Looking Back On A Century Of Science, Holiday Math. December 24, 2021, Part 2

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science, Life Sciences, Wnyc, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.4 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

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. How Can Math Make Your Holidays Merrier? Stumped on how to wrap an oddly shaped gift? Trying to figure out how to create the perfect Secret Santa game? Need to weigh the cost/benefit analysis of giving a present to that distantly-related aunt? Math is here to help make your holidays merrier. Mathematician Hannah Fry joins us to talk about how to view the holidays—and the world—from a mathematical angle. And in The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus, she and co-author Thomas Oléron Evans share their tips on how to have a geometrically superior holiday season.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Science Friday. I'm I Replato. Later in the hour, putting some math into your holiday merriment.
0:06.4	But first, a favorite conversation from earlier this year about a century of science.
0:11.9	What was science like a mere hundred years ago? Let's say 1921. Well, you had the discovery of radium.
0:19.4	It was only 20 years in the past. The double helix of DNA was still 30 years in the future. And in 1921, a publication called Science News began operation. 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.
0:40.5	Joining me now to talk about a century of covering science is the editor-in-chief of science news,
0:46.4	Nancy Schutt, and Elizabeth Quill, Enterprise Editor and Archive Wrangler for the magazine.
0:52.8	Welcome to Science Friday. Thanks, Ira. Great to be here.
0:57.0	Great being here, Ira. Nice to have you both. Nancy, let me begin with you. Give us the origin of the magazine.
1:03.9	Where did it come from? That's a great question, Ira. Way back in the early 1900s, newspaper magnet EW. Scripps, after he made many pots of money
1:15.0	in the publishing industry, became friends with a zoologist, Edward Ritter, at the University of
1:20.1	California. And these two men realized they shared a deep interest in science's potential for making
1:27.0	the world a better place. And they also
1:29.5	thought that a healthy democracy dependent on public understanding of science. Scripts actually
1:35.8	thought that newspapers were doing a pretty crummy job covering science. They were running a lot
1:41.5	of articles about fake cures, dangerous patent medicines, conspiracy theories.
1:47.1	So he and Ritter decided that they were going to join forces and launch a syndication service that would provide factual evidence-based articles to the nation's newspaper.
1:57.2	And that was the precursor of science news.
1:59.9	It started on April 2nd, 1921. So it wasn't like an
2:04.4	independent journal that would get mailed to people. It was a service for newspapers.
2:08.7	Right. They actually mailed out articles that newspapers could reprint. And it became really popular.
2:16.2	Actually, I looked back and there was one in April 21, which is the
2:19.9	founding month, where the Emporia, Kansas Daily Gazette published one of the Wire Service
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Science Friday and WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Science Friday and WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.