology in the Netherlands before turning 

 to nature photography. Krekels has since concentrated on under- 

 standing and photographing small creatures, such as the warty newt 

 in this issue ("The Natural Moment," page 4). He particularly en- 

 joys freeze-framing an insect in flight — a butterfly, a blue-winged 

 grasshopper, a cockshafer — or a frog in mid-dive, with his high- 

 speed camera and a macro lens. 



Both career devotees of lizards and snakes, 

 LAURIE J. VITT and ERIC R. PIANKA ("The Scaly 

 Ones," page 28) have collaborated in recent years, 

 most notably in co-authoring Lizards: Windows 

 to the Evolution of Diversity (University of Califor- 

 nia Press, 2003), the winner of a number of 

 awards. Vitt is George Lynn Cross Research Pro- 

 fessor and Curator of Reptiles at the Sam Noble 

 Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, and a professor of zoology at the Uni- 

 versity of Oklahoma, both in Norman. He is interested in how the evolution- 

 ary history of lizards and snakes has influenced their present-day ecology and be- 

 havior. Pianka, who is Denton A. Cooley Centennial Professor of Zoology at 

 the University of Texas at Austin, specializes in the study of monitor lizards. Mon- 

 itors were the subject of his most recent article for Natural History (with Samuel 

 S. Sweet), "The Lizard Kings" (November 2003). 



In her study of the evolution of four-legged animals from their 

 fish ancestors, JENNIFER A. CLACK ("From Fins to Limbs," page 

 36) has collected fossils in Greenland, Scotland, and England, 

 and examined specimens from museum collections around the 

 world. Clack earned her Ph.D. in paleontology from the Uni- 

 versity of Newcastle upon Tyne and joined the University Mu- 

 seum of Zoology in Cambridge as a curator. She is a professor 

 and curator in vertebrate paleontology at the University of Cambridge. Her 

 book about the origin of tetrapods, Gaining Ground, was published in 2002. 



ALEX VILENKIN ("Beyond the Big Bang," page 42) is a theoret- 

 ical physicist who has conducted research in cosmology for more 

 than twenty-five years. His most recent research has focused on 

 the possible existence of multiple universes and other implica- 

 tions of eternal cosmic inflation, one of the novel ideas he has 

 introduced. His new book, Many Worlds in One (Hill and Wang), 

 from which our feature is adapted, chronicles firsthand the birth 

 of a new cosmology that incorporates many of his influential theories. Vilenkin 

 emigrated to the United States from the U.S.S.R. in 1976, receiving his Ph.D. 

 the following year from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a pro- 

 fessor of physics at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and serves as di- 

 rector of the Tufts Institute of Cosmology. 



PICTURE CREDITS Cover: CCLiudio Vclasqucz/naturepl.com; pp. 4-5: ©Rene KrekeLs/Foto Natura; p. 10: Cartoon by Dolly Set- 

 ton; p. 12(top): ODcan A. Hcndrickson; p. 12(mjddle): ©Alexander Kupfer; p. 12(bottom): CMarrin Harevy Peter Arnold. Inc.; p. 



Sc 



l3(top 



Eht): 



I c\ tli 



Mark Pavne-Gilliiatuicplconi; p. 13(bottom): Courtesy of Historic 

 The Jewish National and University Library/historic-cities. huji.ac.il; p. 

 ilu'u Study Team; p. 1 4(bottoni): ©Mark Taylor/naturepl.com; pp. 22- 

 )ld Arboretum of Harvard University; p. 23: ©The Kinsey Institute: pp. 

 naturepl.com; p. 30: ©Eric Pianka; p. 31: Illustrations by Patricia J. 

 p. 33(bottom): Illustration by Ian Worpole; pp. 34-35: ©NHPA/ 

 Stephen Dalton; pp. 36-37: Illustration by Advanced Illustration; p. 38: Map by Chris Scotese/Paleomap Project/www.scotese.com; p. 

 39; CJennifcr A. Clack/ Ahlberg et al. /Nature p. 40-41: CThe Geological Museum. Copenhagen; pp. 42-43 ©Ace Gallery. L.A: pp. 

 456V46: Illustrations by Advanced Illustration; p. 48: t Rucdigcr Knobloch/A.B./zcfa/Corbis; pp. 55: ©NASA/JPL; p. 64: Richard 

 Lund/CCarnegic Museum of Natural History. 



13(top left): Denis Crawford/Grapl 

 Cities Research Project/The Hebrew Universir 

 14(top): ©Stan Hart, Craig Young. Hubert Stau. 

 23(background): ''Gray Herbarium Archives; p. 

 26-27: Illustrations by Tom Moore; pp. 28-29 

 Wynne; p. 32: CNiranjati Sam; p. 33(top): ©Stew 



mm 



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