Word: houston
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Last week, as the first phase of the rock analysis neared completion in Houston's Lunar Receiving Lab, it was Urey's young critics who seemed to have been wrong. Though they were correct in saying that the samples gathered up in the Sea of Tranquillity had once been molten rock, they appear to have been far off the mark in estimating their age. The rocks were not several hundred million years old, as many geologists had speculated, but at least 3.1 billion years...
Geologically Akin. The scientists had erred in other ways. In the first exciting days after the lunar specimens arrived in Houston, they had suggested that the moon and the earth were closely akin in geological evolution and structure, and that the moon was made of earthlike layers. Now more careful study is showing that these initial ideas have almost as many holes as the moon itself. Not only have the rocks sprung such chemical surprises as an unusually high content of titanium, but the moon's seismic activity is also not what it had seemed...
...surprisingly, one of the few jubilant scientists in Houston last week was Geochemist Oliver Schaeffer, who led the team that calculated the age of the lunar material. He used potassium-argon dating, a method based on the rate at which radioactive potassium decays into argon (it takes 1.3 billion years for half the potassium to decay); as time passes, the ratio between the potassium and argon in a specimen changes at a known rate, thus revealing the approximate age of the sample. If there is any error at all, Schaeffer explains, he has underestimated the age of the rocks, because...
...blasting the San Diego Padres last week, his Cubs were pulling out of the mire of a four-game losing streak. For a time, though, Durocher's dig seemed prophetic. Through late July and early August the Mets played down to their past reputation. In one horrendous doubleheader in Houston, the Astros pasted Met pitchers for a total of 27 runs. The Mets lost 3-2 to the last-place Expos when Rookie Gary Gentry yielded an embarrassing total of three home runs in one inning. As summer waned, the New Yorkers found themselves in third place, 9½ games...
...parties, seminars and trips. In July, 55 club members jetted to Acapulco for a weekend spree of sun and sea. Later in the month, 500 members frolicked as guests of the bank at a barbecue and beer bust. There was a reception for Singer Glen Campbell before his Houston concert and a private premiere showing of John Wayne's new movie, True Grit. Recognizing that club members are affluent-their average salary is more than $10,000 a year-merchants have been vying for their patronage with tempting discounts. One restaurant gives members a free bottle of wine with...