Notebook
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From the January 9, 1932, issue
DR. ABEL OF JOHNS HOPKINS ELECTED NEW AAAS HEAD Dr. John J. Abel, professor of pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, has been elected president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for 1932. This action was taken at the annual meeting of the Association in New Orleans. Dr. Abel succeeds […]
- Physics
Organized Disorder
This well-organized Web site introduces visitors to the realm of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy. Originally created by autonomous software agent “Chris Hillman” and now maintained by Penn State’s Roland Gunesch, these Web pages start with the Chinese character for entropy, then offer intriguing glimpses of disorder and randomness in information and coding theory, […]
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From the January 2, 1932 issue
CONCRETE RIBBONS TO CARRY TRAFFIC OF GREAT HIGHWAY Thin ribbons of concrete arching through the air, that will carry on a 42-foot wide pavement, traffic of one of the countrys chief east-west thoroughfares, the Lincoln highway, are skillfully depicted in this photograph of the George Westinghouse Memorial bridge nearing completion at East Pittsburgh. The arches […]
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Where Lightning Strikes
New maps of data from space-based optical sensors reveal the uneven distribution of lightning strikes across the globe. The NASA maps show that lightning avoids the ocean, but likes Florida. It’s attracted to the Himalayas and central Africa. It almost never strikes the north or south poles. Go to: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast05dec_1.htm
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From the December 19 & 26, 1931, issues
SANTA CLAUS CAVALRYMEN BESTRIDE STRANGE STEEDS Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines bestrode an unfamiliar steed; but the gentleman in the cover picture mounts one more unfamiliar still. He might qualify as a trooper in the Santa Claus Cavalry, for he is mounted on a reindeer. According to the U.S. Biological Survey, reindeer are used […]
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If Your Poinsettia Sneezes. . .
For a winter holiday treat, try the vividly illustrated pages from the American Phytopathological Society on the poinsettia and its history and diseases. The Web site begins with the tale of how a Mexican beauty of limited range grew into the United States’ best-selling flowering plant. Subsequent pages document the abundant spots, rots, and other […]
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From the December 12, 1931, issue
SCIENCE AT THE WORLDS CROSSROADS Everybody has heard of Barro Colorado, the hill that was turned into an island, and was set aside as a great animal sanctuary; but only a few persons have ever set foot on it. In the nature of things, an animal sanctuary cannot be opened to crowds of visitors, so […]
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Wondering About
Stimulating scientific curiosity is one aim of questions posed at the “Did You Ever Wonder. . ?” Web page, produced by the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Sample questions: How would you rebuild the surface of a cell, and how can you carve with light? Answers to the questions, colorfully illustrated and presented in language accessible to […]
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Live from Antarctica
Mixing live Webcasts with interactive presentations, San Francisco’s Exploratorium documents a journey to Antarctica. Team members interview scientists, dive and film underwater, climb a volcano, and visit a vast frigid desert. The Web site also features reference material on a variety of topics, including how fish adapt to icy waters, and views of the continent’s […]
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From the December 5, 1931, issue
PROTECTION EXTENDED NEARLY EXTINCT TEDDY BEARS Koalas, known colloquially in Australia as native bears, real, live teddy bears in soft, plushlike fur, have lately become the objects of special solicitude, both official and private, in the far island-continent that is their home. For several generations nobody paid any more attention to them than Americans pay […]
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Sky Survey
The SkyServer provides public access to Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data. Learn more about the SDSS project, which aims to map the universe, and browse images and spectra of celestial objects. Take a look at the atlas of “famous places” in the sky. Go to: http://skyserver.sdss.org/.
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From the November 28, 1931, issue
ACTION OF STEEL UNDER STRESS REVEALED IN WRITING ON SAND How solid steel softens and flows like wax when compressed or stretched is being shown to the naked eye by Dr. A. Nadai at the Research Laboratories of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, at East Pittsburgh, Pa. In his new apparatus, a beam of […]
