SCIENCE SIFTINGS

New Zealand Tablet, 13 November 1919, Page 46

SCIENCE SIFTINGS

(By "Volt.")

The Hottest Region on Earth. The hottest region on the earth is said to be on the south-western coast of Persia, where Persia borders on tiie gulf of that name. For 40 consecutive days the ther- • mometer did not fall lower than lOOdeg day or night, and often mounted as high as 128 deg. . ' ' The Value of Rest. Your physician will tell you that whenever possible you should he down for a little rest each day. To do so will take some of the load off that faithful heart of yours which keeps pumping -away without cessation day and night. Your physician will explain that when sitting clown as compared with standing, you save your heart nine beats a minute, and that when you lie' down you take oft an additional six beats. So merely lying down means less pumping to be done, and less wear and tear on the body s most vital organ. It is thrift of time to take a few moments each day from the activities of one's work and stretch out full length. Housewives and others whose work keeps them on their feet a great deal should sit as much as possible. Increased vitality and longer lives will result from following these simple suggestions. World's Giant Wireless Station. Details have just been published in Paris of a wireless station which is being constructed near Bordeaux, and winch will be the most powerful station in the world.' The project is directly due to the development of wireless telegraphy during the war, and is the result of co-operation between the United States and the French Government. On General Pershing's arrival in Franco he required the establishment of a station that should be available. night and day without the possibility of interruption. To achieve this, enormously powerful plant was necessary. It was designed by General Ferrie, and the carrying-out of General Ferrio's scheme was entrusted to American labor. The work was begun in May, 1918. The station will consist of eight steel pillars 250 metres high. The antennas will be 1200 metres in length, and the power of the current used in connection with them 500 kilowatts, being five times greater than that of the Eiffel Tower installation and three and a-half times greater than that of the Lyons station. A range of 12,500 miles will be attained, thus bringing any point of the globo within reach. Transmission will be at the rate of 50 words a minute. The station will bo invaluable to France as a means of linking the Mother Country with all parts of its colonial empire. Typing by Electricity. An invention has lately been completed by a Bristol man which it is believed will be of inestimable value in the business world. It is an electric typewriter, which, besides enabling the operator to work at a much greater speed, is said to be absolutely noiseless. It will be of an entirely new design and consist mainly of a keyboard and carriage, the mechanism of the ordinary typewriter being done away with. The machine will have visible writing and take paper of any width without bending, while a novel feature will be variable type, by means of which different languages may be written on the same machine. No special electric installation is necessary, as all the current required can be obtained from an ordinary electric lamp fitting. The. inventor claims that a much greater speed will be possible than on existing machines, while the energy required to operate the electrical typewriter will be considerably less than one-half the amount necessary for a "hand-driven" model. For instance, while the finger pressure used in striking an ordinary typewriter key ranges from 2-Joz to soz, according to the machine, the electrical typewriter will only need loz of pressure, even for stencil-cutting, or where several carbon copies are required. The new invention, it is stated, will not cost more, if as much, as the ordinary typewriter, and will certainly not get out of repair so easily.