50 Years Ago
- Planetary Science
Decades-old idea brought to fruition: a mission to Mercury
In 1965, engineers proposed sending a spacecraft to Mercury with help from another planet’s gravity – a technique now used in many interplanetary missions.
- Humans
Babbling to babies is OK, despite previous warnings against it
Fifty years ago, a researcher advised banning baby talk, but results since then say otherwise.
- Neuroscience
Cold War collaboration probed possible viral cause of ALS
A mid-1960s collaboration between American and Soviet researchers explored a possible viral cause of ALS.
- Health & Medicine
Electric detection of lung cancer
In 1964, researchers hoped to improve lung cancer diagnosis by measuring the skin’s electrical resistance.
- Archaeology
Magnetism paved way for excavation without digging
In the 1960s, archaeologists used a new technique to locate and map a submerged Greek city without digging.
- Planetary Science
Setting sights on Mars — a half-century ago
Fifty years ago, the United States turned its eyes toward Mars and set a goal of sending humans as soon as possible.
- Tech
Sheath helps ‘aqua-hamster’ survive underwater
Scientists hoped a membrane invented in 1964 would let submarines pull air from seawater.
- Chemistry
Crystallography celebrates centennial
Dubbed the international year of crystallography, 2014 marks the centennial of X-ray diffraction.
- Health & Medicine
Still waiting on a cure for diabetes
Diabetes diagnoses have skyrocketed in the past 50 years. While there are now better medications and options for control, there is still only hope of a cure.
- Tech
Long after JFK assassination, gunshot forensics still limited
The Warren Commission Report included the results of a neutron activation analysis test of Lee Harvey Oswald. But even that high-tech analysis can't distinguish the type of weapon fired.
- Tech
Space tourism’s price tag rockets upward
The “high price” of space tourism proposed in the 1960s is nowhere close to the astronomical price tag of trips today.
- Astronomy
Distance to quasars debated
Some astronomers thought quasars were buzzing around our galaxy; turns out these starlike objects live on the other side of the universe.
