February 2025: Science History from 50, 100 and 150 Years Ago

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Ant talk; vegetation on Mars
1975, Daily Micromigration: "The diatoms Hantzschia virgata reside about a millimeter below the surface of shoreline sand ( left ). During daytime low tides the organisms are propelled upward to the surface by mucus forced through pores at the end of their elongated, glassy cell wall ( right ). The diatoms remain in the sunlight, for photosynthesis, until moments before the sand is inundated by the returning tide."

1975

Radical Revision of Continents and Poles

"Of the various hypotheses that preceded the modern theory of plate tectonics, one version propounded by Alfred Wegener early in the 20th century stands out. Wegener had access to only a small part of the infor­mation available today, yet his theory anticipated much that is now fundamental, in­­cluding the movement of the continents and the wandering of the poles. When his view did replace the older model (in the 1960s), the change represented a radical revision of a well-­established doctrine. In the interim, Wegener's theory had at best been neglected, and it had often been scorned. At the nadir proponents of continental drift were dismissed contemptuously as cranks."

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1925

Spring Vegetation on Mars

"A series of photographs of Mars made by Slipher at the Lowell Observatory show in a very beautiful and convincing way how the dark regions grow larger and deeper in hue…
Mark Fischetti
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