Word: spheres
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...sphere. "In the 20th Century," he wrote, "man for the first time in the history of the earth knew and embraced the whole biosphere. . . . That mineralogical rarity, native [i.e., pure] iron, is now being produced by the billions of tons. Native aluminum, which never before existed on our planet, is now produced in any quantity. The same is true with regard to the countless number of artificial chemical combinations newly created on our planet. Chemically, the face of our planet, the biosphere, is being sharply changed by man.... New species and races of animals and plants are being created...
...describe this state of affairs, Vernadsky, who had a weakness for creating new tongue twisters, coined the term "noösphere," from the Greek nods (mind) and sphere. Said he: "The noösphere is a new geological phenomenon on our planet. In it for the first time man becomes a large-scale geological force.... Wider and wider creative possibilities open before him. It may be that the generation of our grandchildren will approach their blossoming. . . . Fairy-tale dreams appear possible in the future; man is striving to emerge beyond the boundaries of his planet into cosmic space...
...Influence. Then World War II cut the land of the blue volcanoes from its European markets, brought it more strongly into the U.S. political sphere of influence. For security reasons the U.S. made friends with the modern caciques, granted them big loans, including Lend-Lease arms. Inflation swelled like a tumor. But Lend-Lease generosity made Franklin Roosevelt so popular with the dictators that, when Wendell Willkie ran against him, a nephew of Carias Andino asked bewilderedly: "Why doesn't Roosevelt have him shot...
...week London's Economist barked gruffly at Moscow: "Russia insists on a grouping under her own leadership in eastern Europe. Why should the Russian influence in western Europe be used to create opposition against the . . . grouping in the west? The Russians tend to argue . . . that only their own spheres of influence are legitimate and all others are bad. . . . The western nations ... are too self-conscious and self-confident to allow themselves to be included in anybody's sphere of influence-which cannot be said of all the nations of eastern Europe. . . . For Russia to oppose [the Western Bloc...
...speculative London report suggested that the Nazis are using the same pressure principle to crush atoms. The crusher: A "Neuman" demolition charge, which explodes inward instead of outward. Used in a sphere, the Neuman charge might develop pressures of tens of thousands of tons per square inch at the center, perhaps enough to disintegrate an unstable atom such as uranium and release its explosive atomic energy. British scientists believe that such an explosion, though not far-reaching in area, would develop unheard-of violence at the point of impact...