50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: September 2023

1973

Polywater’s Final Exit

“The long-standing controversy over the existence of a superdense, polymeric kind of water is outwardly over. The argument began when Boris V. Derjaguin and colleagues on the Soviet Academy of Sciences seen that certain samples condensed in great capillary tubes represented a model new, regular kind of water with a density almost one and a half cases that of unusual water and a molecular building which may solely be described as polymeric. Subsequent investigations within the united statesS.R., Britain, Germany and the U.S. argued that the anomalous properties could very effectively be outlined by impurities. Derjaguin has now reported that present measurements by his group have revealed that their samples invariably embody trace impurities.”

Drunk Intestines

“Alcohol is manufactured inside the human intestine by microorganisms. The amount of pure ethyl alcohol (the potable kind) produced every day is about one ounce. Ethyl alcohol ingested by a human, or produced inside the intestine, is carried to the liver. Inside the liver 80 p.c is broken down by alcohol dehydrogenase; the remaining 20 p.c might be metabolized by one different enzyme, catalase. It’s the effectivity of the strategy that so prolonged masked the manufacturing of alcohol inside the intestine. The microorganisms that produce it keep unknown.”

Of us with auto-brewery syndrome produce far more alcohol every day and will appear intoxicated although they haven’t been ingesting.

The Jesus Lizard

“The basilisk lizard of Mexico and Central America has a novel means: it could stroll on water. In some areas this implies has earned it the title lagarto Jesus Cristo—the Jesus Christ lizard. Joshua Laerm of the School of Illinois photographed the animals with a high-speed digicam. As a result of the basilisk picks up tempo, it twists the lower half of its physique from one side to the alternative and thrusts each leg backward and to the side. The end result’s a quick waddle, important to push itself ahead with most energy and retract each leg from the water with a minimal of resistance.”

1923

Sixteen Ohms of Malaria

“‘You’ve acquired sixteen ohms of malaria,’ exclaimed the individual on the rheostat, to a member of the Scientific American workers who has been investigating the much-disputed Digital Reactions of Abrams, a method of prognosis and treatment developed by Dr. Albert Abrams of San Francisco. There are ERA practitioners all by the nation. Distinctive cures are talked about to be effected, along with cases of most cancers. Nevertheless there are quite a few doubters in and out of medical circles. Most people, wanting on, stays in a quandary.”

ERA was an infinite medical hoax. It held that diseases have a novel vibration value that will very effectively be sensed from a drop of blood, or a handwriting sample, and dealt with, all with Abrams’s sealed digital packing containers.

1873

Superhuman Bugs

“M. l’Abbe Plessis, in an article in Les Mondes, says that he positioned a giant horned beetle, weighing some fifty grains, on a straightforward plank, then added weights as a lot as 2.2 kilos. Regardless of this being 315 cases the beetle’s weight, the beetle managed to boost it and switch it alongside. A human is completely 100 cases feebler in proportion. Equally, the flea, scarcely 0.03 of an inch in peak, manages to leap over a barrier 500 cases its private altitude. Take into consideration a human leaping 3,000 ft inside the air!”

Speedy Pigeons

“Service pigeons are being utterly examined, and some have confirmed an beautiful tempo. The Ariel, a pigeon that obtained the $2,000 prize inside the worldwide contest in Belgium in 1871, achieved the house between New York and Stratford, Conn., sixty-four miles, in thirty minutes. One different hen, typically known as No. 6, made the journey in almost as quick a time. The supplier pigeon seems to personal a memory for places, coupled with a very sturdy attachment for its abode.”