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Science Friday > Archives > 2002 >
May>
May 31, 2002:
Hour Two: 'The RIddle
of the Compass' / Naps and Learning
In ancient times, sailors navigated the open seas guided by the stars,
sun, winds, currents -- even by migrating birds.
| The modern compass changed all that, making getting from place
to place on the high seas more safe and more reliable. In this hour
of Science Friday, Ira talks with mathematician and author Amir
Aczel about the invention of the compass -- from its ancient Chinese
roots as a spoon shaped device carved from lodestone, to the more
portable pocket devices created later on. Did the invention of the
compass really change the world? |
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We'll also talk about a new study that says power naps may aid learning.
Should we all have daily naptime at work?
Call in with your comments and questions at 1-800-989-8255,
and share your opinions online in our Listeners' Lounge (registration required).
Guests:
Robert Stickgold
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Boston, Massachusetts
Amir Aczel
Author,
"The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention that Changed the World" (Harcourt
Harvest, 2002)
Professor, Mathematics
Bentley College
Waltham, Massachusetts
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
MEDLINEplus:
Sleeping on the Job Can Improve Performance: Study
BioMed
Central - 'Power naps' in job description?
February
9, 2001, Hour 2: Oldest Crystal / Learning and Dreaming
March
31, 2000: Hour Two: Zero / Sleep and Memory
Neuroscience
for Kids - Neuroscience in the News
History
of The Compass
Smith
College Museum of Ancient Inventions: Compass
NOVA Online: Lost
at Sea: The Search for Longitude
NOVA
Online | Secrets of Lost Empires | China Bridge | China's Age of Invention
Medieval
Technology Pages - Compass
NMAH: Surveying and
Geodesy
This segment produced by: Karin Vergoth
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