Stories by Harland Manchester

By Violating One of the Basic Rules of Photo-Finishing, a Method has been Perfected for Exposing a Photographic Film and Obtaining a Finished, Dry Print Within One Minute. No Darkroom is Needed. Printing Operation, Performed Without Light, is Entirely Chemical

Vital Technical and Economic Significance Attaches to New Power Plant that Will First Challenge Diesel and Steam Power on the Rails. Of Prime Importance is the Promise of Saving Dwindling Oil Reserves. Further, it Will Eliminate Water Supply and Boiler Problems

Loran, a Far-Flung Mesh of Radio Position-Lines Marking the World Air and Sea Lanes like Numbered Streets and Avenues, Bids Fair to Supplant the Venerable Chronometer and Sextant with a Cathode-Ray Tube. Handicaps to Celestial Navigation Have No Effect on Loran

With every revolution, some of them hit the lost plane and bounced back, making the blip on the radar screen which showed the plane's exact position. As the plane came closer, a second operator, watching the blip on a more finely scaled screen which showed details of the airfield, took up the coaching. Slowly the plane moved downward, until the roar of motors was heard outside. The plane had landed safely. Then someone pounded on the door of the truck. It was the fighter pilot. "Show me this new radar!" he demanded. "I couldn't see the ground at all, just felt a bump." This Ground Controlled Approach radar, which later at Iwo Jha "talked down" many crippled B-29s to safe landings, is only one of an Extremely Short Radio Waves Made Possible the War-Time Miracle of Radar. In Peace, Time, These Same Waves Will Bring New Impetus to Television as Well as to Radio Telephony, Telegraphy, and Facsimile. Microwave Beams Can Change Our Whole Communications Pattern

The Book Department of Scientific American is conducted, with the cooperation of the Editors, to make available for you a comprehensive book service. Each month the Editors select and review in these columns new books in a wide range of scientific and technical fields.

The Early Struggles of the Man Who Laid the Foundation for the Science of Underwater Travel

Home Insulation, for New or Old Houses, Will Save Fuel, Keep Uniform Temperature