Notebook
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Earth
Desert Life
What is a desert? How many deserts are in North America? This extensive Web site offers information about the desert environment and the unique characteristics that define the beautiful desert landscapes of the U.S. Southwest. It includes images, stories, movie and audio clips, and virtual-reality tours on many desert-related topics, from plants and animals to […]
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Humans
From the February 10, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> CZAR’S BOOKS, RARE COSTUMES COME TO PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM Rare archaeological books from the private library of the late Russian czar and Russian peasant costumes centuries old have been received by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. About 125 of the czar’s books, mostly archaeological works, have come to the museum by […]
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Computing
Paint by Pixel
Aaron Hertzmann is both a computer scientist and a painter. Among his art-related programming projects, he has developed a way for computers to refashion images and animations to reflect different painting styles. Other work includes a stretched “canvas” that projects a continually-changing painting of the viewer and a learning-by-example system that animates characters based on […]
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From the February 3, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> SHORT-WAVE PHONE SYSTEM SERVES BRIDGE BUILDERS Curiously, radio is helping to build a bridge. Special short-wave transmitting and receiving sets make possible communication among groups of contractors scattered on land and water along the eight-and-one-quarter-mile route of work on the San Francisco-Oakland bridge. These men on the job also talk […]
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Astronomy
A Habitable Planet
NASA offers kids a chance to search for and build a fictional planet on which people could live. This multimedia, interactive Web site guides students through a sequence of role-playing steps, starting with observations of the effects that changes to Earth can have and what’s needed for survival. Go to: http://astroventure.arc.nasa.gov/
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Humans
From the January 27, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> FLASH-OVER AT 125,000 VOLTS Beauty is, indeed, the most important if not the only reason for the choice of this week’s front-cover picture. A glass insulator, of the kind that electrically isolates high-tension [power lines] so that they may carry their power uninterruptedly, is shown flashing over after withstanding a […]
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Astronomy
Historical Astronomy and More
The NASA Astrophysics Data System offers access to a huge, searchable database of journal articles and abstracts in the fields of physics and astronomy. The collection includes many historical publications in astronomy, including observatory reports, bulletins, and annals. It also has more than 300,000 abstracts from the Physical Review series published by the American Physical […]
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Humans
From the January 20, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> GRAVE OF PREHISTORIC CHIEF’S DAUGHTER EXCAVATED A girl of 20, almost toothless! This is the pathetic picture of prehistoric Alaska revealed in the skeleton of an Eskimo chief’s daughter. The grave of the girl, discovered in southwestern Alaska by Dr. Frederica de Laguna of the University of Pennsylvania Museum, yielded […]
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Humans
Telegraph Days
Samuel F.B. Morse invented the electromagnetic telegraph and the Library of Congress holds an extensive collection of his papers. About 6,500 of these documents are now available online. They document Morse’s invention, his participation in the development of telegraph systems in the United States and abroad, his career as a painter, his family life, his […]
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Humans
From the January 13, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> PROVING THAT BABY CAN SEE “Can he see me?” This is often the first question asked by the young mother when she looks at the depths of solemn mystery in the eyes of her newborn baby. The answer has heretofore always been “No.” Until now, it has been generally thought […]
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Humans
Time Warp
Curious about the household technology that you might have seen in a typical home in 1970? In 1900? The Time-Warp Project is dedicated to preserving information about the advance of technology. The site lets visitors go decade by decade through illustrations of living rooms and other home settings, with a focus on recorded media, calculating […]
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Humans
From the January 6, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> DR. THORNDIKE HONORED Dr. Edward L. Thorndike, psychologist and educator of Teachers College, Columbia University, was elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Thorndike, whose picture is reproduced on the cover, has been associated with Teachers College since before the turn of the century and […]
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