Scientific American Magazine Vol 184 Issue 6

Scientific American Magazine

Volume 184, Issue 6

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Features

An Analysis of Television Programs

What is the total picture they present and how much of it may be considered educational? U. S. educators have collected some data on the question to support their plea for educational TV channels

Dallas W. Smythe

Zirconium

Extraordinarily resistant to heat, corrosion and hard radiation, yet malleable and ductile, the metal meets some of the stern engineering requirements of nuclear reactors and jet engines

Stephen M. Shelton

Meteors

The stony and metallic particles that enter the earth's atmosphere can now be perceived day or night and rain or shine by radio echo

Fletcher G. Watson

The Ultracentrifuge

By spinning a rotor at very high speed it can generate enormous gravitational forces. It has been used notably to study large molecules by causing their sedimentation.

George W. Gray

The Fertilization of Flowers

The rich and beautiful variety of floral color, odor and anatomy is due to the evolutionary adaptation of plants to the specialized creatures that pollinate them

Verne Grant

Moving the Obelisk

The Egyptians left no record of how they transported their massive stone shafts, but an engineering classic tells how the feat was accomplished by man and horse power in 1586

Bern Dibner

Calcium and Life

The 20th element is responsible not only for the structure of bones and teeth but also for the firmness of soft protoplasm

L. V. Heilbrunn

Animal Intelligence

Philosophers and pet lovers have debated the subject for centuries; now psychologists have developed some objective tests to rate the capacity of various species

Carl J. Warden

Departments

Letters to the Editors, June 1951

50 and 100 Years Ago: June 1951

Science and the Citizen: June 1951

Books

The Amateur Astronomer

Bibliography