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scientificamerican.com/magazine/saMAYScientific American,Vol. 226, No. 5; May 19721972
Don’t Stare at Me
“To what extent is
staring an aggressive stimulus in
human interactions? A group of
psychologists at Stanford Univer-
sity had confed-
erates stand at
street corners
and stare at peo-
ple who were
waiting for the
traffic light to
change to green.
People who real-
ized they were being stared at
crossed the intersection faster than
people who were not being stared
at. The discovery opens up some
interesting lines of research. Is a
stare always perceived as a threat,
even in the absence of other aggres-
sive cues? Perhaps a stare is inter-
preted as an invasion of personal
space rather than hostile intent.”1922
Public Radio
“We are making sub-
stantial progress toward telephony
from ship to shore. Recently an offi-
cial of the Bell System was called
at his residence in New Canaan,
Conn., by Captain Rind, who was
on his ship the ‘America,’ about
370 miles distant.
Over 100,000
persons heard
the conversation,
be cause the radio
link that con-
nects the wire
telephone system
with the ship
radio set makes use of radio waves
that may be intercepted with ama-
teur radio receiving sets. A tele-
phone message, once given to the
radio transmitter for propagation
through the air, is virtually public
property. As upwards of one-half
million radio amateurs throughout
the country know, it is the simplest
matter to listen in. However, there
are ways in which secrecy may
ultimately be obtained for the
radio link of a telephone system.”1872
Vesuvius
Erupts Again
“The volcano of Mount Vesuvius,
near Naples, in Italy, has lately bro-
ken out with violent eruptions of
lava, completely
destroying some
of the mountain
villages. The lava
streams ad -
vanced at the rate
of three fifths of
a mile per hour.
Lightning darted
incessantly from the summit, and
the quakings of the mountain were
violent and frequent. Burning cin-
ders, stones, and scoriae fell fast
and thick in the surrounding towns.
This is the most destructive erup-
tion that has taken place since 1631.”
Vesuvius has erupted many times since
it consumed Pompei in c.e. 79. its most
recent significant eruption was in 1944.Here There Be Dragons
“Among the remains discovered last
year in Kansas by Professor [Oth-
niel Charles] Marsh and party were
bones of the flying dragon. Marsh
judges that the dragons must have
measured, from tip to tip of their
extended wings, some twenty feet.”
Later work concluded Marsh had
found some of the first pterosaur
fossils in North America.Exploding Pills
“Some pills prescribed by a physi-
cian in England contained one half
grain nitrate of silver, one sixth
grain nux vomica [a tree extract],
and one half grain muriate of mor-
phine, together with conserve of
roses and extract of gentian [an
herb]. They exploded in a very
short time, evolving a considerable
amount of heat. A similar case oc-
curred in the practice of Dr. Jack-
son, of Nottingham, who pre-
scribed pills containing four grains
of nitrate of silver, one grain muri-
ate of morphia and extract gentian.
The patient, who had the box about
her person, was badly burned.”Denial, Pre-Hindenburg
“There can be no question that the
tragic loss of the ‘Roma,’ following
all too closely upon the disaster
to ‘ZR-2,’ has raised doubt as to
whether lighter-than-air ships are
practicable and safe. In the pres-
ence of such disasters it is easy to
draw conclusions that are not jus-
tified by the facts. Bearing this
in mind, we venture to state that
there is nothing so far disclosed
with regard to the wreck of these
two ships which justifies the belief
that transportation by this means
is a dream which can never be real-
ized on a large and profitable scale.”
The spectacular fireball that con sumed
the LZ 129 Hindenburg on may 6,
1937, effect ively ended the age
of airship travel.1972192218721972: The sun is
compared with
potential future
stages: red giant,
then white dwarf,
then neutron star.
“The red giant ( a )
is 250 times larger
than the sun. The
sun ( b ) has 100
times the diame-
ter of a white
dwarf ( c ), whose
diameter is about
700 times greater
than the neutron
star. That star has
only to collapse
to a third of its
diameter to form
a black hole ( d ),
no more than
four miles across.”