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  1. Humans

    From the April 19, 1930, issue

    TRAVEL TO THE MOON BY THE YEAR 2050 By the year 2050, Earth-dwellers will probably be able to travel to the moon and to communicate with their terrestrial home by telephoning over a beam of light. They will get there by traveling in a rocket ship at a speed of some 50,000 miles an hour, […]

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  2. Tech

    Engineering Top 20

    Airplanes, telephones, refrigerators, and spacecraft are among the life-changing technological accomplishments highlighted at the National Academy of Engineering’s Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century Web site. A variety of illustrations, a brief history, and a timeline of important landmarks accompany each entry. Go to: http://www.greatachievements.org/

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  3. 19094

    The scientists in this article may want to adapt their solar concentrator for a more prosaic use: cooking. In the early 1970s, I was involved in a project to build a self-sufficient dwelling that drew solely on the wind and sun for its power. We looked into using fiber optics to transmit solar energy to […]

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  4. Tech

    Solar Surgery: Sunlight acts like laser

    By channeling sunlight down a fiber optic cable, scientists have produced laserlike beams that can burn tumors off major organs.

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  5. 19093

    Cornell University entomologist Jeffrey G. Scott sees a cockroach contraceptive as still being a long way off. He may wish to investigate such a product that has been very effective and on the market for years. I can personally attest to its effectiveness. The common “flea bomb” that one gets from a veterinarian–the kind that […]

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  6. Milestones for Malaria: Parasite, mosquito genes decoded

    Unraveling the DNA of a malaria-causing parasite and of a mosquito that carries it may suggest new ways to combat the deadly disease.

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  7. 19118

    As a former director of engineering of a defense-products company, I’m very aware of the explosive nature of sodium azide. I know that there have been serious explosions in industries (including the airbag industry) that use metal azides. A few reasons sodium azide may have been selected for use in airbags are it releases gas […]

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Lingering legacy of Sept. 11, 2001, on firefighters’ health

    Of the New York firefighters involved in the rescue and recovery effort after last year's terrorist attacks, relatively few have developed chronic coughs and respiratory problems, but among those who did, the problems seem unusually severe.

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  9. Astronomy

    There’s life in the old galaxies yet

    An unexpectedly large number of supermassive black holes in old galaxy clusters suggests these elderly groupings of galaxies aren't as quiescent as had been expected.

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  10. Materials Science

    Carbon nanotubes do some bonding

    Researchers have welded together carbon nanotubes to make junctions that could be useful in the construction of tiny electronic devices.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Challenges in testing for West Nile virus

    The Food and Drug Administration is trying to figure out how blood banks can detect signs of West Nile infection in blood donors and, eventually, test donated blood for the virus itself.

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  12. Anthropology

    Iceman mummy shares last meals

    DNA analyses of food remains from the intestines of a 5,000-year-old mummified man found in Europe's Tyrolean Alps indicate that his last two meals included meat from mountain goats and red deer, as well as wild cereals.

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