Science and Every Day Life J.B.S Haldane iP Vv EE Vigyan PrasarPublished by Vigyan Prasar C-24, Qutab Institutional Area New Delhi - 110 016 (Regd. office : Technology Bhawan, New Delhi - 110 016) Phones : 6864157, 6864022 Fax : 6965986 E-mail : vigyan@hub.nic.in Internet : http:// www.vigyanprasar.com Copyrights : © 2002 by Vigyan Prasar All rights reserved Science and Everyday Life by J.B.S. Haldane Cover Design : J. M. Dutta Overall Supervision : Dr. Subodh Mahanti Typesetting & pagemaking : Ms. Sonu Production Supervision : Sumita Sen ISBN : 81-7480-088-3 Rs, 55/- Printed in India by Nagri Printers, Naveen Shahdara, Delhi-32Contents Foreword v Glimpses of Life and Work of vii John Burdon Sanderson Haldane L MEALS 1 Bread and Ham, Butter and Eggs, Why Bananas Have no Pips, The Beginning of Agriculture, Christmas, The Day and the Dinner. Il. ROUND THE YEAR 16 Summer Time, Pollen, Keeping Cool, Thunderstorms, Sea Bathing, Freezing and Thawing, Weather and History. ILL STARS, INCLUDING TWE EARTH 35 The Moon Eclipsed, The Sun Eclipsed, Is There Life on the Planets, Shooting Stars, Why Earthquakes, Do Continents Move, Ammonia, What Papanin’s Polar Expedition Found. IV. MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS 58 Probability—and A.R.P., Some Mathematical Conundrums, Seeing the Invisible, Nature’s Speed Limits, Atom-smashing, The Disorder of Nature, Machines in Science and Industry. V,. EVOLUTION AND ITS PRODUCTS 78 Is Darwinism Dead, Some Missing Links Found, Living Fossils, Beyond Darwin, The Smallest Communists, Eels, A Great Soviet Biologist. VI. BAD AIR 99 Bad Air, Bad Air in the Home, School and Barracks, Bad Air in the Factory, Colliery Explosions, Compressed Air Illness, The Strange Case of Rahman Bey.