Science: Never Mind the Birdie

Even if you know nothing about camera technique, you may soon be taking clear, indoor snapshots of Junior. The Army Signal Corps has developed a parent-proof camera with built-in sunlight. All you have to do—indoors or outdoors, day or night—is focus on the subject and pull the trigger. The camera does the rest.

The new gadget is a ring-shaped, gas-filled flash tube around the lens. When the shutter opens, a whopping charge of electricity (2,000 volts) surges through the tube from a condenser, with a light as bright as the sun. The flash is so bright that the natural lighting of the...

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