[en] The following reports outline the progress of our two-fold program in relativistic heavy ion studies. First of all, a signature for new phenomena in hot, dense nuclear matter may be possible by the observation of lepton pairs in heavy ion collisions. Our experiments have already shown the important sources of lepton pairs from pion annihilation. A second signature of possible new phenomena was a study of lambda polarization in heavy ion collisions. Our group was part of a collaborative effort in the study using polarized beams and the results to date are presented here. In this connection, our group undertook to study in a preliminary way the production of the lambda hyperon in silicon-aluminum collisions at the AGS. Future experiments on hyperon studies in general will be done in collaboration with the BNL 810 collaboration. The Hopkins group has also participated in experiments on subthreshold production of K-mesons and antiprotons at the Bevalac. Finally, an effort to employ Cerenkov ring-imaging techniques to identify lepton pairs within the high flux of protons and mesons from the heavy ion collisions has been initiated at LBL