This Month in the Archives

Dive into 172 years of groundbreaking research
 
Scientific American

This Month in the Archives
With an All Access Subscription, you have exclusive access to 172 years’ of groundbreaking articles by some of the leading practitioners in their fields. In this month’s newsletter, we’re exploring Women’s History Month, Daylight Saving Time and crocodiles!
 
 
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Woman munition worker, France, 1916
March is Women’s History Month, an opportunity to celebrate and study the pivotal roles that women have played in science and society.
  • March 1916: The demand for men to fight in the front lines in the First World War created opportunities for women in a wide array of civic occupations.
  • March 1936: Question and answer from 1936: “Why Aren’t More Women Athletes?” “Muscular development interferes with motherhood” and “women tend to shun competition.” Paging Serena Williams.
  • January 2004: A Neolithic settlement in Turkey yields clues about the roles played by women and men in early agricultural societies.
  • September 2017: Wikipedia’s foremost biographer of women scientists describes a hostile online environment in “The Blogger and the Trolls.”
DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME
A May 1979 article shows clock times in two U.S. cities before standardization in 1883.
In North America, we “spring forward” on March 11 with the start of Daylight Saving Time. This horological convention has always been controversial. But is it useful?
  • August 1908: “More Daylight for Recreation” looks at the “startling character” of DST.
  • March 1919: A proposal to kill DST is labeled “reactionary.”
  • May 1979: A short history of how we have fiddled about with our common clock time.
  • September 2010: DST heads a list of inventions “the world would be better off without”
CROCODILES
In 1882, lab workers in France test the bite force of a “ferocious” crocodile.
They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but let’s talk about crocodiles. Their evolution and biology has long fascinated scientists.
  • February 1882: French researchers test the bite force of Siamese crocodiles.
  • April 1976: The softer side of crocodiles: social life and tender care of their young.
  • October 1979: Their dinosaur cousins died out, but the crocodilians live on.
  • October 2009: Nile crocodiles in the Olifants River in southern Africa suffered mass die-offs starting in 2007. The culprit as of March 2018 is still a mystery.
CURRENT ISSUE
The uncanny cover image shows an android with an almost cherubic face. Efforts to program such machines to learn like children are transforming robotics and providing insights into child development. For more highlights from the archives, you can read March’s 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago.

 
READ THIS ISSUE


Enjoy the journey!
Dan Schlenoff, editor of “50, 100 & 150 Years Ago”
 
 
 

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