50 Years Ago

Science Past for February 14, 1959

POLAR ICE CORES REVEAL TRAPPED “ANCIENT AIR” —  Bubbles of “ancient air” trapped in polar ice may reveal whether the modern industrial world is polluting the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. The air bubbles were found in cores drilled at depths down to 1,345 feet in the Greenland and Antarctic ice caps. The ice originated as snows […]

Science Past for January 31, 1959

SEA VOICE MAY WARN REDS OF COMING STORMS — By listening to the sea’s voice, Russian scientists say they may be able to detect approaching storms. A Scientific Information Report circulated by the Central Intelligence Agency carries an abstract from an “unevaluated” paper prepared by Ya. Petrov, a Russian scientist. [He] says … V. V. […]

Science Past for January 17, 1959

PROPOSE CRATER THEORY — Huge bubbles of gas bursting through the moon’s surface may be the cause of lunar craters. Two British scientists proposed in a new “blowhole theory” that gases trapped under the surface when suddenly set free would form craters resembling those observed on the moon. Among other current theories are those attributing […]

Science Past for December 20, 1958

Poison ivy pills— A poison ivy pill can offer season-long immunity against America’s common summer skin rash.… The standard dosage that will develop immunity includes one tablet every other day for the first two weeks. This is then followed by one tablet daily for the next two weeks. Then two tablets taken daily for the […]

Science Past for December 6, 1958

Find cell “power plants”—Fragments of mitochondria, microscopic “islands” in the cell protoplasm surrounding the nucleus, are helping scientists find out how a cell gets its energy to carry on vital life processes. All energy comes from combustion of foodstuffs, but exactly how the living cell does absorb, store and release energy is unknown. Now, Dr. […]

Science Past for November 22, 1958

Volunteers show vaccine can prevent colds — The common cold can be prevented, a British scientist reported to the sixth annual Symposium on Antibiotics meeting in Washington, D.C. Weekly injections of a vaccine prepared from the volunteer’s own nose and throat bacteria significantly reduced the number of colds, Dr. J. Morrison Ritchie, director of the […]

Science Past for November 8, 1958

Temperate zones may be man’s limit for cold — Men living in the temperate zones had better not leave home for colder climes. The areas between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle and between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle represent the limits as far as their cold endurance goes, a […]

From Science News Letter, October 25, 1958

PIONEER LACKED EXTRA PUSH —Pioneer, man’s first space probe, came within a fraction of the 35,250-foot-per-second velocity needed to put it into an orbit around the moon. It reached a maximum velocity of 34,400 feet per second. Even though the vehicle burned up in the earth’s atmosphere, its successful flight to a distance of 79,316 […]

From Science News Letter, October 11, 1958

Fishy Conversations — Spiny lobsters are like men, their voices become deeper as they grow older. This is one of the preliminary findings of Dr. James M. Moulton of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Me., who spent this summer at the Bermuda Biological Station eavesdropping on the conversations of undersea life. In countless other marine biological stations […]

From Science News Letter, September 27, 1958

PARKINSON’S DISEASE NO LONGER INCURABLE — Parkinsonism, or shaking palsy, is no longer a hopeless, progressive, incurable disease. A five-year follow-up study of 700 brain operations for Parkinsonism revealed that 80% of the properly selected cases found relief from the tremor, rigidity, deformity and incapacitation of parkinsonism after basal ganglia surgery. Furthermore, these symptoms can […]

From Science News Letter, September 13, 1958

RNA INFLUENCES CELL DIFFERENTIATION — Ribonucleic acid has been pinpointed as having an essential role in cell differentiation, the process by which the early embryo’s look-alike cells become nerve, bone, skin and other organs. Working with extremely small quantities of cellular material, 20 to 50 cells, taken from embryonic newt and salamander tissue, Dr. M. C. Niu […]

From Science News Letter, August 30, 1958

NO “SAFE” RADIATION DOSE — There is no period of safety after exposure to harmful radiation, a geneticist reports. Radiation has been found to affect the primitive germ cell from which the sperm develops. Chromosome abnormalities may be transmitted to offspring in dangerous numbers for a long time after irradiation of the male. This also […]