Science magazine's current issue (2/27/2004) is focused on "Evolution of Language." The cover shows two facing talking-head silouettes with the word "science" printed in "Japanese, German, Bengali (Roman script), Bahasa Malaysia, Bengali (Bengali script), Tamil, Cherokee, Swahili, Asante Twi, Hindi, Finnish, Slovak, Albanian, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, Tibetan, Russian, Dutch, Malayalam, Chinese, Hebrew, Hawaiian, and Swedish."
As usual for Science, this focus means that there are some "News", "Viewpoint" and "Books" pieces on the topic. The "Research" section of the magazine is not affected, and covers whatever topics are normally queued up for publication.
The language-related table of contents is given below. If you're reading this, I'll infer that you're interested in language, and will want to read these articles. I'm not clear whether they are among the "other selected materials" that free registration for "partial access" makes available, but this will get you at least the table of contents and summaries. Most academic libraries and many public libraries should have subscriptions (both on line and in paper form). Or you could join the AAAS...
ARCHAEOLOGY:
Continuing the Debate on Words and Seeds
Steven Mithen
Science 2004 303: 1298-1299. (in Books)
LANGUAGE:
Many Perspectives, No Consensus
Andrew Carstairs-McCarthy
Science 2004 303: 1299-1300. (in Books)
ARCHAEOLOGY:
As Our World Warmed
Lawrence Guy Straus
Science 2004 303: 1300-1302. (in Books)
The First Language?
Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 2004 303: 1319-1320. (in News)
Speaking in Tongues
Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 2004 303: 1321-1323. (in News)
Search for the Indo-Europeans
Michael Balter
Science 2004 303: 1323. (in News)
From Heofonum to Heavens
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Science 2004 303: 1326-1328. (in News)
The Future of Language
David Graddol
Science 2004 303: 1329-1331. (in Viewpoint)
Software and the Future of Programming Languages
Alfred V. Aho
Science 2004 303: 1331-1333. (in Viewpoint)
Of Towers, Walls, and Fields: Perspectives on Language in Science
Scott Montgomery
Science 2004 303: 1333-1335. (in Viewpoint)