Notebook
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From the August 29, 1931, issue
HUGE GENERATORS YIELD BEAUTY TO PHOTOGRAPHER Throbbing electric generators, the machines that are the heart of the great system supplying light and power to more than 120 millions, are odd and beautiful subjects for the talented photographer. In the picture on the cover, Rittase of Philadelphia has caught the spirit of one of the largest […]
- Tech
Reading Faces
Facial expressions can convey emotional nuances that words fail to communicate. Researcher Terrence Sejnowski has developed a computer program that analyzes images of human faces, purportedly matching the skills of professionals trained to read fleeting expressions of emotion. Learn more in an online article from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s HHMI Bulletin and at the […]
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Door to Antiquity
The Phimai temple complex in Thailand was an important Khmer economic, religious, and military center about 1,000 years ago. Richard M. Levy of the University of Calgary has created an elaborate computer reconstruction of this historic site, allowing visitors to wander the complex without traveling all the way to Thailand. Go to: http://www.phimai.ca/
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From the August 22, 1931, issue
THE GIRL ON THE COVER Her name is Janet Penserosa. She is about four years old and her home is at the New York Zoological Park. And now she can claim the distinction of being the first female gorilla to survive in Gothams animal center. Not only that, but she is probably the only gorilla […]
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Forest in the Clouds
See whether BatCam catches a tropical bat visiting a banana, or review QuetzelCam highlights for a murky but impressive view of how such a long-tailed bird jams its plumage into a nestbox. Or, if the cameras aren’t picking up anything in particular, visitors can listen to short recorded commentaries from such denizens as prong-billed barbets […]
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From the August 15, 1931, issue
ANOTHER TEMPLE TO THE WIND GOD Near the little Indian village of Prairieville–the Mexican name is Calixtlahuaca–archaeologists have made a rare and unusual discovery. They have found one of those circular temples to the God of the Wind, seen by the soldiers of Cortez, but not one of which was ever afterward found on the […]
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From the August 8, 1931 issue
TWO ARISTOCRATIC LADIES EMERGE FROM RETIREMENT There is something about newly-emerged silkworm moths that makes one think of the ladies of Cathay or Cipangu, long ago and far away, clothed in silk spun by ancestors of todays silk worms. In the cover picture of this weeks Science News Letter, Cornelia Clarke has made an admirable […]
- Astronomy
Anybody Out There?
This elaborate Web site brings together a wide variety of resources devoted to the question of life in the universe. Mounted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and other European agencies, the site serves as home base for a competition aimed at eliciting responses from European students to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. […]
- Astronomy
When Galaxies Collide
Dramatic images from the largest computer simulation ever of a plausible collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies highlight this report from the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Astrophysicist John Dubinski describes the science underlying the computations. Go to: http://www.npaci.edu/online/v4.9/galaxies2.html and http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~dubinski/tflops/.
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From the August 1, 1931, issue
THE TRUTH ABOUT DEATH VALLEY Death Valley is a deep trough between two mountain ranges. It is something over 100 miles long and averages 10 miles wide. Within less than 100 miles of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the United States proper, it sinks its lowest depression to 276 feet below sea level. This […]
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From the July 25, 1931, issue
98-TON BUTTERFLY VALVE, A SIMPLE DEVICE A good place for a photographer to take a picture, this penstock will be serving an even better purpose when it begins to carry water through the dam to turn the huge turbines of the Ruskin power plant, British Columbia. The flow of water through this 19-foot-diameter intake pipe […]
- Planetary Science
Space Flight Basics
For armchair space explorers, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory offers a tutorial on how to operate an interplanetary space mission. Originally created a decade ago, the newly updated guide includes information on spacecraft engineering, mission design, trajectories, launch, navigation, telecommunications, and much more. Go to: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/
