Features
Masters of Deception?
The works of Early Renaissance painters such as Jan van Eyck have enthralled viewers for centuries with their uncanny realism and exquisite detail. Was it sheer talent, or did they secretly rely on projection devices? A Stanford physicist takes a stand.
by Marguerite Rigoglioso
Features
The Search for Peter Starr
Pete Starr lived up to his name. A prominent San Francisco lawyer, he was one of the nation s foremost mountaineers and conservationists in the early 1930s. Then he disappeared on a solo climbing trip to the Sierra. By the time searchers found him, all of California knew his story.
by William Alsup
Features
Telling Tales Out of School
Retired from teaching but vibrant as ever, Diane Middlebrook is working on the next chapter of her life, as full-time biographer. Her latest project is characteristically adventurous: chronicling the troubled marriage of poets Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. It s a subject as interesting as Middlebrook herself.
by Cynthia Haven
Features
Clued In
The Game, a semiannual 24-plus-hour quest to unlock a seemingly impenetrable network of clues, has become a Stanford tradition for students and alumni alike. Winning requires gadgets, tactics and a ridiculous amount of cryptography. And the winners get nothing?
by Marisa Milanese
