A useful introduction to the popular Australian icon, Koala: The Story of Australia's Native Bear offers a brief history on its first discovery and published reference by European settlers, the fur trade and resulting outcry to prevent its extinction, and the koala's place of importance in Aboriginal folklore. Scientific facts about the koala's characteristics, traits, and temperament are discussed. Barrett's affection for the animal comes through in his numerous references to its delightful qualities-whether in describing the little orphan koala Edward at the breakfast table, or in...

The application of solid-state detectors of high energy resolution to x-ray spectrometry, and the increasing use of compu- ters in both measurement and data evaluation, are giving a new stimulus to x-ray techniques in analytical chemistry. The Twentieth Annual Denver X-ray Conference reflects this renewed interest in several ways. The invited papers, grouped in Session I, review the charac- teristics of the detectors used in the measurement of x-rays. One paper is dedicated to the detection of single ions. Although such a subject may appear to be marginal to the purposes of the Denver...