This Month in the Archives

Dive into 172 years of groundbreaking research

This Month in the Archives With an All Access Subscription, you’ll have exclusive access to 172 years’ of groundbreaking articles by some of the leading practitioners in their fields. In this month’s newsletter, we survey definitions of “modern” science over the years, celebrate Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month, and explore ancient pyramids. SUBSCRIBE

SCIENCE IN THE MODERN WORLD

A French air-raid siren warns of an attack during the First World War. Science has been helping humans survive and thrive for a very long time. But in every age, “modernity” has emphasized the importance of a different aspect of science and technology. March 1868: In the burgeoning industrial age, machines helped build new housing for new workers flooding into new factory towns. August 1918: With the world gripped by war, science was conscripted for attack, for defense, for victory. October 1968: An article on the first synthesis of DNA uses the phrase “genetic engineering” for the first time in the magazine. March 1990: “The Road to the Global Village” describes how the Internet will extend our central nervous system globally.

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS AWARENESS MONTH

November 1990: Complex knot based on an illustration in the 8th-century Irish Book of Kells. April is Mathematics and Statistics Awareness Month. Any technical progress our civilization has made is based on counting skills, basic and advanced. September 1857: “Mathematics...how useful and glorious...to calculate the horsepower of a steam engine.” September 1964: A special issue covers mathematics “in both its pure and applied aspects.” November 1990: A brain-busting look at advanced aspects of the science in “Knot Theory and Statistical Mathematics.” August 1998:Martin Gardner talks about 25 years of the fun side of “Mathematical Games” in the magazine.

ANCIENT PYRAMIDS

Excavations uncover a carefully planned Nile River port for bringing materials to the pyramids. How were the ancient pyramids built? No, not by aliens. Humans have had the know-how for quite a while—and it’s fun figuring out the puzzle. September 1859: At the end of the age of muscle power, an assessment of the pyramid builders. July 1930: Archaeological exploration of the first pyramid, at Meydum in the Nile Valley. September 1998: A concise mathematical look at the energy needed to build the Great Pyramid. November 2015: A look beyond engineering at the social organization underpinning the effort to build these vast structures.

CURRENT ISSUE

Tiny killers called “mixotrophs” grow like plants but hunt for prey like predators, and they’ve upended our understanding of the marine food web. It turn out that these small creatures—plankton, actually—have an outsized impact on fish populations, algal blooms and carbon levels in the atmosphere. The Arctic climate is shattering record after record, and altering weather around the world. We know the brain communicates with minute electric pulses. Or do we? Neuroscientists are looking at a 50-year-old hypothesis that it might use mechanical pulses. Mathematicians have always admired Nature’s control of that science:“How Seashells Take Shape” delves into the subject. For more highlights from the archives, you can read April'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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