50 Years Ago

  1. From the March 14, 1931, issue

    NEW WELDED PIPE LINE CARRIES WATER TO SAN DIEGO On the front cover of this weeks SCIENCE NEWS LETTER, the cameraman has caught two electric arc welders tying in an important section of a 19-mile-long steel serpent, 40 inches in diameter in some places and 36 inches in others, that will carry water from reservoirs […]

    By
  2. From the March 7, 1931, issue

    CANYON DE CHELLY NOW NATIONAL MONUMENT A famous canyon of the West, with ancient Indian ruins under the shelter of its thousand-foot red walls, has been given the status of a National Monument, by an act of Congress recently signed by the President. This is the Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, with its tributaries, Canyon […]

    By
  3. From the February 28, 1931, issue

    CAMERA CATCHES RATTLER’S SINISTER BEAUTY Photographing a rattlesnake is not the idea most of us would have of a healthy outdoor sport, especially when it is necessary to stand almost on top of the coiled and angry reptile to get a really good picture. But Walter E. Flowers of Spokane once let his picture–getting enthusiasm […]

    By
  4. From the February 21, 1931, issue

    WHAT BABIES THINK ABOUT What are baby’s secret thoughts? Babies understand what is said long before they are able to speak, psychologists have discovered. Wherefore, parents are reminded to think before they talk in front of even very young infants and to count to 10, or 110, before indulging in a family tiff while the […]

    By
  5. From the February 14, 1931, issue

    SMALL CHANGES OF SUN’S HEAT CONTROL WEATHER ON EARTH The sun when it radiates heat and light to Earth also broadcasts information that can be used to foretell the weather here on Earth. Dr. C.G. Abbot, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, after more than two decades of solar observation, announced today through the medium of […]

    By
  6. From the February 7, 1931, issue

    LITTLE WATERWHEEL DOES BIG POWER JOB Fortunate are those countries that have small rivers falling rapidly, rather than huge, slow-moving streams. Electricity can be generated for these nations easily and cheaply. To make electricity for Korea from the 2,000-foot fall of a mountain stream will be the life work of the Voith impulse water wheel […]

    By
  7. From the January 31, 1931, issue

    ROBBER FLY MASQUERADES IN BUMBLEBEE’S CLOTHING The villainous-looking hexapod that glares at you from the cover of this week’s SCIENCE NEWS LETTER is as bad a citizen as he looks. He is a robber fly, who should by rights be called an assassin fly, for his practice is to pounce upon other insects in the […]

    By
  8. From the January 17, 1931, issue

    AN AMERICAN ROMANCE IN STEEL AND STEAM Things mechanical offer the photographer an unlimited field for the exercise of his talents, and the locomotive–romantic and symbolical as it can be made–is especially attractive to him. On the front cover of this week’s SCIENCE NEWS LETTER, Photographer Rittase of Philadelphia has chosen the Boardwalk Flyer of […]

    By
  9. Physics

    From the January 24, 1931, issue

    EINSTEIN DISCUSSES REVOLUTION HE CAUSED IN SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT – By Dr. Albert Einstein From far away I have come to you, but not to strangers. I have come among men who for many years have been true comrades with me in my labors. You, my honored Dr. Michelson, began with this work when I was […]

    By
  10. From the January 10, 1931, issue

    ANTHROPOLOGIST IS ELECTED NEW A.A.A.S. PRESIDENT Dr. Franz Boas, noted anthropologist of Columbia University, was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for 1931, during the Cleveland meeting. Dr. Boas is one of the leading figures in the field of anthropology. He has been engaged in this work throughout a very […]

    By
  11. From the January 3, 1931, issue

    STRANGE SEA FLOWERS BLOSSOM ON REEF Long ago some observant writer remarked that in the sea, many of the plants look like animals and many of the animals, like plants. Support for this view can easily be found in the strange sea urchin pictured on the cover of this issue of the SCIENCE NEWS LETTER. […]

    By