This Month in the Archives

[Dive into 172 years of groundbreaking research]( [Scientific American]( This Month in the Archives With an All Access Subscription, you’ll have exclusive access to 172 years’ of groundbreaking articles by some of the leading practitioners in their fields. Autumn is upon us. It is a predictable change of seasons. Science and technology, though, is always going through a sea change, and Scientific American has always reported on those changes. In this letter, we look at some of the contributions of women to advances in astronomy, the involvement of a sometimes dodgy foreign government, and how science and technology interact with some of our bodily functions. [SUBSCRIBE]( THE CONTRIBUTION OF WOMEN TO ASTROPHYSICS The less serious side of space scientist Carolyn Porco and a familiar Hollywood character. Stories in the news these days tell us about about the awful treatment of women in the entertainment business. The astronomical sciences have not been immune from similar problems, and yet women have made a bedrock contribution to the science. Scientific American is proud of all of our authors; this month we look at some of the women astrophysicists who have written articles for us. - [August, 1878:]( Maria Mitchell, one of the more noted astronomers of the 19th century, reports on the eclipse of that year. - [June, 1973:]( Spectrographic observations and some computer simulations allowed Vera Rubin to describe the motions of the stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. - [August, 1995:]( Carolyn Shoemaker co-authors an article on a comet that very famously and visibly smacked into the planet Jupiter: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. - [December, 2008:]( Carolyn Porco writes of Enceladus, one of Saturn’s icy moons visited by a satellite she worked on, Voyager. RUSSIA 1986: Suspicious missile: the Soviet SA-5 missile was thought to include the ability to target ballistic missiles. Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election is also a top story in the news right now. Russia has been this country’s ally and enemy at various times, while going through its own upheavals—the Bolshevik Revolution is 100 years old this month. In the pages of this magazine, we have always admired the ability of Russian scientists, but in a wider political context, that admiration has been tinged with a suspicion of the Russian government. - [November, 1883:]( An innocuous Russian invention: a stand-up kayak catamaran, for paddling or sailing. - [April, 1904:]( At the height of the Russo-Japanese war, a look at Russian naval techniques for coaling at sea. - [August, 1956:]( An interview with Robert Marshak and Robert Wilson, two of the 14 U. S. physicists who attended scientific conferences in Moscow and visited Russian laboratories - [April, 1986:]( This article from the tail end of the Cold War is titled, “Can the U.S. Trust the U.S.S.R.?” TOILETS 2010: This cartoon takes a poke at the mechanics of what to do with human waste on long-distance NASA missions. November 19 is World Toilet Day. How we remove waste from our homes has been at the bottom of humanity’s ascent to civilization, as well as a major key to better health for every person on the planet. The first flush toilet was invented in 1596; since 1845 we’ve covered the science and technology of the mechanics of sanitary disposal of waste and the implications for the sustainability of how we do so. - [May, 1871:]( For people living on farms without the running water of cities, there’s an “earth closet,” with the added benefit of being able to recycle wastes as fertilizer. - [November, 1875:]( The improved “odorless closet” was one of the many indoor plumbing improvements in town houses. This one sought to prevent the influx of “offensive sewer gas” from the main sewers. - [November, 2010:]( On a mission to Mars, there are no rest stops. Steve Mirsky has a humorous look at NASA’s indoor plumbing in outer space. - [July, 2014:]( Recycling is the way of the future. Yes, even of toilet water. And of course the main concern is what this article terms “the yuck factor.” CURRENT ISSUE Consciousness may be one of the biggest puzzles in medicine. In the November issue, there is a question as to how it is measured in those who have severe brain injuries. [The article]( discusses the development of “consciousness meters” that can be used reliably in medical settings to distinguish between patients who are deeply asleep, anesthetized or have lost consciousness because of damage to the brain. Plus: - [New techniques]( being tested in California for long-term storage of floodwaters in underground aquifers could help towns and farmers thrive during flood years and drought years. - [Mount St. Helens]( has received a lot of attention, as well as research efforts, since several dozen people died in the eruption in 1980. The results of this work gives us a clearer and more surprising picture of how molten rock moves around in the deep earth. - [War on slime]( slimy matrix that bacteria encase themselves is a “biofilm” and they can be a dire threat to our health. Here’s a roundup of the latest front-line techniques for finding every weakness of biofilms and attacking them. [READ THIS ISSUE]( Follow Us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Google+]( [YouTube]( [RSS]( To view this email as a web page, go [here](. You received this email because you opted-in to receive email from Scientific American. To ensure delivery please add news@email.scientificamerican.com to your address book. [Unsubscribe]( [Manage Email Preferences]( [FAQs]( [Terms & Conditions]( [Privacy Policy]( [Contact Us](