Science and TechnologySource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 71, No. 5 (Nov., 1950), pp. vi-viiPublished by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/19990 .

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r Science and Technology X (From the Month's News Releases)

New Food Source Ingmar Sollin and Carl 0. Claggett reported at the

recent national meeting of the American Chemical Society that sunflower seed may become an important source of edible oils. Laboratory studies at North Dakota Agri- cultural College have shown that the oil content of some varieties is approximately 30 per cent of the total weight of the seed and that, of this oil, approximately 75 per cent is linoleic acid, a major constituent of edible oils. Because the oil is less subject to flavor reversion than some other edible oils, the researchers suggest its use in margarines, lard substitutes, salad dressings, for French frying and oil packing of foods, and as a carrying agent in pharmaceuticals.

Novelty Petro, the mechanical riding horse for boys and girls

between the ages of two and six, goes forward, gallops, and steers, but cannot go backward. The mechanical parts are made of steel, and the body of fine hardwood. The four steel wheels have rubber tires.

Don't Drop that Screw A specialized screwdriver called Quick-Wedge, with a

double spring steel blade that holds, starts, and drives the screw, is designed to reduce profanity and increase effi- ciency. It comes in twelve sizes, some with shockproof plastic-covered tubing for electrical work, at 80 cents to $1.65.

Erosion Studies Studies showing how nature is already wearing away the

slopes and ejectarmenta of Mexico's youthful volcano, Paricutin, have been completed by the U. S. Geological Survey. Kenneth Segerstrom, Survey geologist, in Erosion Studies at Parzcutin, State of Michoacan, Mexico, reports that the ash is eroded, transported, and redeposited not only by water and wind but by rnass movement as well, as evidenced by tilted forests and by landslides, midflows, stream-bank cave-ins, and faulting or shearing caused by lava movement (see pp. 312-17, this issue). Prepared in

cooperation with the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Geologia, under the auspices of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation, Department of State, Geological Survey Bulletin 965-A is obtainable from Superintendent of Documents, GPO, Washington, D. C., at $1 per copy.

Laboratory on Wheels A mobile unit, completely equipped with the instru-

ments needed to prospect for uranium, and to identify and measure radioactivity, has been built by Radiation Counter Laboratories, Chicago. The delicate instruments were in- stalled in a 122-foot body of a Dodge Route-Van truck so they can be demonstrated to atomic scientists. Civilian and military experts who have inspected the laboratory say that in modern war such a mobile laboratory could play an important part in atomic defense. Technicians could speed to the scene of an atomic blast and determine im- mediately if radioactivity were present, identify the type of radiation, and measure its danger. Moving quickly around the fringe of the blast, they could tell how far the radioactivity extended.

With the Inventors Liquid Sandpaper, says General Liquids Corporation,

eliminates the need for sanding painted wood, and metal and plaster surfaces, before refinishing. It is purported to remove wax, grease, polish, and deeply imbedded dirt from almost any surface.

Foto Murals of California is the manufacturer of muralettes ranging in size from 40" X 60" to 90" x 180" that come in color, sepia, or black and white. Applied like wallpaper, the murals may be washed with mild soap and water, and will be enjoyed particularly by city dwellers with bleak outlooks from house or apartment windows. Prices are from $14.95 to $39.50.

A new fabric finish that keeps heat in during cold weather and out during hot weather will be on the market this fall. The finish can be applied to a wide variety of fabrics rayon, cotton, nylon, and even wool.

The Calrod engine heater is a small device that virtu- ally eliminates starting faults of automobile engines

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In the perpetual battle against in- sect pests, C,oIH105PSN (parathion) is an effective agent, but it is extremely poisonous to human beings. At Hill- crest Farms, Chester, W. Va., tractor driver wears respirator developed by Mine Safety Appliances Company as protection against the toxic spray. The respirators are especially designed for farm spraying and have dust filters as well as chemical cartridges.

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caused by cold weather. It is claimed that it also reduces engine wear and starting load on the battery, as well as speeding warm-up of the car heater. Installation can be made quickly and easily. In above-zero weather, the heater need be operated only a short while before start- ing; in subzero weather, it should be operated for longer periods.

A 41" x 8" Bakelite styrene washboard is useful for odd-job washing around the house, as well as for the traveler's kit. It is available alone or packaged with a set of clothespins and a line coated with moisture-resistant Vinylite resins in a transparent plastic envelope.

Kitchen mixing bowls, used with a double suction rub- ber base made by Goodyear Rubber Company, free both hands for pouring and stirring. In use, the housewife merely presses the bowl firmly into the base, at any angle. It remains in this position until released by pulling the vacuum release valve built into the base. One type, at $3.95, is a large heatproof ovenware mixing bowl; the other, at $5.95, is a large stainless steel mixing bowl. A cereal bowl for children, employing the same principle, sells for $1.95.

The Machine Age Bernard R. Higley, psychologist at the Alfred L. Will-

son Children's Center, Columbus, Ohio, has adapted a G-E photoelectric recorder to detect and record emotion. Used with a standard lie cletector in determining the emo- tional response of subjects to various stimuli, the instru- ment already has revealed a classification of abnormality that Higley describes as "dead pan." The graphic patterns of the minute changes in skin conductances are invaluable as an aid in discovering the causes of behavior problerns of children, and thus are an important factor in the pre- vention of delinquency, Higley reports.

Hydraulic engineers of the U. S. Geological Survey in- vestigating snow conditions and flood hazards in remote mountain areas of Washinagton State will use helicopters instead of snowshoes as a means of transport. Air transport eliminates the hazardous and difficult week-long trips on snow shoes, saves money, and makes it possible to reach hitherto inaccessible areas. Instead of improving trails leading to snow courses, stocking sleeping cabins, and performing other maintenance duties, crews have been clearing landing sites and installing emergency caches.

Penguin II For twenty years, the U. S. FWS Penguin has sailed

the hazardous waters of the North Pacific and Bering Sea, carrying supplies and personnel of the Fish and Wildlife Service from Seattle to the fur-sealing stations on the Pribilof Islands. On the night of June 3, 1950, the little supply tender burned at its moorings in Seattle. The re- placement for the burned vessel, transferred from the Army Transportation Corps, has been named Penguin II and has already made one trip over the 2,000-mile Pribilof run.

War on Pests Flood-water and snow-water mosquitoes, pests of the

high mountain country of the Northwest, can be con- trolled by use of some of the new insecticides applied the fall before the spring hatching season. DDT, methoxy- chlor, and TDE are among the most effective poisons at low temperature-even in the icy cold water in which some mosquito pests will hatch. Very small quantities of

DDT, applied this fall, will remain under the covering snow, and when it melts next year the freshly hatched wrigglers will be destroyed.

By removing crop residues or plowing, over-wintering populations of such crop pests as Mexican bean beetle and European corn borer, which may infest next year's crops, can be reduced in number. Particular attention should be given to the destruction of weeds surrounding cultivated fields. "Such sanitary precautions will not eliminate the need for further control practices next year, but they may simplify the job and are well worth the limited expense involved," according to scientists of the New York Experiment Station.

Agronomists of the USDA have found that the gen- eration of Johnson grass grown from seeds of surviving plants in sugar-cane fields is twice as resistant to 2,4-D as the previous generation. This experience is similar to that encountered in studying housefly strains showing re- sistance to DDT, and attacks of fungi and bacteria.

More Comfortable Living Reflection Point, a seven-room, one-floor and basement

experimental residence, providing year-round interior comfort through reflective radiant conditioning, has been occupied for the past several months by Clarence A. Mills, professor of experimental medicine at the Univer- sity of Cincinnati. Around the top of the walls of the test house, just at the ceiling line, is an aluminum cove containing Freon cooling coils for summer use; within this trough is a smaller one carrying electric heating ele- ments. Walls and ceiling are covered with a new type of colored, figured aluminum foil; on the floors are alumi- num foil atop the concrete slab, a waffle-design foam rubber mat, then wall-to-wall nylon carpeting. In winter the cove-contained heating elements radiate warmth re- flected from ceiling and walls to the body, reducing its heat loss and making the occupant comfortable regard- less of the room's temperature. In summer, the process is reversed. Dr. Mills finds best summer operating conditions with coils just barely above the frosting point. An added operating economy results from the fact that the system, turned on and off by a wall switch, may be used in a given room only when it is occupied. Possible applications may be made in airplanes, army tanks, steamships and naval vessels, temporary housing in polar cold or tropical heat, dairy and poultry production, or even in the cloth- ing field.

Publications Received

The U. S. National Commission for UNESCO issued this summer The Unesco Story-A Resource and Action Booklet for Organizations and Communities (112 pp.).

The 1950 Catalog (80 pp.) of Science Research Associ- ates, Chicago, lists six categories of services, all in the psychological field: tests, guidance publications and serv- ices, classroom texts, student learning aids, professional books, and business and personnel materials. How to Or- ganize Your Guidance Program, by Edgar L. Harden, (vi + 70 pp., illus., $1.50) is also published by SRA.

Microcard Foundation, Wesleyan University Station, Middletown, Conn., has announced the availability of the following publications on microcards: Beilstein's Handbuch, Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie (Ser. A and B), Berichte d. deutschen chem. Gesellschaft, Liebig's Annalen, and Die direkte Einfiihrung von Substituenten in den Benzolkern.

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