CONTRIBUTORS

J. MADELEINE NASH, our senior science correspondent, reported on the brain's chemical pathways for our cover story on serotonin, a complex substance that influences a wide range of emotion and behavior. She knows the routes well, having written a cover story on another brain chemical, dopamine, and its role in addiction. Last week she looked at the natural antidepressant St. John's wort. Nash brought her usual clear-sightedness to the murky workings of serotonin and the trial-and-error science that brought forth beneficial--and potentially deadly--serotonin-enhancing drugs such as fen/phen. Nash's work has won the respect of scientists: she recently became an honorary member of Sigma Xi, a prestigious scientific-research society.

MICHAEL WEISSKOPF has rigorously documented campaign fund raising in more than 30 stories since he joined TIME in January. His determination to follow the money has led him to some interesting Beltway venues--including the office of a chief Washington lobbyist this week. In a TIME exclusive, Weisskopf reveals the identity of the man who acted as a go-between for Democratic fund raiser Johnny Chung and former Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary. Such tenacity has earned him a George Polk Award for his reporting on Congress. "Campaign fund raising may seem a strange Washington game," says Weisskopf, "but it's as raw and close-up a look at our government as we have."

STEVE LOPEZ traveled to France to follow the trail of hippie murderer Ira Einhorn. But the story begins in Philadelphia, scene of the crime and home to both its writer and D.A. Richard DiBenedetto, who spent 16 years tracking down his man. Lopez's dozen conversations with DiBenedetto yield a mesmerizing story that takes you inside the mind of the hunter and the hunted. The author of The Sunday Macaroni Club, a fiercely funny crime novel that features a similarly crusading attorney, Lopez pursued his own quest. It took him to Einhorn's lawyers in Paris, the murderer's former hideout in Champagne-Mouton, and Einhorn himself. "I wanted to gauge by his eyes whether the murder had registered," says Lopez. "As far as I could see, it hadn't."

CYNTHIA A. HOFFMAN, our new deputy art director, was wary of designing a cover package on something that isn't very visible. "I thought, Here I get to profile a molecule," she says. "How do you make juice out of that?" She did, by gamely examining every aspect and angle of serotonin to produce an informative and visually arresting package. Previously a design director at the Boston Globe, Hoffman doesn't miss the daily deadlines. "Now I can dig more deeply," she says, although at TIME that can mean digging deep into the night. "Cynthia gets to the core of every story she is working on," says art director Arthur Hochstein, "and presents it in the simplest, clearest way to the reader."