50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; September 2007; Scientific American Magazine; by Daniel C. Schlenoff; 1 Page(s)

DNA--"It is difficult to resist the conclusion that DNA is genetic material. If that is the case, our problem is to learn how DNA reproduces itself. The double-helical structure of DNA suggests a possible answer, which I have discussed in a previous article. The basic idea is that the two chains of the DNA, which fit together as a hand fits into a glove, are separated in some way and the hand then acts as a mold for formation of a new glove while the glove acts as a mold for a new hand. Thus we finish up with two gloved hands where we had only one before. In chemical terms we imagine that monomers supplied by the cell align themselves along the mold chain with complementary bases pairing up.--F.H.C. Crick"

PUGWASH CONFERENCE--"For six days last July, 22 scientists from 10 countries met in the hamlet of Pugwash in Nova Scotia to talk about 'the perils to humanity posed by the development of weapons of mass destruction.' Financed by the Cleveland industrialist Cyrus Eaton, a native of Pugwash, the conference was the culmination of an appeal for such a meeting made two years ago by Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell. The group includes scientists from the U.S., the U.S.S.R., China and Japan. They began by agreeing to 'say nothing which might seem to favor one rather than the other of the two great groups of powers into which the world is divided.'"