When reading Science News is the habit of a lifetime
On November 8, we welcomed a visitor to the Science News office in Washington, D.C. Kevin W. Parker brought with him a faded copy of the Nov. 8, 1969 issue of Science News — his first issue in what is now a 50-year-plus habit of reading our magazine to keep up with the latest developments in science, technology and medicine. I was delighted to meet Parker and eager to hear how this habit began. It turns out that his mom, a librarian, noticed her son’s fascination with astronomy and space exploration, and got him his own subscription. He was 11 years old. Science News accompanied him through high school and college, and on to work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where he’s a software engineer. “In my younger days, I mainly used [the magazine] to keep up with the space program and as an invaluable resource for school papers and reports,” Parker said. Now, “I use...