Yellow Journalism
Why do old books and newspapers turn yellow?
———- from Warren K. of Manchester MI
The subject matter determines the degree of decomposition of the paper. Even the highest quality vellum will turn yellow, then brown if what’s printed on it concerns the sex lives of celebrities. Lofty writing like that of Emerson, Thoreau or Dr. Science can be printed on the cheapest newsprint and still look shiny-new after centuries. In fact, it may surprise you to know that the scripts for the Ask Dr. Science show are often simply scribbled onto toilet paper in an inspired moment. Then these are carefully wadded into the pocket of my lab coat until the moment arrives for me to face either the microphone or the computer screen. Later, these original scripts are carefully archived in Plexiglas file cabinets that hold a near vacuum. I suspect they’ll be accessible to researchers long after I’ve turned into selenium dust. And I wouldn’t recommend printing out my answers in yellow ink; it’s unreadable, for one thing, and the Dr. Science e-mail service is dot matrix-compatible only. Bubbles, jets and lasers just don’t cut the scientific mustard, which also is yellow, ironically.
The subject matter determines the degree of decomposition of the paper. Even the highest quality vellum will turn yellow, then brown if what’s printed on it concerns the sex lives of celebrities. Lofty writing like that of Emerson, Thoreau or Dr. Science can be printed on the cheapest newsprint and still look shiny-new after centuries. In fact, it may surprise you to know that the scripts for the Ask Dr. Science show are often simply scribbled onto toilet paper in an inspired moment. Then these are carefully wadded into the pocket of my lab coat until the moment arrives for me to face either the microphone or the computer screen. Later, these original scripts are carefully archived in Plexiglas file cabinets that hold a near vacuum. I suspect they’ll be accessible to researchers long after I’ve turned into selenium dust. And I wouldn’t recommend printing out my answers in yellow ink; it’s unreadable, for one thing, and the Dr. Science e-mail service is dot matrix-compatible only. Bubbles, jets and lasers just don’t cut the scientific mustard, which also is yellow, ironically. 