Notebook
-
From the May 20, 1933, issue
LARGEST X-RAY TUBE BEGINS TO BATTLE AGAINST CANCER The mightiest weapon yet to enter the war against cancer was put in operation at the Mercy Hospital Institute of Radiation Therapy of Chicago. It is a new, 800,000-volt X-ray tube that, operating on a current of 1/100 of an ampere, is estimated to emit radiation equal […]
-
Amphibian Atlas
Looking for a Montana tailed frog outside Montana or wondering in which state you might find a desert slender salamander? The U.S. Geological Survey has a Web site that identifies the places where different types of amphibians dwell across the United States. Click on any one of the 280 or so species of amphibians currently […]
- Humans
From the May 13, 1933, issue
RISING SILENTLY TO PROTECT NATIONS TIME Almost as silently as you view the new domed building in the cover picture, this all-steel structure is rising at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. There is no hammering of rivets to fray the nerves of humans and upset the accuracy of the delicate Naval Observatory clocks that […]
- Planetary Science
Mars Photo of the Day
With a stock of more than 120,000 images, the camera team for NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor mission has started daily postings of pictures to showcase the diversity of Martian landscapes. Click on the photo to obtain additional information about what the image reveals. Go to: http://www.msss.com/
- Humans
From the May 6, 1933, issue
AMERICAS FALCON POSES AGAINST PERFECT BACKGROUND Rarely is a perfect bird photographed against so perfect a background as the duck hawk, or American falcon, shown on the front cover of this issue of the Science News Letter. The photograph is by Dr. A.A. Allen of Cornell University, and the magnificent cataract plunging in the background […]
-
Shadows of the Infinite
The European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) and the London Institute joined forces to explore interactions between art and science. This Web site presents glimpses of some of the resulting productions and events–a play called “Life’s a Monkey,” an exhibition of artworks by 12 of Europe’s leading artists, a major symposium on art and science, […]
- Humans
From the April 22, 1933, issue
SPARKING PROCESS STUDIED WITH LICHTENBERG FIGURES What is an electric spark made of, is the question partly answered by the brilliant whirligig figure on the front cover of this weeks Science News Letter. The picture is one of several hundred made during research of Prof. C. Edward Magnusson of the University of Washington, Seattle. Prof. […]
- Humans
From the April 29, 1933, issue
LEAVING THE NEST While dredges grappled with her sister ships twisted girders and soaked fabric in the watery Atlantic grave off Barnegat Light, the Macon took to the air. The front cover presents the new queen of the skies as she appeared before being “walked” from the huge Akron air dock for the first trial […]
- Physics
Soap Bubbles in Space
While aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Don Pettit took some time off to experiment with soap bubbles and films. This NASA Web page presents the surprising and startling results of his soapy ventures in a zero-g environment. Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/25feb_nosoap.htm
-
Colossal Colon Tour
The Colossal Colon is a 40-foot-long, 4-foot-high replica of a human colon. Visitors can crawl through the colon or look through the viewing windows to see healthy colon tissue, colon disease, polyps, and various stages of colon cancer. Under the auspices of the Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation, the giant model will be on display […]
- Humans
From the April 15, 1933, issue
NARCISSI MERIT RECOGNITION AS PROPER EASTER FLOWERS Easter has always been a festival of flowers. Indeed, one of the reasons why the early missionary church found it comparatively easy to get its converts to adopt this holy day was because most of them already had a holiday at the same season–a celebration of the returning […]
-
Left-Handed DNA
DNA strands in living cells normally have a right-hand twist–just like a standard wood or metal screw. The Left-Handed DNA Hall of Fame, maintained by Tom Schneider of the Laboratory of Experimental and Computational Biology at the National Institutes of Health, offers an amusing compendium of examples in which illustrators have unwittingly depicted DNA incorrectly […]
