Notebook
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From the July 11, 1931, issue
HOT WAVES BRING NORTHWEST GRASSHOPPER INVASION MENACE Grasshopper outbreaks in Nebraska and South Dakota may be only the advance guards of a much worse and more widespread insect horde to arrive before very long if hot waves continue to sweep the country. So say entomologists of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The coming of these […]
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A Mite Bizarre
Just in case anybody thought real life paled before the twisted creatures of sci-fi movies, check the Mite Photo Gallery by biologist David Walter of the University of Queensland in Australia. Portraits of more than 40 species offer plenty of weird shapes. The peacock mite, for example, bristles with little leaf-shaped flaps, and a “pan-tropical […]
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From the July 4, 1931 issue
MAGNIFYING EYE WOULD SEE STRANGE THINGS If we could only convert our eyes into magnifying glasses at will, we would see a lot of astonishing things that escape us now because they are too small. The little walking gargoyle shown on the cover of Science News Letter, for example. It is a juvenile stage of […]
- Chemistry
Universe of Molecules
For chemistry students, Molecular Universe offers a host of images, explanations, and other resources concerning molecules and chemical systems. Developed by Richard Catlow of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, the site features lessons and material on protein folding, the molecular basis of taste, and many other topics. Go to: http://www.molecularuniverse.com/
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From the June 27, 1931, issue
LARGER MERCURY VAPOR ELECTRIC GENERATING UNIT BEING BUILT A new and larger turbine electric generator that will use mercury vapor instead of steam and will consume less fuel than corresponding modern steam plants is being constructed in the General Electric Company plant at Schenectady, N.Y. This 20,000-kilowatt turbine will have twice the output of the […]
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Thinking of Zero
For anyone deeply interested in logic and the history and philosophy of zero, Hossein Arsham of the University of Baltimore offers an thought-provoking Web-based discussion of such topics as the meaning of division by zero, the role of zero in limits and divergent series, and the concept of zero as a void. Go to: http://ubmail.ubalt.edu/~harsham/zero/ZERO.HTM
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From the June 20, 1931, issue
HUGE ELETROMAGNET INSTALLED AT LEIDEN A huge electromagnet weighing 14 tons, about two-thirds as much as a street car, just erected at Leiden, Holland, by the Siemens Halske Company of Berlin, will enable scientists to wrench atoms apart as never before. This marks the realization of a dream of the late Dr. H. Kammerlingh Onnes, […]
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Geo Name Game
Is your name Bob? Want to see how many lakes in the United States are named after you? (Twelve in all, and four of them are in Michigan!) The U.S. Geological Survey’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) contains data about nearly 2 million geographic features in the United States. Just enter a name or any […]
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From the June 13, 1931, issue
TWIN ALBINO ROBINS HATCHED WITH NORMAL BIRD Two albino robins, highly interesting and rather rare oddities in the bird world, have been watched from hatching to early maturity at the home of H.D. Shaw of Grinnell, Iowa, and had their pictures taken by Miss Cornelia Clarke, nature photographer. The nest was built high up on […]
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Robot Zoo
The Robot Zoo Web site, developed by the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif., captures some of the charm of a traveling biomechanics exhibit featuring giant robot models of animals. These fanciful contraptions provide insights into how chameleons, bats, and other animals eat, move, and see. Go to: http://www.thetech.org/exhibits_events/traveling/robotzoo/
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From the June 6, 1931, issue
LARGEST WIND TUNNEL AND TOWING CHANNEL FINISHED Aeronautic research took a stride forward when two outstanding pieces of apparatus for testing and improving aircraft–both the largest of their kind in the world–were officially put in operation last week by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics at its Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Langley Field, Va. […]
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From the May 30, 1931, issue
LIFE IS RARE IN UNIVERSE, ASTRONOMER BELIEVES Life is a rare phenomenon in the universe, Sir James Jeans, British astronomer, assured the Franklin Institute meeting at which he was presented the Franklin Medal, one of Sciences highest awards. I leave it to you to be pleased or not, Sir James said, at a large fraction […]
