50 Years Ago
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Science Past from the issue of October 21, 1961
‘ALARM CLOCK’ BRINGS SNAKES TO SURFACE — A built-in “alarm clock” apparently helps a brightly-banded little desert snake come to the surface at night after he has buried himself to escape the day’s heat…. It had been noted that these snakes, which remain buried in the sand most of the time, appear to come to […]
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Ancient Rome forbade downtown traffic in day
Roman road congestion is as enduring as the Eternal City.
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Science Past from the issue of October 7, 1961
CHEAPER WATER FROM SEA — Lower cost conversion of undrinkable sea or brackish water to potable fresh water will come closer to practicality through use of $75,000,000 appropriated by Congress for the next six years. Lowest cost achieved so far is one dollar per thousand gallons compared with the cost from ordinary sources of 30¢ […]
- Life
Evolution should be taught to all students
The antievolution movement in science education, which gained national attention in the 1920s, lives on in different forms.
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Science Past from the issue of September 23, 1961
ALGAE COULD PROVIDE OXYGEN FOR SPACEMAN — Minute plant life that form the common green scum found on the surface of stagnant ponds and in river beds, Chlorella algae, assisted by the sun, may provide the future man in space with the oxygen essential to maintain life. A new gas exchange device operating on the […]
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Science Past from the issue of September 9, 1961
NEW PARTICLE DISCOVERED — The discovery of a new elementary particle, omega meson, made at the University of California’s Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, and the finding of unidentified additional “particle systems” in the subatomic realm are believed to make it possible to push on in the next decade or two to a better explanation of how […]
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Science Past from the issue of August 26, 1961
EARTH ONCE GLOWED — The earth’s surface in its early years of life may have glowed like a beautiful rainbow, shimmering with the colorful array of light emitted by primitive organisms. Light emission may have occurred soon after life appeared on earth, when the atmosphere lacked oxygen…. As small amounts of oxygen appeared in the […]
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Material Objects Seen as Holes in Space by British Scientist
A close examination of the math of quantum mechanics led to the prediscovery of antimatter particles in 1930.
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Science Past from the issue of August 12, 1961
“CLIMBERS” PRONE TO ILLNESS — “Nonhazardous” occupations can be dangerous for men who work their way up. Eighty-four out of 139 young men between the ages of 22 and 32 who had attained managerial positions showed more illness than 55 co-workers who stepped into the same kind of job right out of college…. The men […]
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Russians Dig to Reach Below Earth’s Crust
During the space race, U.S. and Soviet teams also engaged in a less-famous contest — to drill down to the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle.
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Science Past from the issue of July 29, 1961
RADIATION SURVIVORS — A world-wide radiation disaster might eventually give rise to two populations, research on bacteria indicates.… Starting with a culture of ordinary (wild-type) bacteria, the scientist added copper ions that produced a “disaster.” Most of the bacteria died…. But as time passed, a small number of survivors, called variants, began reproducing at a rapid […]
