As one of you pointed out, and this clip conclusively proves, Mr. Wizard knew that girls as well as boys could be interested in science—and not just the sort involving the chemistry of cooking. In fact, for all but the first year of the show's run from 1951 to 1965, Mr. Wizard alternated between girl and boy…
Did you ever wonder why young, single women should waste their time in science class when they could be out tracking down eligible men? Listen and learn as Dad and Mom explain to their skeptical daughter Betty how science benefits married women, as well as those waiting for Mr. Right, in this clip from Why Study…
You've got a pile of mangoes and a clean-shaven Future Jack mixing up his breakfast screwdriver: Welcome to Lost, season 4. Despite my whiny complaints and misgivings about the last season, I'm officially completely hooked again. Minor spoilers and recappage ahead.
One of the best Christmas presents I ever received was David Wallechinsky and David Wallace's The People's Almanac. Published in 1975, the Almanac covered all sorts of juicy topics to keep an impressionable 14-year-old happy—famous crimes, oddities, utopias, and (oh, baby!) sex. There was even an entire chapter…
Behold the "Telephone That Registers Calls in One's Absence." It sounds like something from the Onion, but it's an actual invention from the pages of Scientific American in 1919. The brainchild of a nameless "California inventor" (so much for his fifteen minutes of fame), the device was a recording telegraph made to…
In 1967, designer Diana Dew's light-up mini-dresses and pants pulsed to the music at the hippest discotheques. Still in her early 20s, Dew invented a rechargeable battery pack that powered what Time magazine called "pliable plastic lamps" sewn onto dresses and pants.
Alas, unlike other whined-for foods in our household (Pop Tarts, Cap'n Crunch), Space Food Sticks were a distinct disappointment. They were chewy, as advertised, but their flavor was chalky and indistinct, less like the glorious future and more like the smell of Grandma's denture cup. Pillsbury discontinued the…
Tomboy Kate morphs into wimpy womanhood in one of Lost's most annoying moments. Yesterday we paid tribute to our favorite moments from the show, but now it's time to tear into the most disappointing, annoying and/or simply wrong moments. Bad omen: the worst of Lost is almost all related to season 3.
With one week to go until the season 4 premiere, here's a short and subjective list of my five favorite moments from Lost. In retrospect, it's heavy on the first two seasons. They're in no particular order, except for the first: Desmond's Day in the Hatch. These first few minutes of season 2, in my book, represent Lost…
Meet Mary Summerfield, Ph.D. In 1956, she was one of what American Girl magazine called "thousands of girls now serving as professional scientists." Dr. Summerfield thought more young women (er, girls) would consider science as a career but were afraid it would render them unfeminine spinsters. That's why the caption…
Given all the hoopla over David Levy's new book, Love and Sex with Robots, perhaps it's time to get a quote on the subject directly from a robotic mouth. Meet Mr. Herbert Televox, "the perfect servant, who is never late or insolent .... " according to this picture's 1929 caption.
Here's another scifi song to take to that barren asteroid with you: Brigitte Bardot singing Serge Gainsbourg's "Contact." "A meteorite has pierced my heart," chants Brigitte in this tale of wounded interplanetary love, "I need a transfusion of mercury. ... Remove my spacesuit ..."
Remember when he-man hillbilly Sawyer figures out the levers and knobs in his cage and is rewarded with a fish-shaped biscuit and a cascade of people chow? "Only took the bears two hours." Definitely one of my favorite moments from Lost season 3. Last year, an enterprising fan came up with a recipe and pattern for…
In what must be the most unappetizing breakfast combination since soylent green and cream soda, two junior spacemen (no girls allowed!) chase their Cheerios with V-8 juice in this commercial from 1960. Why? Because they needed a box top and can label to get a "moon rocket" game.
The knives are little more than a slender metal wedge and the three-tined forks so narrow you can barely spear a green bean, but what Arne Jacobsen's stainless steel flatware lacks in functionality, it makes up in futuristic style. That's why it was featured in 2001. I own a set of this famous flatware, and have the…
By the standards of psychotronic film, Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) has it all: Mamie Van Doren, a chimpanzee named Abraham Q. Voltaire, and Thinko the Robot. Indeed, Thinko plays a pivotal role—thanks to his computer brain, a brilliant ex-stripper is hired to head the science department at Collins College. When…
Meet the "first female robot," Susie Robette, from 1957. An FAO Schwartz catalog at the time promised the Robette would be "feminine enough to wear a pony tail of coppered wire." You can find more images here, as well as a patent sketch and some catalog pages, the latter of which reveal she was a product of the…
Behold Ed Emshwiller's magnificent cover for the February 1959 issue of Future Science Fiction. Yes, it gives away the ending of "You Do Something To Me," Calvin M. Knox's story of the "the white-skinned hideous horror from a distant world," but isn't it worth it? (Trivia moment: Calvin M. Knox is a pseudonym of…
Two peppy, Aryan teenagers learn how tomorrow's communication technology will help us live happily ever after in "Century 21 Calling," a Bell Telephone promo film shot at the Seattle World's Fair in 1964. After disembarking the monorail, the kids run through the fairgrounds, gawking at foreigners and passing up the…
