50 years ago

The Committee for Biological Acoustics organized a demonstration meeting to illustrate the wide range of research in this comparatively new and expanding field ... The progress made in the United States in underwater recording was emphasized by a demonstration of the acoustic emission of whales by Dr. W. E. Schevill ... Mr E. F. Woods, of the B.B.C., demonstrated his work on the sounds of colonies of honey bees, while developing an electronic device, the 'Apidictor', which can assist apiarists in detecting the onset of swarming in hives.

From Nature 20 September 1958.

100 years ago

Coast Erosion and Foreshore Protection. By John S. Owens and Gerald O. Case — The authors very properly point out that there is no one method of protection that can be applied to all coasts, but that each shore much be considered on its merits, and that it is only after due consideration has been given to the special circumstances which may influence the effect of the sea upon any particular shore that the proper remedy can be designed ... The chapter on ferro-concrete groynes contains much useful informal information on the application of this material to sea defence work, and gives illustrations and cost of works carried out for the protection of the coast of Sussex. The cost of these groynes is given as twenty shillings a foot run, which compares favourably with timber.

Also:

An appliance for working the keyboard of a typewriter on a type-setting machine from a distance by means of wireless telegraphy has been devised by Mr. Hans Knudsen, and a demonstration of the experimental apparatus was given at the Hotel Cecil on Thursday last.

From Nature 24 September 1908.