A Century Of Science, Book Club: Rising, Charismatic Creature Update. Oct 1, 2021, Part 2

Science Friday

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Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Friday, Natural Sciences

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🗓️ 1 October 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

Looking Back On A Century of Science In 1921, the discovery of radium was just over 20 years in the past. And the double helix of DNA was still over thirty years in the future. That year, a publication that came to be the magazine Science News started publication, and is still in operation today. Editors Nancy Shute and Elizabeth Quill join Ira to page through the magazine’s archives, with over 80,000 articles covering a century of science—from the possibilities of atomic energy to discussions of black holes, to projections of the rise of the avocado as a popular fruit. There are mysteries—are spiral nebulae other universes? And there are missteps, like the suggestion that the insecticide DDT should be incorporated into wall paint. When The Water Comes The Science Friday Book Club is kicking off for fall. Producer Christie Taylor joins in a conversation with Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore. They talk about the surprisingly fascinating science of coastal wetlands, and their role in protecting communities from sea level rise—plus how communities themselves, from Staten Island to southern Louisiana, are responding to rising seas and flooding. For the full rundown, excerpts, and more, check out our main Book Club page. Who Will Sweep The Charismatic Creature Carnival? Our Charismatic Creature Carnival is coming to a close. Over the last month, SciFri has celebrated six overlooked or unfairly maligned species that deserve a chance under the spotlight. And now, out of our three semifinalist creature candidates, there can only be one winner. Will it be the colorful, tiny, but mighty mantis shrimp? Or perhaps the adaptable, dramatic opossum? Or will the endangered shoebill stork, with its prehistoric look, come out on top? The choice is up to our listeners: vote here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is Science Friday. I'm Ira Flato. Later in the hour, launching the next edition of the
0:05.4	SciFri Book Club, with a book about rising seas and communities banding together. But first,
0:12.3	what was science like a mere hundred years ago? Let's say 1921. Well, you had the discovery of
0:19.3	Radium. It was only 20 years in the past. The double helix of DNA was
0:23.9	still 30 years in the future. And in 1921, a publication called Science News began operation.
0:31.6	I began reading it religiously decades ago. It's still in operation today, and it's seen a lot of science over that 100 years.
0:40.8	Joining me now to talk about a century of covering science is the editor-in-chief of science news,
0:46.6	Nancy Schutt, and Elizabeth Quill, Enterprise Editor and Archive Wrangler for the magazine.
0:53.1	Welcome to Science Friday. Thanks, Ira. Great to be here.
0:57.3	Great being here, Ira. Nice to have you both. Nancy, let me begin with you. Give us the origin of the
1:03.6	magazine. Where did it come from? That's a great question, Ira. Way back in the early 1900s,
1:10.1	newspaper magnet EW. Scripps, after he made many pots of money
1:15.3	in the publishing industry, became friends with a zoologist, Edward Ritter, at the University of
1:20.4	California. And these two men realized they shared a deep interest in science's potential for making
1:27.3	the world a better place.
1:29.3	And they also thought that a healthy democracy depended on public understanding of science.
1:35.4	Scripts actually thought that newspapers were doing a pretty crummy job covering science.
1:40.6	They were, you know, running a lot of articles about fake cures, dangerous patent medicines, conspiracy theories.
1:47.3	So he and Ritter decided that they were going to join forces and launch a syndication service
1:52.3	that would provide factual evidence-based articles to the nation's newspaper.
1:57.8	And that was the precursor of science news.
2:00.1	It started on April 2nd, 1921. So it wasn't
	...

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