Notebook
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Russians Dig to Reach Below Earth’s Crust
During the space race, U.S. and Soviet teams also engaged in a less-famous contest — to drill down to the boundary between the Earth’s crust and mantle.
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Science Past from the issue of July 29, 1961
RADIATION SURVIVORS — A world-wide radiation disaster might eventually give rise to two populations, research on bacteria indicates.… Starting with a culture of ordinary (wild-type) bacteria, the scientist added copper ions that produced a “disaster.” Most of the bacteria died…. But as time passed, a small number of survivors, called variants, began reproducing at a rapid […]
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Science Future for July 30, 2011
August 8Hear an anthropologist speak in Houston on the evolving relationship between humans and water. Go to www.hmns.org August 12–13The weeklong Perseid meteor shower peaks. Watch after midnight. For more info go to http://bit.ly/Ln3pCr August 20In Ann Arbor, Mich., bring preschoolers on a morning hike to explore the outdoors. For more info, see www.lesliesnc.org
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SN Online
BODY & BRAINInfants may learn speech sounds as they snooze. Read “Sleeping babies learn in an eyeblink.” LIFEResearchers find a natural screwlike joint — in a beetle’s hip. See “Weevils evolved nut-and-screw joint.” MATTER & ENERGY An acoustic cloak made of metamaterials reflects sound off a bump as though it were a flat wall. Read “You haven’t […]
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Men to Mars Possible in 60’s, Experts Say
Experts had forecast that astronauts would walk on Mars by 1970, but such a feat is still 20-plus years out.
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Science Past from the issue of July 15, 1961
CERAMICS PROVED BEST FOR POWER GENERATORS — Ceramics have proved to be the best material for checking the white-hot stream of gases in a new kind of electric power generators. Westinghouse Electric Corporation scientists, Pittsburgh, Pa., believe ceramics will be superior to iron and steel for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) electric power generators. They found that ceramics, […]
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Science Future for July 16, 2011
July 23 – 24 Learn the secrets of bubbles at the 6th Annual Bubble Days at Baltimore’s Maryland Science Center. Go to www.mdsci.org July 27 Explore the science behind athletics from basketball and cycling to ballet’s toe balancing, in Portland, Ore. Ages 21+. See www.omsi.edu/afterdark July 30 Stargaze with Smithsonian and amateur astronomers near Paris, […]
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SN Online
ATOM & COSMOS Researchers finally detect muon neutrinos switching to electron neutrinos, plus more updates in “News in Brief: Atom & Cosmos.” GENES & CELLS Triggering sleep in fruit fly brains turns the bugs’ short-term memories into long-lived ones. Read “From Z’s to A’s.” LIFE Male cleaner fish punish females when they scare big clients […]
- Paleontology
Dinosaurs died of rickets
After more than 80 years, a theory that too little vitamin D led to the demise of the dinos still awaits a shred of evidence.
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From the Archive: Carp eat other fish out
History repeats with another round of carp invasion.
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Science Past from the issue of July 1, 1961
WINTERGREEN VS. ALMOND IN ODOR PENETRATION TEST — Different chemicals produce different odors because vibrations within the molecules are different. This is the theory of Dr. R.H. Wright of the British Columbia Research Council in Vancouver, Canada. He compared nitrobenzene, which has an almond smell, and methyl salicylate, which smells like wintergreen. Both these substances […]
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Science Future for July 2, 2011
July 7Be mesmerized by the color red and how it is made for pigments and paints, at San Francisco’s Exploratorium. Ages 18 and up. See www.exploratorium.edu/afterdark July 18In Washington, D.C., a Smithsonian science historian describes ancient apothecaries and their brews. See www.residentassociates.org
