Word: labs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Immanuel Velikovsky. Scientists usually lapse into tantrums when they discuss Velikovsky's belief in Venus as the cause of Old Testament miracles and plagues. Sagan, in a chapter worth the price of the book, refutes the claim so calmly and effectively that the theory, like an exhausted Sky lab, falls of its own weight...
...exact, Moore is a storm chaser, and when he catches up with a tornado, it is not uncommon for him to bring it back alive on film. Thereafter scientists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla., can study it in the relative safety of the lab. Catching tornadoes sounds about as unlikely a sport as herding partridges on horseback. But when conditions are right, the NSSL sends out several vans packed with photographers, meteorologists and equipment, assorted airplanes and platoons of experts in hope of harvesting storm data. When people in Texas or Oklahoma or Kansas start running...
From Erick, Okla., over near the Texas border, Moore calls Norman. The lab reports that the storm clouds are "falling apart." Moore is unconvinced. He heads west again to get a better look at a cloud bank that seems to contradict the forecast. "Look at that thing!" Moore yells. "It's going up! Hell yes, it's going up!" He throws the pickup into a fast U-turn. He turns on the AM radio just in time to hear an unmistakable crackle. "If I didn't know better," Moore shouts, "I'd say that was lightning...
...Vici, after pulling into a gas station, Moore rushes to a phone booth for one more call to the Norman lab. Back in the truck, he exults: "This is it! They're going crazy back there." He floors the accelerator, heading for the tornado's path, so he can get pictures. At 4:09 p.m., the first heavy drops splatter on the windshield, washing away the dead insects. A jumble of blue gray shapes rushes across the sky. Soon chilly blasts of air shake the truck. A windmill in a nearby field whirs crazily. "It's only...
...other NOAA vans appear. All pull over for a hasty conference. A student with a two-way phone to the lab yells that the worst conditions are centered about 20 miles west of Enid (pop. 52,700). Moore spins his wheels, and the chase is on again. In Fairview, 30 miles west of Enid, several pickup trucks are parked along the road. Next to them, lanky farmers in caps and blue jeans stare at the turbulent, darkening sky. Women carrying grocery bags peer from the doorway of the IGA market. A handful of motorists watch from the refuge...