Word: sunlights
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Main approach to the problem of utilization of solar energy has been study of green plants, which in their own simple and mysterious way utilize the energy of sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into food. Chief agent in this process of photosynthesis is chlorophyll, the green coloring-matter in leaves, which acts as a catalyst, speeding up the transformation, but undergoing no conversion itself. Since chlorophyll is not effective as a catalyst when extracted from the plant, chemists have been unable to study its action. It is composed of two separate pigments, blue-green chlorophyll A and yellow...
Many scientists accept the theory that sunlight influences conception and hence that Eskimos are sterile during the long Arctic nights. In last week's Science, Zoologist Wayne L. Whitaker of the University of Michigan rose to defend Eskimo potency. Analysis of all the births in West Greenland between the years 1901 and 1930 shows that more conceptions occurred in April, the first month of spring, and December, the Eskimos' visiting season, than in any other months. His conclusions: 1) whatever sexual debility may have been observed by early explorers is probably due to famine during the lone, cruel...
...Perry of Cincinnati's Xavier University, no schoolboy by a long shot, was convinced last week that it is not so much the flowers that bloom in the spring as what birds eat that affects their mating cycle. Other investigators had advanced the theory that increased exposure to sunlight in the spring is the sex stimulus. This theory they checked experimentally by inducing sex gland activity with artificial illumination. It looked as if the light stimulated the front lobe of the pituitary ("master gland"), which in turn roused the gonads...
Scientists may dispute the social value of nudism but on the physical value of sun bathing they are of one mind. Contrary to nudists' beliefs, prolonged exposure to sunlight is definitely harmful. Sunburn is a form of skin disease, stretching and often paralyzing the superficial capillaries of the skin, increasing fibrous tissue. In time the skin grows scaly, inelastic, wrinkled, becomes predisposed to cancer. Classic medical example of sun-caused cancer is the case of Australian sheepherders, who work unprotected in strong sunlight, contract more skin cancer than any other group...
...August, when ragweed fever begins, is their last sneezeless day till frost. Why the disease always strikes on August 15 is no nasal mystery, but merely another indication of Nature's regularity. As August 15 approaches, the shortening of daylight hours allows the ragweed plant precisely enough sunlight to ripen it on that day. And the number of hours of daylight and darkness for a given date is the same from year to year...