Science Siftings

New Zealand Tablet, 8 October 1914, Page 49

Science Siftings

By ‘ Volt.’

Dissipating Fog by Wireless.

The North Railroad Company in France is making experiments on the use of wireless waves for clearing away fog, It is well known that electric waves act upon the water particles which make up fog, so as to dissolve them and turn them into vapor. Following this idea, it is claimed that as much as 60 feet can bo cleared up in front of the electric wires which arc sending out the wave, the fog being at least partially dissipated, and this will have a great value in practice, especially for railroads and vessels at sea. The latter will have time to avoid each other in this case.

Human Germ-Carrier.

The medical officers of the United States Navy Department are extremely puzzled over the discovery of a typhoid-carrying lieutenant, who, wherever he goes, is followed by an epidemic .of typhoid. This officer is apparently in the healthiest condition himself, and repeated examinations show no trace of the disease. It is quite certain, however, that numerous cases of typhoid succeed his appointments, either on shore or ship, and he has been changed frequently. Already nearly thirty cases of typhoid have followed in Ins wake, and the medical officers have come to the conclusion that the lieutenant is a living culture of typhoid fever bacilli. He is regarded as a germ carrier, and an appeal has been made to Mr. Daniels, the Secretary of the Navy, to dispose of his case without injustice to the officer.

Air Brakes for Aeroplanes.

A highly ingenious device is about to be embodied in a new British aeroplane now nearing completion. A difficult problem, which has always confronted the aero-plane-designers, has boon that of enabling machines to land at a reasonably, low speed and vet fly as fast as possible. The necessity of this provision may be gauged from the fact that the modern aeroplane, with its full load, weighs the better part of a ton, and that the usual flying speeds range from sixty to eighty miles an hour. Accordingly, Mr. A. V. Roe. the well-known designer, has adopted the expedient of providing his latest biplane with what may he termed * air brakes.’ These consist, of flaps hinged to the rear of the planes, capable of being turned at right angles to the direction of flight, with the object of enabling the pilot to reduce his speed materially preparatory to alighting.

Flowers in the Ice Field.

Most people believe that the Arctic region is bare and lifeless. This is a. mistake. Mr. Aubrey Fullerton, in an article in Chamhtrs' Journal, tells, among other things, that flowers are legion. The view of the topmost country, as seen, while coasting along the Arctic shore in July and August, is normally a view of long grassy slopes profusely abloom. A blue lupin, a miniature rhododendron in a' mass of blue blossom, and a little white heather, whose stalks make serviceable fuel, are typical of the Arctic, flora. There are even blueberries seventy miles up the Coppermine. On ITerschell Island, off the northernmost coast of the Yukon Territory, there is a floral pageantry every summer. It includes the wild rose, which grows nowhere else so far north. Blue and white daisies, forget-me-nots, bluebells, the dainty aconite, and marguerites, all of them small and wonderfully delicate, and banked in moss, spring abundantly from the otherwise barren soil. Their beauty is short-lived, but immensely cheering to the roughened sailors and whalers who come around from Behring Sea to Herschell every year. >!