  The interaction of heavy partons, charm and beauty, with the matter created
in heavy ion collisions has been of great interest in recent years. Heavy
partons were predicted to interact less strongly with the matter than light
partons. In apparent contrast to these predictions, unexpectedly strong
suppression of non-photonic electrons from heavy flavor decays has been seen.
However, significant experimental uncertainties remain, both in the
measurements themselves and in the separation of the contribution from charm
and beauty, which have complicated the interpretation of these results. The
current experimental situation is critically reviewed and prospects for making
these measurements more easily interpretable discussed.
