Notebook

Humans

From the November 19, 1932, issue

NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY IS AWARDED DR. LANGMUIR The award of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Dr. Irving Langmuir, the General Electric Research Laboratory chemist, adds laurels to a system of investigation of nature’s secrets as it recognizes a great scientist. Langmuir has never been a mere inventor or applier of knowledge to […]

Humans

From the May 24, 1930, issue

GRASSHOPPERS THREATEN UNITED STATES Grasshoppers threaten to wreak heavy damage to grain and forage crops in Montana and the Dakotas this year. There were many hoppers in these states, and in parts of Texas, last year, and the eggs they laid are now hatching in large numbers. If climatic and other conditions favor the growth […]

Humans

From the November 12, 1932, issue

FIRST WELDED PENSTOCK BUILT IN CALIFORNIA Welding, an abundant source of beautiful photographs, furnishes another picture for the front cover of the Science News Letter this week; but beauty was not sufficient reason for its prominence in the cover position. The picture was taken within a welded pipe, one-fourth-mile long, tilted up a mountainside at […]

Health & Medicine

Cooking Science

The Exploratorium’s “Science of Cooking” Web pages offer all sorts of advice on how to improve your cooking–with a pinch of science. Information, recipes, and activities focus on spices, bread, meat, eggs, and more. Experience the thrill of pickle making and learn about a zesty dish called kimchi. Explore the science of cooking your holiday […]

Humans

From the November 5, 1932, issue

FIELD MUSEUM VISITORS SEE BIT OF ABYSSINIA Visitors to Chicago can make an effortless side trip to the wilds of Abyssinia by walking down the Carl Akeley Memorial Hall of African Animals in the Museum of Natural History. At the end, a remarkable new group of African mammals has been arranged so as to give […]

Archaeology

Digging into Ancient Texts

For both scholars and amateur archaeologists, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Web site offers fascinating glimpses of a distant past. Visitors can view images of thousands of carefully catalogued cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia. The texts include early creation myths, legal codes, medical prescriptions, and recipes for beer. Many are more mundane–ledgers, deeds, receipts, and lists […]

Humans

From the May 17, 1930, issue

POLISH RHINOCEROS One of the most interesting of recent finds in paleontology has been the complete carcass of a Pleistocene rhinoceros, unearthed in an abandoned mine in the Starunia region in Poland. Skin, hair muscles, and all other tissues were well preserved, owing to the sealing up of the monster in a kind of oily […]

Plants

X-rayed Flowers

For new insights into the delicate architecture of flowers, take an X-ray view. Albert G. Richards, who taught dental radiography at the University of Michigan, presents a gallery of unfamiliar views of familiar flowers, from the hidden archways of an iris to the complex plumbing of columbine spurs. Go to: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~agrxray/gallery.html

Humans

From the October 29, 1932, issue

THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT RIVALS AT MOUSE-CATCHING One of the favorite riddles of childhood was, “Spell ‘mousetrap’ in three letters”; and the answer was “C-A-T.” With even more appropriateness, the answer might have been “O-W-L,” for the Owl is an even better mousetrap than the Pussycat, besides being somewhat more restrained in the matter […]