From the June 30, 1934, issue

June 30, 2004 at 1:59 pm

SIGHT IS WEALTH EVEN TO HUMBLEST

Into the small space of a water beetle’s eye are crowded about 20,000 facets, perfectly hexagonal in shape, each one a perfect lens capable of producing images of an object. If a portion of the cornea is removed and spread flat on a glass slide, it is possible to make a multiple-image photograph by the combined use of the microscope and camera. When this photograph is taken, the images are entirely too small to be seen except through a microscope.

The mosaic photograph of George Washington on the cover of this week’s Science News Letter was made in this way by Prof. Walter E. Flowers of Spokane, Wash. Exceedingly careful adjustments, delicate lighting, and exact focusing were necessary. A special developer was required for the plate and utmost care was needed in its manipulation to bring out details.

COSMIC RAYS ARE DECLARED PRINCIPALLY PARTICLES

The greatest piece of scientific detective work of modern times—the research to learn the nature of the baffling cosmic rays— is almost completed. Over nine-tenths of all the cosmic rays that scientists measure on stratosphere flights and in their worldwide surveys consist of positive particles streaming to Earth from interstellar space.

This is the report that Dr. Thomas H. Johnson, assistant director of the Bartol Research Foundation at Swarthmore, Pa., presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

SMOKE AND SOOT REVEAL AIR CURRENTS ON AIRPLANE

Thin, fleecy layers of white smoke, the same kind as that used in sky writing and smoke screens, are being used to permit scientists actually to see the otherwise invisible air currents and eddies around the wings, body, and tail of airplanes, both during flight and in experiments in wind tunnels.

In other tests conducted at Langley Field, Va., under the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, airplanes take on the appearance of having just come through a blizzard, except that the telltale marks left by wind whistling through struts and over ailerons are black streaks of soot instead of trails of white snow. Streamers of fine silk threads are also used, and photographs are taken during different maneuvers to show what happens close to a wing surface during a blank, stall, or glide.