50 Years Ago

Science Past from the issue of January 13, 1962

MOON RACE WILL INCREASE — The race for the moon will become more competitive in 1962 in prestige, military and scientific aspects. Foremost there is developing a national will or desire to explore the moon and put an American landing party on the natural satellite of the earth. This is an objective set forth by […]

American and Dutch physicists reach new low temperature

Physicists compete in a race to the bottom with a finish line that can never be reached.

Science Past from the issue of December 30, 1961

EARTH AND PLANETS FORMED FROM DUST DRAWN TO SUN — The Earth and all the other planets of the solar system were formed from tiny dust particles accumulating around the sun as it passed through a vast dust cloud in space. This theory on the origin of the solar system was proposed in London by […]

Find “extinct” fish alive in South African waters

A “living fossil” gets new family members as more coelacanths turn up.

Science Past from the issue of December 16, 1961

HORMONES AFFECT NERVES — Add sex hormones to all the other things that can make you feel depressed on some days and elated on others. Evidence that sex hormones can affect the body’s central nervous system in roles unrelated to sexual functions has been reported by physiologists at the University of California, Berkeley. The findings […]

Nemesis: Searching for the sun’s deadly companion star

Read the full article (PDF) | Vote on future topic | Search archives September 1, 1984 | Vol. 126 | No. 9 Nemesis: Searching for the sun’s deadly companion star If the sun is not a member of a binary or multiple star system, it is among the minority of stars. Yet if the sun has a […]

Science Past from the issue of December 2, 1961

ELECTRONIC COIN TOSSING — An electronic method of tossing coins that determines “heads” or “tails” 200,000 times a second has been devised at the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif. The new machine is not a gambling device but is being used to develop automatic signal detection methods for future Navy radar. It promises […]

Cornell project brings peregrines back to the eastern United States

With a little help, peregrine falcons make a comeback from the devastating effects of DDT.

Science Past from the issue of November 18, 1961

NEW EVIDENCE FOUND OF EXPANDING UNIVERSE — The universe is expanding, then collapsing again after a long time, evidence from photographs taken with the 200-inch telescope atop Mt. Palomar indicate. Dr. William A. Baum of Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories, Pasadena, Calif., said that present-day observations are not compatible with a steady-state universe in which […]

Science Past from the issue of November 4, 1961

ARTIFICIAL HEART VALVE — A previously hopeless condition of the heart — a defective heart valve — can now be corrected by successful surgery, it was reported at the American Heart Association meeting in Miami Beach, Fla. Many of the 500 gravely ill patients described by three teams of surgeons who did partial or total […]

Olive oil injections aid in treating pneumonia

Treating pneumonia with olive oil sounds strange, but the idea showed signs of early scientific savvy.

Mathematicians think of everything as rubber

How the rubbery world of topology may help describe the universe.