50 Years Ago
- Humans
From the February 22, 1930, issue
THE “BARREL” OF CORONA When high voltage surges on electric transmission lines jump an ordinary string of insulators, arcs form from one insulator to the other and destroy them. But when both ends of the string are protected by metal grading shields, the arc jumps through the air from shield to shield and saves the […]
- Humans
From the August 27, 1932, issue
DEDICATE WORLD’S LARGEST POWER PLANT IN RUSSIA Dneprostroy was dedicated on August 25. This hydroelectric power project exceeds similar undertakings in size and difficulty of accomplishment. It is on the Dnieper river in the U.S.S.R. From an installed capacity of 756,000 horsepower, abundant electricity will be available to smelt iron and other metals and to […]
- Humans
From the August 20, 1932, issue
HYDROGEN REMAKES PETROLEUM INTO MORE USEFUL PRODUCTS Hydrogen, lightest of the elements, is a wonder-worker in industrial chemistry. The pushing of more hydrogen into substances, called hydrogenation, makes fluid vegetable oils into synthetic hard fats, carbon monoxide into useful methanol or “wood alcohol,” coal into lubricating oil and gasoline, and poor lubricating oil into superior […]
- Humans
From the February 15, 1930, issue
ACRES OF PENGUINS IN ANTARCTICA Penguins by the acre are among the profusion of water animals inhabiting the regions adjacent to the desolate lands of Antarctica that help make its exploration of value, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, director of the American Geographical Society, told the American Philosophical Society. Dr. Bowman spoke in the 141-year-old hall of […]
- Humans
From the August 13, 1932, issue
ONLY HALF OF LIGHTNING FLASH IS SEEN BY OBSERVERS Not many years ago, a thunderstorm often meant that the supply of electricity would be interrupted. But now, lightning does not cause power line failures nearly as frequently as it used to; it has been tamed by engineers. Laboratory artificial power lines that duplicate actual conditions […]
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From the February 8, 1930, issue
VOLCANO WATCHERS BRAVE DRAGONS’ BREATH Regularly established and equipped volcano observatories are relatively few, for the business of watching volcanoes, unlike the related business of watching the weather, is a comparatively new science and has yet not developed a large trained personnel. The United States has only one volcano station, in spite of the fact […]
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From the February 1, 1930, issue
WHOSE MEMORY LIVES IN THIS EGYPTIAN TOMB? The great tomb of an unknown Egyptian who lived about 2800 B.C. has been discovered and entered by the expedition from the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, working at Meydum, fifty miles south of Cairo. A report just received from the director, Alan Rowe, states that the […]
- Humans
From the August 6, 1932, issue
WEIRD STINK-BUG PARENTS PRODUCE CURIOUS EGGS “Like parent, like child,” is one of the oldest and best-known folk-proverbs. It holds outside the human realm, too. For instance, the pair of stink-bugs which Cornelia Clarke’s magnifying camera lens caught for the cover of this issue of the Science News Letter are weird enough little monsters, in […]
- Humans
From the July 30, 1932, issue
LAYMAN TAKES GREAT INTEREST IN VIEWING TOTAL ECLIPSE When, on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 31, the shadow of the moon sweeps across eastern Canada and New England at the rate of some 2,000 miles an hour, hiding the sun for a little over a minute and a half, probably millions of people will see […]
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From the July 23, 1932, issue
DROP OF OIL ATOMIZED INTO 100,000,000 PARTICLES A tiny drop of fuel oil no larger than the head of a safety match has been torn into 100,000,000 particles at the research laboratory of the General Electric Co., Schenectady, N.Y., it is announced. Intensely hot combustion results at high efficiency. Engineers are expected to apply the […]
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From the July 16, 1932, issue
CANADIAN RESEARCH BUILDING READY FOR USE AT OTTAWA “In time of war, prepare for peace” is an adage worthy of being followed in economic conflict such as now grips the world. The impending dedication of Canada’s $3 million laboratory building at Ottawa for its National Research Council is a fitting reminder that research undertaken now […]
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From the January 25, 1930, issue
IF AMERICA HAD NOT BEEN DISCOVERED The suggestion that ancient America appears to parallel ancient Europe rather remarkably was made recently by Dr. A.V. Kidder, archaeologist of Phillips Academy, Andover, and director of archaeological researches for the Carnegie Institute of Washington. Dr. Kidder pointed out that the Mayan Indians who lived in Central America and […]
