Childhood Fascination with What Adults Consider Mundane

If you know kindergartners, you know that a thread on the carpet can become one of the most fascinating objects on the face of the earth. The child will pick it up and run her fingers the length of it, scrutinizing every centimeter of that thread. She might hold it up in the sunlight to get a better look and then lay it on her lap to continue the intense observation of the thread. Those who are sitting close to the thread scientist may notice this intriguing object and want in. So they’ll ...

 Medicine Works in Great Leaps

Medicinal discovery, It moves in mighty leaps, It leapt straight past the common cold And gave it us for keeps.

 A 1985 View of Science and Technology in Year 2000

The glib words of years past from our politicians are hollow nightmares indeed when we are confronted with the staggering realities of what has to be done. But the key is there--technology, using it-and we hardly do now. The future may be unpredictable, but we can make a few well-aimed guesses about what life will be like in the year 2000. We’ll fly on supersonic transports, or more likely hypersonic transports, for which the ground work (or should I call it air work) has already been laid ...