SCIENCE IN WONDERLAND ESP

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November 10, 1973
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-- Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8- I' NO-v. 10, 1973 science news 039 thD vol. 104, no. 19, 289-304 'L. Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 (-) Technically intriguing items from TRW, guaranteed to add luster to your conversation and amaze your friends. How Many Days in a Year? A year is the time it takes for a planet to make one complete revolution around the Sun. Our own planet earth, for example, completes its orbit every 365.24199 days, a time which doesn't divide nicely into 52 seven-day weeks. Responding to this knotty situa- tion, Julius Caesar devised a calendar in which he picked up an extra quarter day by having 365 days in the first three years and 366 in the fourth (leap year). While an improvement on the exist- ing system, the Julian calendar was just over eleven minutes longer than the true solar year, so that every 128 years it gained a full day on the Sun. Pope Gregory narrowed the discrepancy by ruling that years ending in 00 were not to be leap years unless they were divisible by 400. This saved three days every 400 years and put the Gregorian calendar (which we presently use) within 25 seconds of the true solar year. The year on the planet Jupiter is informatively different. Its great distance from the Sun (half a billion miles compared with the earth's 93,000,000) means that it takes Jupiter 11.86 earth years to complete one of its 'vast orbits. Unlike the earth (which rotates on its axis once every 24 hours), giant Jupiter rotates once every 9 hours and 51 minutes. Thus its day is less than half as long as ours. The combination of short days and long years on Jupiter means that there are more than 10,500 days in the Jovian year. Like everything else about Jupiter, its calendar is big and bulky. In fact, its immense size has caused one astronomer to remark that the solar system is made up of "the Sun, Jupiter, and some debris." On December 3 of this year, a historic event involving the earth and Jupiter will take place. The Pioneer 10 spacecraft, built by TRW for the NASA-Ames Research Center, will fly past Jupiter. For 21 months, Pioneer has been streak- ing toward its target at speeds ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 miles per hour. Jupiter is so far from earth that a signal sent to Pioneer at encounter will take 45 minutes to get there, even though it travels at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). Pioneer's onboard experiments, which have already provided space information enroute to Jupiter, are designed to yield useful data as far away as 20 astronomical units?about 2 billion miles. Early next year when the Pioneer data has been examined and analyzed, we'll have some first-hand information for you on this giant of the solar system. Earth at Encounter Earth at Launch Escape From Solar System After Encounter Jupiter at Encounter Pioneer Interplanetary Trajectory , 500 /400 Asteroid Belt 2 to 3.6 AU Jupitor at Launch Pioneer trajectory to Jupiter. This path uses the spacecraft's available energy most efficiently. For further information, write on your company letter- head to: TRW SYSTEMS GROUP Attention: Marketing Communications, E2/3043 One Space Park ? Redondo Beach, California 90278 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 ? a \\ /ter of new and amusing examples science news- to the editor where the names really count. Here's another. A Science Service Publication Vol. 104/Nov. 10, 1973/No. 19 Incorporating Science News Letter During World War II there were a couple of very bright scientists at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farn- borough, England, whose frequent col- laboration and jointly published reports led to quiet amusement in those days when there wasn't too much to smile about. One of them, Prof. A. R. Collar, became vice chancellor of the University of Bristol; the other, Mr. Walter Tye, be- came the chief executive of the British Air Registration Board. I think the names on their joint reports always appeared in that order. John J. Green, Ph.D. Ottawa, Canada P.S. Both men are, I believe, well known to the aeronautical fraternity in the U.S.A. OF THE WEEK fission using boron 292 moon distance by laser 292 mariner 10 mercury-bound 293 temperature-reporting satellite 293 comet photo 294 switching off allergies 294 record year for tornadoes 294 grizzly controversy 295 technology assessment 295 soviet psychiatry 295 science 'wrongly blamed' 295 RESEARCH NOTES behavioral sciences 296 environmental sciences 296 ARTICLES science and esp 298 DEPARTMENTS letters 291 books 301 COVER: A growing number of openminded scientists see ESP and other psychic phenom- ena as worthwhile areas of investigation. See p. 298 (Drawing: M. C. Escher, Escher Founda- tion, Haags Gemeente-museum?The Hague) Publisher E. G. Sherburne Jr. Editor Kendrick Frazier Senior Editor and Physical Sciences Dietrick E. Thomsen Senior Editor and Behavioral Sciences Robert J. Trotter Biological Sciences Joan Arehart-Treichel Science and Society John H. Douglas Space Sciences Jonathan Eberhart Copy Editor Nadine Clement Assistant to the Editor Esther Gilgoff Production Manager Davide Daemon Books Margit Friedrich Circulation Manager Lawrence Cope Advertising Scherago Associates, Inc. 11 W. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10036 Fred W. Dieffenbach Sales Director Copyright @ 1973 by Science Service, Inc., 1719 N St., NM., Washington, D.C. 20036. Republication of any portion of SCIENCE NEWS is strictly prohibited. Subscription Department 231 West Center Street Marion, Ohio 43302 Subscription rate: 1 yr., $10; 2 yrs., $18; 3 yrs., $25. (Add $2 a year for Canada and Mexico, $3 for all other countries.) Change of address: Four to six weeks' notice is required. Please state exactly how magazine is to be addressed. Include zip code. Printed in U.S.A. Second class postage paid at Washington, D.C. Established as Science News Letter in mimeograph form March 13, 1922. Title registered as trademark U.S. and Cana- dian Patent Offices. Published every Saturday by SCIENCE SER- VICE, Inc., 1719 N St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. (202-785-2255). Cable SCIENSERV. november 10, 1973 Science and superstition Your correspondent, Clarence G. Zike, is quite correct when he observes that "As true of science in general, every major discovery in astronomy raises more ques- tions than it answers" (SN: 10/6/73, p. p. 251). He can put his mind to rest, however, about his imagined lack of a most logi- cal explanation of the phenomena which seem to violate physical laws, e.g., "in- telligent intervention." It ?is just this thinking that is as old as the history of mankind that led to the separation of science and religion? remember Galileo? How else can Zike explain the existence of superstition even in this enlightened age? John W. Orner Wilmington, Mass. In her letter entitled "Not a valid hypothe- sis" (SN: 10/27/73, p. 259), Lois Ann Horowitz raises an important point. While it is not particularly difficult to suggest unorthodox explanations for various phe- nomena, it often requires unusual intel- ligence to see ways in which to test such ideas, thus converting them to "valid hy- potheses." It is this uncommon vision that allows the scientific method to act as a challenge rather than as a shield. David Dunthorn Oak Ridge, Tenn. Moonshine I am intrigued by your comment on the density of the moon's atmosphere in the correspondence section of the Oct. 6 SCIENCE NEWS. Based on the 5 trillion to one earth-moon ratio which you quote, I have computed the total weight of the moon's atmosphere to an altitude of 1 mile at under 40,000 pounds. Take away the total weight of volatile effluent from all U.S. and Soviet moon craft, dumped in moon orbit, and what is left? The answer probably falls between Heisenberg's prin- ciple and Murphy's law. John P. C. Allen New City, N.Y. Collar and Tye SCIENCE NEWS is just great?I welcome its arrival every week and recommend it to my friends. Keep up the good work. "It's All in the Name" seems to have tickled the fancy of a great many of your readers and has led to the submission of Human aggression Studying war will not provide answers to questions about human aggression nor will studying human aggression provide solutions to ending wars (SN: 10/20/73, p. 251). Wars cannot be treated as manifesta- tions of human aggression. They are poli- tico-economic expedients instituted by handfuls of men (governments) for some very pragmatic reasons. Ordinary people who fight wars don't want to . . . Their aggression is motivated by self survival on a battlefield. In historical perspective, the questions we need answered are: How have we, the troops, allowed the leaders to subvert what evolution has taught us, namely the in- telligent control of aggression. Lewis Schwartzman Flushing, N.Y. Cultural diversity? The claim by the Soviet anthropologist J. V. Bromley of the Soviet attempt to maintain "a diversity of languages and life styles" among various ethnic groups (SN: 9/15/73, p. 170) is certainly negated by the treatment of Ukrainians and Jews. Indeed, in the latter case it amounts to a form of cultural genocide. Joseph M. Kirman, Ph.D Associate Professor, Social Studies The University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Address communications to Editor, Science News, 1719 N Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20036 SCIENCE SERVICE Institution for the Popularization of Science founded 1921; a nonprofit corporation Board of Trustees?Nominated by the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: Athelstan Spilhaus, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Deborah Partridge Wolfe, Queens College of City University of New York; Bowen C. Dees, The Franklin Institute. Nominated by the NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: Frederick Seitz, Rockefeller University; Gerald F. Tape, Associated Universities; Allen V. Astin, National Academy of Sciences. Nominated by the NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL: Glenn T. Seaborg (President), University of California, Berkeley; Gerald Holton, Harvard University; Joseph W. Berg Jr., National Research Council. Nominated by the JOURNALISTIC PROFESSION: 0. W. Riegel (Secretary), Washington and Lee University; Norman Cousins, "World"; Julius Duscha, Washington Journalism Center. Nominated by the E. W. SCRIPPS TRUST: John Troan, Pittsburgh Press; Milton Harris (Treas- urer), Washington, D.C.; Edward W, Scripps II (Vice President and Chairman of the Executive Committee), Edward W. Scripps Trust. Director: E. G. Sherburne Jr.; Assistant Director: Dorothy Schriver; Business Manager: Donald R. Harless; Things of Science: Ruby Yoshioka. 291 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 science news OF THE WEEK Atomic energy from fusion plus fission 'Thermonuclear fission' of boron may be a power source for the future The world's future energy needs will be solved mainly by release and utilization of the binding energy of atomic nuclei or they are likely not to be solved at all. The energy can be released either by the fission of heavy ele- ments (uranium, plutonium), which is already an oper- ative possibility, or by the fusion of light ones. Fusion is still in the future, but the cycles on which most re- search is being done are deuterium fusing with deuterium or deuterium fusing with tritium. Now a new fuel and a new cycle are proposed, which partake of the nature of both fusion and fission. It in- volves the fission of the common element boron and has been dubbed "thermonuclear fission." The proposal was presented last week at the meeting of the American Physical Society's Plasma Physics Division at Philadel- phia by Thomas A. Weaver of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. The ?new reaction is a fundamental departure from conventional concepts of fusion and fission. Generally the balance of energy within atomic nuclei is such that only fission of heavy nuclei and fusion of light ones yields energy. Fission of lightweight nuclei is generally difficult to achieve and costs energy. But there is an ex- ception for nuclei that can divide themselves evenly into an integral number of helium nuclei (also called alpha particles). The helium nucleus is a particularly tightly bound entity that appears as a kind of building block of heavier nuclei. When these helium building blocks are present in integral numbers with nothing left over, the fission of the larger nucleus can yield energy. It is this exception that Weaver and his collaborators suggest using. The way to go about it is first to fuse nuclei of hydrogen and of boron-11, the most common form of boron. Lasers would be used to irradiate from all sides a small pellet containing a mixture of ?the two elements. The laser light would cause heating and an implosion in which the two elements would fuse. The fusion yields boron-12. The boron-12 would then fission, 99.9 percent of the time dividing evenly into three helium-4 nuclei. For the past year and a half physicists at LLL and the California Institute of Technology have been studying the characteristics of the reaction, using boron-11 sam- ples and protons from an accelerator. Others in the work besides Weaver are Lowell L. Wood, who first proposed the use of this reaction, and G. B. Zimmerman, H. F. Lutz, I. D. Proctor and W. Bartolini at LLL and T. A. Tombrello and M. ,Dwarkanth at Caltech. The proton fission of boron would be extremely clean of radioactive by-products, much cleaner than any other fission or fusion cycle now in use or proposed. Another advantage is that the energy is carried off by charged particles, making conversion to electric energy easier than for most other cycles, which tend to yield energetic neutrons. The energy of the boron fission could be converted directly into electric currents by collecting the charged helium nuclei at electrodes or by magnetohydrodynamic (stim) methods. The milD method being considered would use a pulse of energy from the boron reaction to expand a preexisting magnetic field across an electrical conductor. The change in the field would cause a current to flow in the conductor.. Energetic neutrons have to be trapped in a substance, which they heat. The heat is used to boil water to make electricity in a steam turbine. There are other elements that are one proton shy of having an integral number of helium nuclei. They include nitrogen-15 (four heliums), lithium-7 (two heliums) and fluorine-19 (five heliums). But boron-11 was found to produce the highest net energy under reactor conditions. It is likely to be many years before a boron reactor is operating. Weaver stresses the extreme technological difficulties involved in bringing the idea to fruition. One of the worst of them is the extremely high temperature necessary, 3 billion degrees, and the requirement of lasers 10 times as energetic (100,000 joules) as those now con- templated for fusion reactors using other cycles. Thus the boron cycle is likely to come into use later than the other proposed fusion cycles. But the cleanliness of the reaction and the abundance of its fuel (boron is plentiful in the oceans and in dry lake beds) may make it a desir- able future alternative to them. Lasers measure moon distances to 6 inches "How high the moon?" asks a ro- mantic song. Whatever the answer may mean to lovers, the exact height of the moon is a datum of great importance to science. The exact distance to the moon can be used to study continental drift, polar wandering, phenomena in- side the earth and the mass distribution in the interior of the moon. Now work with laser beams reflected off devices on the moon has succeeded in measuring variations in the earth- moon distance to an accuracy of 6 292 inches?the most accurate measurement ever. Work in the next year or so is ex- pected to narrow the figure to about 1 inch. The measurements are the work of the Lunar Ranging Experiment (LURE) team, a group of scientists headed by James Faller of the National Bureau of Standards' Boulder laboratories. The men in the moon, specifically those of Apollo 11, 14 and 15, placed arrays of corner reflectors at various points on the moon's surface. (Corner reflectors are shaped like cubes cut in half along the diagonal; they send light back in the direction it came.) Pulses of laser light sent through a telescope from earth are reflected back, and their flight is precisely timed. Since the roughly 235,000-mile distance to the moon. varies, the experiment must be done repeatedly for a long time to gain a statistically significant picture of the moon's motions. The pulses take about one and a quarter seconds to get to the moon. When the light beam arrives, it has spread to a diameter of two miles. By the time it gets back to earth it has spread to 10 miles. Only a billion- billionth of the light sent out comes back to the detector on earth, yet it is enough, but just barely, to activate a photoelectric mechanism that stops the clock. science news, vol. 104 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Off to Mercury with a cold glance Mercury ho! Mariner 10 is on its way. Venus ho, too. Launched at 12:45 a.m. (Esr) on Nov. 3, Mariner should pass within 3,300 miles of Venus on Feb. 5. It will then become the first spacecraft to use a technique, proposed some 12 years ago, of letting the gravi- tational field of one planet bend its course around toward a second objec- tive. That's Mercury, of course, where it will arrive less than two months later, on March 29. After that it will swing around the sun and come back for a second look at Mercury 176 days later, and possibly a third (SN: 10/6/72, p. 220). Mariner's most exciting data may come from a 'pair of television cam- eras, which should provide the first close look at the sun's nearest planetary companion, revealing surface featurcs less than a mile across. But there's a problem. After 53 minutes after launch, when flight controllers signaled the space- craft to turn on the 12 heaters that are supposed to protect its delicate com- ponents from the cold of space, the two heaters for the cameras failed to re- spond. This posed a double threat: the absolute cold itself, and the difference in temperature between the front and rear ends of the telescopes that will magnify the cameras' view. If the differ- ence gets too great, the barrels holding the telescope lenses could warp, distort- ing the TV images. With the heaters working, the cam- eras' vidicon tubes should each be at 60 degrees F., the rear ends of the tele- scopes (protected by the spacecraft) at 47 degrees and the front ends at 40 de- grees. Instead, by Nov. 6 the vidicon tubes had chilled to 14 degrees, the telescope rears to minus four degrees, and the front ends to minus 22 degrees. In early test pictures taken of the NASA Looking at Mercury from 621 miles. november 10, 1973 / CVLEANUUNSCAHT "pl MERCURY AT LAUNC/71%........ AND JAN 28,1974 MERCT4FACOUNTER 0 MAR H 29, 1974 ENCOUNTER VENUS FEB 5, 1974 ? EARTH MARCH 29/ 1974 NASA Thanks to Venus, Mariner 10 will be the first spacecraft to visit Mercury. moon and earth, scientists running the mission at Jet Propulsion Laboratory at one point thought they saw some dis- tortion, but later changed their minds. Another problem appeared when an experiment designed to study a range of energy levels in the solar wind stuck at the high end of its voltage sweep. "It's getting a few cosmic ray-type parti- cles," said an official, "but none of the solar wind." This, too, was believed to be a possible heater problem, since the instrument was "performing as it would with a cold start." Officials planned to send "on-off-on" commands to the heaters in hopes that they will respond, after first trying the procedure on a backup spacecraft on the ground at the Kennedy Space Cen- ter in Florida. Broadcasting the air's temperatures from space Ten years ago the eighth of the Tiros weather satellites was launched into orbit, carrying an experimental device that allowed anyone to receive photos of the earth directly from the satellite. Users needed only relatively inexpensive equipment and no longer had to wait for the satellite's signals to be processed and delivered from a central computer complex. As recently as a year ago, says Marvin Harper, a sensor engineer for RCA Corp., which has built most of the U.S. civilian weather satellites, it was assumed that this direct-readout capa- bility would be needed only for photos. For more detailed data such as tem- perature profiles, users would presum- ably be willing to wait up to 12 hours for centralized processing and delivery. But since then, some 25 countries have shown an interest in just such a read- out capability for other data. This week they got their wish. NOAA- 3, the newest U.S. weather satellite, was launched Nov. 7 from California with a device to let users receive di- rectly from the satellite temperature profiles measured at six altitudes rang- ing from the surface of the earth up to about 20 miles. Data can be received when the satellite is above a spot as far as 1,800 miles away from the ground station, so that, for example, India could watch for conditions indi- cating an approaching monsoon. / VERTICAL TEMPERATURE PROFILE RADIOMETERS 'AvX:BOvl ncTugEgAn ? RCA NOAA-3 tells temperatures for anyone. Except for the direct readout equip- ment, NOAA-3 is virtually identical to N0AA-2, launched Oct. 15, 1972, and with another satellite that would have been N0AA-3 but failed ?to reach orbit in July of this year. The profile sensor has a resolution of about 30 miles; another temperature probe provides half-mile resolution, but it requires a receiving antenna that would be too expensive to interest most direct users. The satellite is expected to cover every point on the globe twice a day. 0 293 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Comet Kohoutek Switching off allergies: A 'silencer' molecule? An allergy is a superreaction of a supersensitive person to substances as diverse as pollen, dust, steamed clams or penicillin. Allergy victims announce their presence by wheezes, sneezes, tearing eyes or runny noses. Thirty-one million Americans suffer from allergies. They lose $285 million in work hours annually because of their problem. The only treatment now available is time-consuming, costly and too often ineffective. It consists of weekly shots of the allergen (substance) to which a person is supposedly allergic. Why such shots desensitize some patients and not others is not clearly under- stood. A more effective and economical treatment for allergies is needed, and one promising approach is being ex- plored by David H. Katz, Toshiyuki Hamaoka and Baruj Benacerraf of Harvard Medical School. These three research immunologists report in the October PROCEEDINGS OF THE NA- TIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES that they have managed to switch off, in mice, the class of antibodies that causes allergies. They hope they'll be able to take a similar tack in switching off allergies in people. When a specific organic molecule? "Dnp"?is linked with a protein and then injected into an animal, it prompts lymphocytes in the animal to make the class of antibodies that causes al- lergies. But when Dnp is linked with a particular molecule that does not exist in nature?"D-GL"?and is then injected into an animal, the lympho- cytes no longer make the antibodies. Why the Dnp-D-GL packet triggers this response is not yet known. But being able to switch the antibodies off may constitute a way of switching off allergies. Just injecting a Dnp-D-GL packet won't turn off allergies, though, Katz 294 A photograph of the comet Kohoutek in last week's issue, taken Sept. 29, failed to reproduce accurately when enlarged for printing. This more recent photo of the approaching comet was taken Oct. 26 by astronomers at the University of California's Lick Observatory, using the observatory's 20-inch astrograph. The comet should soon be visible to the naked eye above the southeastern horizon before morning twilight. It will not become an evening object until Dec. 28, after it passes around the sun. In early January it may be magnificent in the west-southwest after sunset. says. The reason is that lymphocytes of different specificities are involved in each allergic response. Wiping out the lymphocytes that respond to Dnp won't wipe out the lymphocytes that respond to a particular allergen. So the allergen in question would have to substitute for Dnp in the Dnp-D-GL package. This way those lymphocytes that nor- mally respond to the allergen would no longer respond because the allergen is hooked to the silencer D-GL. In other words, if you were allergic to pencillin, you would get injections of penicillin allergen linked to D-GL. Or if you were allergic to ragweed pollen, you would get ragweed allergen linked to D-GL. "We are in the process of making a molecule of a ragweed al- lergen linked with D-GL to test initial- ly in mice," Katz says. Because only specific lymphocytes would be turned off by this method, Katz is not unduly concerned that lymphocytes needed to fight infections would be wiped out. But there is this possibility. So for this and other rea- sons related to possibly harmful side effects, more research has to be done before lymphocyte silencing can be used to treat allergies. 0 A record year for tornadoes in the U.S. After only five months of 1973 had passed, meteorologists were beginning to think that it might well become the Year of the Tornado (SN: 6/16/73, p. 387). Now they know it. On ?Sept. 25, tornado No. 930 set a new record for the number of twist- ers in the United States in a single year, breaking a mark which had stood since 1967. Less than a week into November the number was up to 975. Besides the national record, 10 states ?Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kan- sas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina and Ohio ?have each been blasted with un- )recedented numbers of tornadoes this year. From 1916 through 1935, the first 20 years during which coordinated records were kept, there was an average of about 136 twisters reported per year. In the 20 years ending in 1972, however, the annual average was up to 659. Much of the difference is due to better reporting of storms, says Allen Pearson, director of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center in Kan- sas City. Nonetheless, he says, it does seem that for some reason the numbers of tornadoes have been growing in recent years. This is the third year in a row in which the total has exceeded 700 (it had only happened three pre- vious times in the past), and the twelfth year in 14 with more than 600 tornadoes. The death toll, fortunately, is low. There have been 75 fatalities so far in 1973, compared to a 20-year aver- age of 114 and an all-time record of 794 in 1925 (689 of them due to a single titanic twister that blitzed Mis- souri, Illinois and Indiana). A lot of the credit for the low death tolls, says Pearson, goes to improved warning systems. Perhaps the largest single system is Project Skywarn, op- erated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and so far working in 30 states and the Dis- trict of Columbia. A NOAA educational program urges any person actually spotting a tornado, either visually or on radar, to report it to the nearest National Weather Service office or law enforcement agency (who will relay it to the NWS). There the warning is checked and sent out, with an alert signal, over the NOAA Weather Wire service to radio and television stations. Last month, for example, a tornado was reported heading for SalMa, Kan. Besides the radio and TV warnings, a network of 16 sirens was used to sound an alert, and law enforcement officials patrolled the streets in the section where the twister was predicted to strike. When the tornado struck, it roared straight through a trailer camp on the edge of the city, but the camp's population of about 80 had gathered in a shelter beneath the camp club- house. The clubhouse itself exploded, and the 44 mobile homes were totally destroyed. ("I saw it myself," says Pearson. "Most of the debris was no more than knee high.") Death toll: Zero. The tornado's rampage was far from over, however. It hopped along the ground from town to town?from Sa- lina to New Cambria to Niles to Clay Center to Greenleaf?flattening hun- dreds of homes, businesses and other structures, yet only three fatalities re- sulted. 0 science news, vol. 104 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 How go the grizzlies? C.) An emotional debate In his Oct. 31 syndicated column, Jack Anderson reported that "a secret Interior Department study" warns that grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park are in danger of extinction be- cause their food supply?garbage dumps?has been suddenly closed down. Shutting the dumps abruptly has driven "the panicky bears into camp- sites and off-park lands, where they have been shot." How much truth there is in these comments depends on whom you ask. Grizzlies seem to arouse as much emo- tionalism as motherhood and apple pie. The study Anderson apparently refers to was conducted over the past eight years by grizzly authorities John and Frank Craighead. John, in Mis- soula, Mont., is an Interior employee. His brother, in Moose, Wyo., is not, and therefore is in a better position to speak freely about the controversial grizzlies. The rapid phaseout of dumps is over now, Frank Craighead told SCIENCE NEWS, but "the situation is really criti- cal for the grizzlies. We feel that there are not more than a hundred left now." And because of the rapid shutting of the dumps, he says, "We know of 118 grizzlies killed in 1970, 1971 and 1972. . . . They [the Yellowstone staff] have the attitude, particularly in recent years, that they can do anything. It is a real dictatorship." "No way!" counters Glen Cole, su- pervisory research biologist at Yellow- stone. "We haven't shot a bear this year, and we haven't had an injury, and everything is working out beauti- fully on the program." The grizzlies have reverted back to feeding in the wild, Cole claims. "We have good data this year," he says. "There are 250 to 290 grizzlies in Yellowstone." Deaths among the Yellowstone griz- zlies were "drastically reduced" this year, and "as far as we can tell, their reproductive rate is increasing," asserts Charles Lovless, acting assistant direc- tor of the Bureau of Sports, Fisheries and Wildlife in Washington, D.C. The Bureau, part of Interior, is processing the Craigheads' study. Although the study is still preliminary, a copy of it is available to anyone who is in- terested. "The report is not published as a scientific publication," says Lov- less. "It is a preliminary report that has been prepared, and we are not prone to muzzle our research people. If they have data that show certain kinds of conclusions in their view, then they have every opportunity and right to publish it. The thing.they have to answer to is the opinion of their peers." 0 november 10, 1973 OTA finally funded; Dadceio gets the call The long-awaited Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (oTA) has finally been granted $2 million to get started, and ex-congressman Emilio Q. Daddario (D-Conn.), who introduced the original bill to establish the office, back in 1967, was last week appointed director. OTA has been praised as a legislative alternative for the now defunct White House Office of Science and Technology (osT) and condemned as a "shadow cabinet" to further the political ambitions of Sen. Edward Kennedy. As the organization finally shapes up, it will be neither so power- ful nor so partisan. The permanent staff of OTA, headed by Daddario, will act as intermedi- aries between a board of Congressmen, headed by Kennedy, and an ad- visory council of "distinguished citizens," which in turn will appoint panels of experts to be responsible for investigations into specific technical areas. Actual assessment studies will be conducted by various contractors, includ- ing universities, think-tanks and private laboratories. The Congressional Technology Assessment Board hardly looks like a "shadow cabinet." Members are evenly divided by party and political per- suasion. They are Senate Democrats Kennedy, Hollings and Humphrey; Senate Republicans Case, Dominick and Schweiker; House Democrats Davis (Ga.), Teague and Udall; and House Republicans Mosher, Gubser and Harvey. Congress originally conceived OTA as a kind of "watchdog" organization over technology, comparable to the legislative branch's Government Ac- counting Office that keeps track of Administration spending. But eradica- tion of OST may give OTA new duties as an originator of science and tech- nology policy. "Our activities will be the principal focus for science policy in the country," an aide to Kennedy told SCIENCE NEWS, "by stepping into the vacuum left by the demise of OST." That's a tall order for an organization with the tiny funding rate of $3 million a year, and ambitions of studying the energy crisis, environmental problems and biomedical issues. One recent study of the nation's energy crisis, conducted by the National Petroleum Council, for example, cost some $10 million by itself. Specific OTA projects will not be announced until after an expected two-month start-up period. Soviet psychiatry: A peek inside Soviet psychiatrists have failed to convince their Western counterparts that psychiatry in the U.S.S.R. is not being used as a political tool. Return- ing from Moscow, American Psychi- atric Association President Alfred M. Freedman said last week: "My experi- ence certainly has not quieted at all my concern. If anything, I would say it makes me feel it is even more im- portant that we have a thorough-going follow-up discussion." The meeting with the Soviets was the result of a cablegram from Freed- man to officials of Soviet psychiatry, asking for a discussion of "charges that involuntary psychiatric confine- ment has been used unjustly and with- out regard to human rights, including suppression of political dissent" (SN: 10/13/73, p. 230). At the meeting Freedman got the impression that "dissent, criticism or opposition are considered to be bizarre behaviors and important manifestations of disease . . deviance appears tolerable," he went on, "until it is involved with political dissent." Although no patients were interviewed and only summaries of six cases were presented, Freedman sees the meeting as a good beginning. He has asked the Soviets to allow a more complete in- vestigation that would include private examination of patients with neutral interpreters. The Soviets, however, took a dim view of this request. Science and technology 'being wrongly blamed' Science and technology are being wrongly blamed for the troubles of contemporary society, contend Massa- chusetts Institute of Technology Presi- dent Jerome B. Wiesner and Chancel- lor Paul E. Gray in their annual report. "General disenchantment with sci- ence and technology would be more appropriately directed toward our so- ciety's decision-making processes for their slowness in recognizing the need for appropriate new technologies, than to science and technology itself. "If, as we maintain, many of our current difficulties are the result of not responding to error signals that were present . . . then the remedy is to come to grips with that problem rath- er than resenting our achievements in science and technology." 295 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 benaviorai sciences environLentai sciences Injectable birth control The contraceptive controversy, centering around issues of safety and efficacy, is far from over. The more effective a pill, cream, device or method seems to be, the more dan- gerous it seems to be. This holds true for the first and only injectable contraceptive to go on the market. The drug, Depo Provera (medroxyprogesterone), approved by the Food and Drug Administration for limited use as a contra- ceptive, is already on the market as a treatment for cancer of the uterus. This drug is more effective than other methods, pri- marily because it has to be injected only at three-month intervals. But, says the FDA, "While the drug is clearly effective in preventing pregnancy, it presents the risk of infertility when use is discontinued. In addition, the drug has other adverse effects associated with the oral contra- ceptives." Evaluating eight years of research, the FDA has found that most women who use the drug can become pregnant, but only several months after discontinuance. Other adverse effects include possible relationships to breast tumors and blood clotting. Money and mental illness The causes of many types of mental illness remain a mystery, but M. Harvey Brenner of Johns Hopkins Uni- versity suggests that money may be at the root of this particular evil. In Mental Illness and the Economy (Har- vard University Press, Nov. 1973) Brenner documents the direct relationship between national economic instability (low employment rates, etc.) and mental illness. Economic and institutional data from 1841 to 1967 show that this relationship has remained constant. "It is clear," he says, "that instabilities in the national economy have been the single most important source of fluctuation in mental- hospital admissions or admission rates." More on marijuana The latest of the myriad marijuana reports indicates that chronic cannabis use causes no harmful effects. An 18- month study, commissioned by HEW, was performed on the island of Jamaica by the Research Institute for the Study of Man in New York and the University of the West Indies in Kingston. For the study, 30 confirmed marijuana users (some had used the drug for 37 years) were matched with 30 controls who had never used the drug or who had only slight ex- perience with it many years ago. None of the 60 had used heroin, morphine, LSD, amphetamines, barbiturates or jim- son weed. Extensive clinical and psychological tests found no significant differences between the groups. Parents, peers and pot The role of peer pressure in adolescent drug use is well known. Most young users get turned on for the first time by their friends. But, says Denise Kandel of Columbia University, the adolescent most likely to be a regular user of marijuana is one whose parents and peers both use psychoactive drugs. Kandel studied 8,000 New York State high-school students. The proportion of them who had used marijuana 60 times or more jumped from 2 percent among those whose friends had never smoked dope to 48 percent among those whose friends were 60-time users. This figure went up to 67 percent among those whose friends and par- ents were drug users. 296 Worldwide environmentalism still shaky The problems of industrialization without destroying valuable natural resources in developing countries was the subject of an international conference in New York City last month. Sponsored by the World Federation of Engi- neering Organizations, the conference was attended by 95 scientists, engineers and administrators from 34 countries. The attitude of most, according to a report in CHEMICAL AND ENGINEERING NEWS, was that economic and industrial growth must come before ecology in developing nations. "In developing countries one can feel less anguish over future generations owing to the already sufficiently anguish- ing situation of the present generations," said Mohamed A. Isli, secretary general of the Union of Algerian Engineers. The situation appears particularly critical in India where sulfur dioxide levels reach 0.223 micrograms per cubic meter of air in Delhi and 0.71 in Calcutta. The permissible limit in the United States is 0.1 and in Russia, 0.05. A recent study conducted by the Ford Foundation tends to confirm the conclusion that economic and social pres- sures are forcing developing countries "to exploit rapidly their natural wealth at the expense of future consequences." The study cites an example of aerial crop spraying killing large numbers of fish and cattle recently in Indonesia. To help meet the challenge, a World Environment and Resources Council was recently formed, bringing together various national engineering and scientific associations as charter members. American peregrine falcon almost gone Despite efforts to reestablish America's peregrine falcon population (SN: 9/8/73, p. 158), the species has almost disappeared from the United States, according to an an- nouncement by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the De- partment of the Interior. Once ranging from Georgia to Alaska, no peregrines in the wild are left east of the Rockies, and only 65 active nesting sites are known in western Mexico, the United States and southern Canada. A study of 14 of these sites, conducted by James H. Enderson of Colorado State Uni- versity, found that only three eyases were successfully fledged this year. The major cause of the decline, the announcement states, is eggshell thinning because of DDT. This long-standing ex- planation of the bird's decline received further confirma- tion during the present study when unhatched eggshells were found to contain high concentrations of the pesticide and its metabolites. Thin shells are easily broken by adult birds sitting on the nest. A 20 percent thinning of peregrine eggshells is now common. Do-it-yourself pollution monitoring An Oregon State University botanist has developed a method for laymen to estimate accurately ?the average, long-term air pollution in their areas by observing lichens, the crinkly colonies of fungus and algae that grow on rocks and trees. The study, conducted by William C. Denison for the National Science Foundation, concluded that some lichens are so hardy while others are so sensitive to pollu- tants that a scale could be devised whereby the pollution in an area can be gauged by which native lichens have sur- vived. (Denison's work is available under the title "A Guide to Air Quality Monitoring with Lichens," for $3 including postage, from Lichen Technology Inc., Box 369, Corvallis, Ore. 97330). science news, vol. 104 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 0 Lei give your !Mends an insight into Me world 01 science ihis Christmas science news will give them a greater awareness and understand- ing of scientific progress ... tell them what science is doing ... why it's important to them This Christmas, share SCIENCE NEWS with your friends. They will appreciate the opportunity to learn about new scientific developments and dis- coveries that can affect their lives, their jobs, their future. And in this day of changing social directions, they will especially appreciate the perspective SCIENCE NEWS gives to the issues involving science and society. 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Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Elm WAIr AP"1"416.\ I 111 / Alrgb, All / I I I or Iatm ' ?Iv tw 7 ma a, liana74- INN la iftdorai innit - tVwAII/ IlliodrAIIII1WwArl AF AI .10 _or ESP and and ASC by Robert J. Trotter "My lad, you are invincible," the Delphic oracle told young Alexander the Great. And Alexander, being a great believer in prophets, went on to fulfill the seeing lady's prediction. Even so, there were probably some skeptics who doubted the words of the famous oracle and bet on the Persians. Then, as today, the skeptics had to be shown before they would believe. And a basic paradigm of Western science has al- ways been that "nothing is in the in- tellect which is not first in the senses." This strict empirical attitude is at the heart of an ongoing controversy. There have always been and continue to be reports of strange happenings that cannot be explained away in physical or sensory terms. Among these illusive events are a group of interactions loose- ly termed parapsychological or psi phenomena. Extrasensory perception (EsP) is a psi phenomenon. It is an in- teraction between an organism and the external environment (including other organisms) that is not mediated by rec- ognized sensory functions. Examples of ESP include telepathy (perception of another person's thoughts), clairvoyance (perceptions of objects or events not present to the senses) and precognition (the oracle's trick of seeing into the future). The first serious attempts to study psi events under strictly scientific con- ditions began in 1882 in London at the Society for Psychical Research. Three years later, William James began inves- tigating similar events in New York at the American Society of Psychical Re- search. These early studies attempted to authenticate individual cases of re- ported psi events. But this is not the way to go about studying psychic phe- nomena, in the view of Charles Honor- ton: "Spontaneous cases, however thor- 298 With highly probable proof that extrasensory perception and similar anomalous phenomena exist, scientists now ask how oughly authenticated, cannot provide adequate assessment of such potentially contaminating factors as chance coin- cidence, unconscious interference, sen- sory leakage, retroactive falsification or deliberate fraud." Honorton is a senior researcher in the division of parapsy- chology ?and psychophysics in the de- partment of psychiatry at the Maimoni- des Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. This research center, formerly known as the dream laboratory, has been in- vestigating various forms of ESP since the early 1960's. Honorton is writing a book he describes as a detailed critical summary of all ESP research since 1940. To avoid charges of fraud and to keep their work on solid scientific foot- ing, serious parapsychologists intro- duced card-guessing and probability theory into their studies. J. B. Rhine and his associates at Duke University in Durham, N.C., popularized card- guessing as an experimental approach in 1934. Rhine devised a standard set of procedures around a simplified deck of cards. The cards, called Zenner cards, had five markings?either a cir- cle, square, cross, star or wave. A send- er in one room would pick cards from the deck at random while a receiver in another room attempted to guess the geometric shape on the card. The probability of success is one in five. But Rhine soon found that some sub- jects do better than others, and here is where the laws of probability come in. The odds are one in six that a sub- ject will guess 220 correct out of 1,000 cards. The odds go up to one in 2,000 if, after 5,000 guesses, the same sub- ject has continued to guess correctly at a rate of ten percent above chance. The odds go up to one in 2,000,000 after 10,000 guesses if the same sub- ject is still getting 11 correct (instead of 10) out of every 50. Some of Rhine's subjects began to get such astronomi- cal results?results that are more than significant in any of the hard sciences. "As a stimulant to experimental re- search on the probability of psi com- munication, the Rhine monograph had an influence which was totally unprece- dented in the history of psychical re- search," says Honorton of Rhine's 1934 paper. Many researchers, using similar methodology, began to report significant results in favor of ESP. This success, however, stimulated a flurry of criticism in the psychological literature. Between 1934 and 1940, 60 critical papers appeared. They attacked card- guessing on every methodological level, and did turn up some cases of record- ing error and even fraud. Some even suggested that there might be a funda- mental defect in probability theory. The scientifically oriented investiga- tors of psi reacted to the criticism by tightening up their procedures, and by 1940 the active methodological contro- versy was over. "It is evident," says Honorton, "that while published criticism of the ESP work generally ceased by 1940, the de- cline of active controversy did not lead to widespread acceptance of the ESP hypothesis in the scientific community. Many psychologists appear to have adopted and stuck to the attitude of one researcher who defined ESP as "Error Some Place." While such hard-line skepticism and controversy still represent difficult bar- riers for the parapsychologists, there seems to have been?especially within the past five years?a change of atti- tude on the part of some scientists. Some are beginning to view parapsy- chological research (no matter what its implications) as at least a valid endeav- science news, vol. 104 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved or. In 1969, tor instance, the rather staid American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science granted the Para- psychology Association an affiliate membership. At the meeting of the American Psychological Association this year, parapsychologists presented a number of papers and have applied for division membership within that organization. And the National Institute of Mental Health has even awarded grants for the study of psi phenomena. A similar change of attitude can be seen in England. Last year the NEW SCIENTIST polled its readership (mostly scientists and technologists) and found that only three percent of 1,500 re- spondents considered ESP to be an im- possibility. But almost 70 percent said they felt psi phenomena were not being studied properly. They suggested that physicists, rather than psychologists, be involved (SN: 2/10/73, p. 88). Honorton agrees. Speaking at the APA meeting, he said, "I think there will con- tinue to be little progress in this area until there is more interdisciplinary in- volvement; a convergence of physical. biological and behavioral science on what appears to be a psychophysical problem." We will have to, he says, "adopt the strategies of science rather than the mentality of magicians." Montague Ullman and Stanley Kripp- ner (also at the Maimonides Center) have been attempting to employ such strategies for the past 13 years. They have been attempting to determine how ESP works, not that it works. A major portion of their research has been done on dreams. Throughout history, dreams have been regarded as a prime source of ESP experiences. Four international sur- veys, including one taken by Rhine, For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RD havQ 'Wu that Up to 65 percent of all spoaatieous ESP experiences reported have come through dreams. Ullman and Krippner decided to attempt to induce telepathic dreams under controlled con- ditions. "With the development of psy- chophysiological techniques for the monitoring of sleep," explains Kripp- ner, "it became possible to move from a clinical level of observation to an experimental level." In the dream studies, the person be- ing studied sleeps at the dream lab. Electroencephalograph electrodes are fastened to the subject's scalp and movement sensors to the subject's eye- lids. In this manner, brain wave changes that accompany dreaming are moni- tored, and rapid eye movement (REM) is monitored as another indication of dreaming. Experimenters rouse the subject every time there has been a dream. The subject describes the dream in detail and then goes back to sleep until another dream is registered. This procedure collects much more dream detail than if the experimenters waited until morning. In the morning, how- ever, the subject is reinterviewed and additional material and subconscious as- sociations are collected. While the subject sleeps in a sound- proof room behind four closed doors, an agent (at least 100 feet away) at- tempts to transmit a message or image to the dreamer via ESP. A colorful art print is most often the subject of the message. Prints with a highly emotion- al content (sexual, religious, etc.), the researchers have found, are most easily transmitted. The print for a particular night is chosen at random from a large collection after the subject is asleep. Only the agent or sender knows what the picture is. november 10, 1973 Sweet dreams: Electrodes in place, a dream subject prepares for a novel night's sleep in a soundproof room while Krippner monitors electro- encephalograph readings. Harold Friedman from Dream Telepathy P79-00999A000200010089-8 After th, details of the dreams have been transcribed, they are sent, along with the copies of all the possible tar- get pictures, to a group of independent judges. The judges compare the dream details and rank the pictures accord- ing to the amount of correspondence each seems to have to the dream. In more instances than would be predicted by chance, there was a significant re- lationship found between what was sent and what was received. More than 100 subjects have taken part in these dream experiments (usual- ly for eight or more nights). And 13 of the more elaborate studies (four of which were not statistically significant) have been published in parapsychologi- cal or psychological journals. Many of the other dream studies have been de- scribed by Ullman and Krippner in Dream Telepathy (Macmillan Publish- ing Co., Sept. 1973). In one experiment, the target pic- ture was a Japanese print, "Downpour at Shono." It showed a man walking in a driving rain. During the night the sending agent tried to get actively in- to the picture by taking a lot of show- ers and playing with a toy Japanese umbrella. Describing the night's dreams, the subject reported, "something about an Oriental man . . . a fountain, water spray that would shoot up. . . . Walking with someone on the street. . . . Rain- ing." According to Krippner and Ullman results such as this have gone beyond the point of proving ESP. They have shown that altered states of conscious- ness (Asc), such as dreaming, facilitate such events. Accordingly, they have done experiments on various other al- tered states of consciousness. The "witch's cradle," or suspended ?-?- 3 ? 0? ?IF I a *. ? /- ? 299 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 s, Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 they use to produce an ASC. The cradle is a metal platform, suspended from above, which is free to swing several inches off the ground. As the subject stands on the platform, even subtle body movements make the cradle rock er- ratically, but gently, in a random fash- ion. After several minutes on the cradle, in a dark and soundproof room, most subjects loose all sense of physical ori- entation and begin to have visual, and sometimes auditory hallucinations. The researchers have found that many of these hallucinations are veridical?they correspond to real-life experiments out- side the suspension room. In a study reported by Honorton, subjects in this ASC obtained significant results in guess- ing which pictures were telepathically sent. Chance expectancy was 50 per- cent. The subjects who reported being in an ASC were correct 76 percent of the time. A milder ASC can be produced by providing an isolated subject with a homogeneous visual field (ganzfeld) and continuous auditory stimulation. The subject in a ganzfeld experiment sits relaxed in an easy chair. Ping-Pong ball halves are taped over the subject's open eyes and a red light is turned on. This produces a blank red field of vision and keeps outside influences from interfering with any internally pro- duced visual imagery. The auditory stimulation comes through earphones and is usually a tape of something calming, such as the sound of the ocean. This keeps auditory sensory in- puts at a constant level. The subject is left alone and instructed to think out loud and report any feelings or visual images. The reports are taped and re- corded, usually for 30 minutes. Mean- while, a sender outside the room views stereoscopic pictures (because it is be- lieved that the more real the message is for the sender, the more real it will be for the receiver) and attempts to transmit them to the subject. In this type of experiment, Honorton reports, "the target programs were correctly identified in 43 percent of the cases, significantly above the expected chance level of 25 percent." Where will all of this rather strange and eerie research lead? No one is now sure. It may be the beginning of the development of some exciting possibili- ties for the human race. Or it may be, as Freud once suggested, that ESP is a fading phenomenon, something that be- longed to our ancestors?not our de- scendants. "Telepathy," he said, "could be the original archaic means by which individuals understood each other and which was pushed into the background in the course of phylogenic develop- ment by a better method of communi- cation, i.e., that of signs perceived by the sensory organs." 0 300 Excursion into ESP: Sitting alone with Ping-Pong ball halves over my eyes, a red light shining in my face and earphones piping the sounds of the sea into my head, I must have looked as foolish as I felt. But I had asked for it. This was the ganzfeld setup in the para- psychology lab at Maimonides. My task was to think out loud for 30 minutes while someone on the out- side listened but did not answer. After about a five minute delay, while I tried to relax and think of something to say, I decided to tell a few sea stories. These led to other associations and, eventually, a rather disconnected stream-of-consciousness monologue that went something like this: "Now I see something?a white circle?a lot of boxes and strange lines and shapes?black, white, deep red. The circles are turning into things. I see faces, clocks. I have a strange floating sensation. I am tilted to the left. My sense of balance is gone, I feel disoriented. . . . Now I see something else?green. Every- thing else has been red, black or white. A bright green triangle?a Christmas tree. It's squat and on its side. It's only in my left eye. . . ." This kind of talk went on until some- one said, "Time's up. You've been talking more than a half hour." The aim of the experiment is to induce a slightly altered state of con- sciousness and then attempt to use ESP to transmit an image. While I was in the room, an experimental package was randomly selected. The package contained four View Master slides and instructions for a sender to look at and attempt to send the contents of one slide to me during a specified five-minute period. When I came out of the room, my comments were read back and I was told to look at all four slides. (The sender had seen only one of them.) I saw 3-D pictures of Yellowstone Park, Superman, a collection of geo- logical specimens and Ford's theater. There seemed to be only a few pic- tures that corresponded to my im- ages: a boat on a lake could have been related to one of my sea stories, the cartoon drawings of Superman were similar to the strange circle- like faces I had seen. But nothing really struck me until I looked at the slide of the rock collection. One par- ticular rock was bright green and triangular, exactly like what I had called a Christmas tree. The vivid color and shape were so striking that, without hesitation, I ranked the rocks first as the most likely target. The sender or agent was then called back into the room. He was the only person who knew what had been sent. That's right, it was the rock slide. The time of sending cor- responded with the time I saw the image of the Christmas tree. Did I really receive a telepathic message? I think I did, but I wouldn't try to talk anyone else into believing me. A single incident like this is only enough to convince the person in- volved. The parapsychologists know that thousands of reliable, controlled experiments are necessary before such findings become significant. And serious scientists are trying to do just this, not only at Maimonides, but at more than 30 universities and nu- merous research centers across the country. My thanks to Pat Barker, Sharon Harper and David Torres?the young man who sent me a Christmas tree. * * * * With visions of ESP still fresh in my head, I saw something even harder to believe. At the invitation of the Isis Center in Silver Spring, Md., I interviewed Uri Geller?the Israeli psychic whose strange powers are being investigated by physicists at the Stanford Research Institute. Geller is best known for his ability to bend or break metal objects with- out applying any visible physical force. During the interview, I held a heavy key between my thumb and forefinger. The key began to bend? too slightly to be perceptible?after Geller rubbed it lightly with one finger. The key was then placed on the desk and it continued to bend slowly for several minutes until it reached about a 20-degree angle. There was no obvious way the key I supplied could have been switched. Geller had no chance (by slight of hand or other trickery) to bend the key by force. And he didn't have a laser up his sleeve, as some have sug- gested. Geller claims to have other powers that I didn't witness. He says, for instance, that he can sometimes de- materialize and materialize objects. He did, however, reproduce exactly a drawing that I did while his back was turned and his eyes were covered. It took 30 seconds. When I relate this tale, most peo- ple think that I have been duped. But seeing is believing. Even the in- vestigators at SRI have found no evi- dence of fraud and, though they draw no conclusions, they feel that further investigation is warranted. ?Robert J. Trotter science news, vol. 104 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 boos OF TH EW Books of the Week is an editorial service for readers' information. To order any book listed, or any U.S. book in print, please remit retail price, plus 25.% handling charge for each book to Book Order Service, Science News, 1719 N St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. All books sent postpaid. ACOUSTICS: Historical and Philosophical Development?R. Bruce Lindsay, Ed.?Dow- den-Hutchinson, 1973, 465 p., illus., $24. Presents summary history of acoustics from earliest times in terms of production, propa- gation and reception of sound, followed by 39 benchmark papers representing the evolu- tion of acoustics as a science. AGRICULTURE IN NEW JERSEY: A Three-Hundred-Year History?Hubert G. Schmidt?Rutgers U Pr, 1973, 335 p., maps, $15. Definitive historical study, from frontier- period status as one of the Bread Colonies to Garden State and the impact of modern technology on farm practices and operations. THE AMATEUR'S GUIDE TO CAVES AND CAVING?David R. McClurg?Stack- pole. 1973, 191 p., photographs, drawings by LaRhee Parker, $5.95; paper, $2.95. En- dorsed by the National Speleological Society, manual explains the scientific purpose, con- servation and safety rules, techniques and equipment for underground exploration. THE AMAZING STORY OF HEALTH CARE IN NEW CHINA?K. K. Jain? Rodale Pr, 1973, 184 p., photographs, $6.95. Canadian neurosurgeon's impressions of Chinese medical care, with its strong political overtone, stress on prevention, acupuncture, immunization programs, aided by a system of "barefoot doctors" and Red Guard doctors with minimum medical training. CRC HANDBOOK OF CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS: A Ready-Reference Book of Chem- ical and Physical Data?Robert C. Weast, Ed.?CRC Pr, 1973, 54th ed., 2,431 p., tables, $25.95. Revised, updated or expanded in sec- tions ranging from mathematical constants, cryogenic properties of gases, photometric units and standards, to limits of human ex- posure to air contaminants, and strengths of chemical bonds. CARDIOVASCULAR THERAPY; The Art and the Science?Henry I. Russek, M.D. and Burton L. Zohman, M.D., Eds.?Williams & Wilkins, 1973, 365 p., photographs, dia- grams, tables, $24. Represents the edited and indexed proceedings of the American College of Cardiology-St. Barnabas Hospital Sym- posium. Contributions blend precise scientific knowledge with clinical judgment. THE CONSCIOUS BRAIN?Steven Rose? Knopf, 1973, 354 p., illus., $10. Neurobiol- ogist discusses in layman's terms how neuro- biologists view the development of the brain sciences, the brain as a system, the evolution of brains and consciousness, specificity vs. plasticity, memory, emotion, sleep, madness. CRO-MAGNON MAN?Tom Prideaux and the Eds. of Time-Life Books?Time-Life Bks (Little), 1973, 160 p., color plates, photo- graphs, drawings, tables, $7.95. Describes ar- rival and development, 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, of hunting cavemen with the mental capacity and physical equipment to talk like modern man, as seen in testimony of Stone Age technology, sculpture and paintings. DEVELOPMENTS IN MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION: Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Mathematical Edu- cation?A. G. Howson, Ed.?Cambridge U Pr, 1973, 318 p., diagrams, $14.50; paper, $6.95. Work presented deals with a wide range of interest and all levels of mathemat- ical education from pre-school to university. november 10, 1973 Com ;'e on Geological Sciences, NRC- NAS?Lanfield Pr (Har-Row), 1973, 142 p., photographs, diagrams, paper, $1.95. Prepared by geologists to provide the concerned citizen with a basis for understanding how the earth changes and evolves, the interactions between land and sea, surface and interior, and how these forces relate to man's activities on earth. ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND SO- CIAL BEHAVIOR: Strategies for Research? Division of Behavioral Science, National Re- search Council?NAS, 1973, 86 p., paper, $4.50. Outlines research strategies directed toward improving knowledge about individ- ual, group, institutional and governmental behaviors that relate to problems of en- vironmental quality and management. FORM AND PATTERN IN HUMAN EVOLUTION: Some Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Approaches?Charles Ox- nard?U of Chicago Pr, 1973, 218 p., photo- graphs, drawings, $12.50. Describes sophisti- cated techniques, from multivariate statistical analysis to optical data methods, which enable anthropologists to analyze and deduct function from the structure of bones. GALAXIES OF LIFE: The Human Aura in Acupuncture and Kirlian Photography? Stanley Krippner and Daniel Rubin, Eds.? Interface Bk (Gordon), 1973, 182 p., color plates, photographs, diagrams, $12.50. See story SN 9/29/73, p. 202-204. GUITAR REPAIR: A Manual of Repair for Guitars and Fretted Instruments?Irving Sloane?Dutton, 1973, 95 p., photographs by author, $8.95. Photographs and text show clearly the necessary procedures of fine craftsmanship in restoring acoustic (hollow body) guitars?from warped necks and cracks to fractures and seam separations. HIGHER EDUCATION: Who Pays? .Who Benefits? Who Should Pay??Carnegie Com- mission on Higher Education?McGraw, ? P?Nrofj...,3, yap,x ?PJ.7.1? and recommendabons concerned with the very complicated questions of educational account- ing, user costs and benefits, user benefits versus societal benefits, and how to appor- tion funding. HOW TO GET YOUR CAR REPAIRED WITHOUT GETTING GYPPED?Margaret Bresnahan Carlson with Ronald G. Shafer ?Har-Row, 1973, 278 p., illus., tables, $5.95. Intended to give the nonmechanical car owner an understanding of how the repair system works, what to watch out for, and where to go. JOB POWER: Blue and White Collar De- mocracy?David Jenkins, Doubleday, 1973, 375 p., $8.95. Examines aspects of industrial democracy, the transfer of decision-making power to employees, and cites supporting evidence from the experience of business enterprises in the U.S., Germany, France, Israel, Yugoslavia and Scandinavia. LIFE BEYOND EARTH & THE MIND OF MAN?Richard Berendzen, Ed.?NASA (GPO), 1973, 106 p., illus., paper, $1.25. Abridged transcript of scientists' discussion exploring the implications of the possible existence of extraterrestrial life. THE TRAGEDY OF THE MOON?Isaac Asimov?Doubleday, 1973. 220 p., $6.95. Col- lection of science essays about such varied topics as the moon, the speed of light, car- bon, microorganisms, the thyroid gland, society, and science fiction writing. WALKING IN THE WILD: The Complete Guide to Hiking and Backpacking?Robert J. Kelsey?Funk & W, 1973, 362 p., photo- graphs, drawings, $6.95. Intended to serve as a guide, first to the principles of back- packing and, second, to the old and new types of equipment necessary for extended stays in the wilderness, stressing modern methods of camping in agreement with con- servation practices. Advice to youth on 1974 Science Fairs: Winning a prize is more satisfying than not winning a prize. Judges favor projects they can understand. Well-planned photography may help them understand. Now?not next spring?is the time to plan. We offer helpful hints. Write Dept. 841, Kodak, Rochester, N.Y. 14650. Any questions? 301 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 PUZZLES FOR PLEASURE A new collection of brain- challenging puzzles to exer- cise your mind and help you to reason logically by E. R. Emmet. Each puzzle provides fun and entertainment while it stimulates and challenges you. A fresh sense of achieve- ment comes with each puzzle you solve as you develop your imagination, insight and logic. Some are easy, some hard and others "impossible." No specialized knowl- edge of math required. Arranged in order of difficulty with solutions and complete explanations given. Illustrated Order Now only $6.95, plus 500 handling. 10-day Money-Back Guarantee EMERSON BOOKS, Inc., Dept. 156A Buchanan, N.Y. 10511 SCIENCE TEACHERS. Volunteer PEACE CORPS. Two years in local school systems of develop- ing countries overseas. Develop curricula/ teaching aids, train teachers, participate in team teaching workshops. U.S. Citizen, Single or Couples only. Information: Bruce Mazzie, ACTION, OCP Box T-17, Washington, D.C. 20525. WHITE'S METAL DETECTORS WHITE'S ELECTRONICS, INC. manufacture the World's Largest and Finest Line of Mm' oral and Metal Detectors. Ghosttowning, beachcombing, bottle hunting, coin hunting ?all types of TREASURE HUNTING or PROSPECTING, amateur or professional. Detect conductive metals?Gold, Silver, Copper Nuggets?Coins?Rings?Jewelry, etc. Underwater or on the land, "There are I no finer at any price." 25 production mod. ' els to choose from?SR. or B.F.O. Priced from $79.50 up ?Always specify the Blue 8 Gold? I ASK FOR WHITE'S BY NAME ?Free Literature? H TE'S ELECTRONICS Rm. Na. 395 1011 Pleosant Valley Rd. Sweet Home, Oregon 33784 Hazel Street Elk-Air Industrial Park Abbotsford, B.C. Dealer Drive, East :ago Canada Elkhart, Indiana 46514 BOOK ORDER SERVICE For the convenient purchase of any U.S. book in print you may avail yourself of Science News Book Order Service, 1719 N St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. We pay postage. Send 251 handling charge. Regular retail prices on all books. FIX LAWN MOWER FOR FUN & PROFIT! nating new Handbook Peterson gives you knowledge skilled me ics learn. OVER 125 ILLUSTRAT show how to trouble a repair carburetors; gines, balance ' sharpen blades, etc ploded drawings an tensively used. INSTRUCTIONS CC reel, rotary and ' mowers, preventive routine maintena how to identify brand names, where to oh replacement parts. How to buy and us lawn mower. Friends gladly pay $10 to to fix their lawn mowers. Try the HANDS( \ OF LAWN MOWER REPAIR. Rush only $6.95 plus 501 handling on 101 money-back guarantee. EMERSON BOOKS, INC. Dept. 157A Buchanan, New York 10511 DIGITAL:THEORY,OESIGN , CONSTRUCTION LOGIC NEWSLETTER* SAMPLE COPY $1.00 LOGIC NEWSLETTER P08252 14 WALOWICK,N.J.07463 HOTTEST TEACHING MACHINE IN SCIENCE TODAY It looks different. It is different. It's totally designed for science teaching. Academic StereoZoom Microscope by Bausch & Lomb lets science students relate to the specimen being studied without having to take a course in microscopy first. This unique, Bausch & Lomb microscope combines stereovision with an exclusive zoom magnification that makes for a natural relationship between the student and the specimen. Scanning the field at low magnification or zooming to a specific detail at higher magnification is as non-technical as watching a quarterback on TV. And list prices for this American-made instrument start at $151.* There is no longer an illumination problem. The turn of a knob allows selection of reflected light, transmitted light or a combination of the two, and it uses just one light bulb! These new instruments are well built, with every safeguard to prevent damage to assure long, maintenance-free, lifetime use. You have a need to know what's new. Write for the new catalog 31-2395 and our free demonstration offer, today. ?Fixed power model F-15. Illustrated?Zoom model Z25L2, suggested list, $231. StereoZoom. Reg. T.M. Bausch & Lomb. BAUSCH & LOMB SCIENTIFIC OPTICAL PRODUCTS DIVISION 16923 Bausch Street, Rochester, N. Y. 14602 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-0099-5A000200010089-8 ?1, _ r FLAT TIRE! twit,- 7 ' 1111,.IIII Million -.- - - . -.? - -. . . . ., . . , d. . ,-"?,----- , ( nowhere and your , ,,,,,,, . spare has Ir. . no air! What would you give to have your own compressor that works off your cigarette lighter? AUTO?FLATOR, 61/2" long, produces amazing 60 lbs. pressure! Pumps any size tire in minutes. Inflates space- saver spare, air-jacks, rafts, air mattresses, pools, etc. Operates on 12-volt system in auto, trailer, truck or boat. 10-day trial. Complete , with 10-fl. air hose, inflator attachments and plug. $2995 (plus $1.50 shipping) New-Powerful Long Range RADAR ,, ....___ .I$ .4 I., .., n , .,,,, 7 .?., , DETECTOR RADAR SENTRY GOES POWERFUL Safe drivers are alerted far in advance of radar zones thru new long-range an- tenna design-transistorized-no wires -comes complete-clip on visor and use. 10-day trial. $39.95 plus $1.00 pp. , to A., i r .. Never Be Late Again! POCKET ALARM TIMER Never get a parking ticket. This Timer Alarm prevents it. Precision Swiss Timer-Minder. Featherweight 11/2" timer comes on a keychain, takes settings for any time up to two hours. Gentle alarm reminds you time on meter, take roast out or leave for airport, etc. Prompt and punctual always. $8.95 plus 500 pp and handling. POW-r-TAP _ Operate portable power tools and appliances from your engine's al- ternator. Pow-R-TAP al- lows the use of one or more portable 115V AC- DC power tools and ap- pliances from your engine's alternator. In- stalls in minutes with. out special tools, delivers over 3,000 watts. Heavy duty saws, soldering irons, hedge trimmers, lamps, toasters, blenders and electric curlers, etc., can be operated. Even weld sheet metal up to 3/16". Excellent for starting other vehicles in cold climates and charging batteries in minutes. (Guaranteed for three years.) $24.95 + $1.00 post. Split-Image Transit The Most Revolutionary LEVEL 8 INCLINE ---. MEASURE .-..." ..., ... Ever Medal rw* - w, IDEAL FOR: ii Contour Plowing Carpentry -- Brick Laying I Cement Work - Surveying, etc. Leatherette $10.96 plus $1.25 DO. 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According to this publisher, many people, regardless of their present read- ing skill, can use this simple technique to improve their reading ability to a remarkable degree. Whether reading stories, books, technical matter, it be- comes possible to read sentences at a glance and entire pages in seconds with this method. To acquaint the readers of this pub- lication with the easy-to-follow rules for developing rapid reading skill, the company has printed full details of its interesting self-training method in a new booklet, "How to Read Faster and Retain More," mailed free to anyone who requests it. No obligation. Send your name, address and zip code to: Reading, 555 E. Lange Street, Dept. 857-07, Mundelein, Ill. 60060. A post- card will do. Plant a THINK TANK anywhere and watch the minds grow! home-office-school-park-club-churches-laboratory Unique instructional games designed by uni- versity professors to make learning fun through brain-to-brain action. Beginning games can be mastered by young children- final games will challenge intelligent adults. These are the famous GAMES FOR THINKERS from WFF 'N PROOF Publishers. WFF'N PROOF (logic) $8.75 QUERIES 'N THEORIES (science) 8.75 EQUATIONS (mathematics) 5.50 ON-SETS (set theory) 5.50 PROPAGANDA (social studies) 6.50 ON-WORDS (word structures) 5.50 CONFIGURATIONS (geometry) 5.50 TRI-NIM (problem solving) 4.50 REAL NUMBERS (arithmetic) 2.25 WFF (beginner's logic) 1.75 QWIK-SANE (puzzle) 1.75 TAC-TICKLE (pure strategy) 1.25 Teacher's Manual 1.25 RODIN'S THINKERS BOOKENDS 11.00 Complete 12-kit THINK TANK. & Teachers Manual with bookends (Save 10.25) 59.50 without bookends (Save 9.251 49.50 Order from: WFF 'N PROOF Please Make Checks Payable to Science News 1719 N Sr. N.W., Wash., D.C. 20036 'postage included in above prices Fully guaranteed. Dealer inquiries invited. wp2 Gifts that are a COMPLIMENT to receive! 130 EXPERIMENTS IN OPTICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY! Our ingenious Optix? Experiments Kit is a complete optical and photog- raphy lab for 130 exciting experi- ments. It enables you to recreate the periscope, telescope, micro- scope, kaleidoscope! With it, you can confidently assemble an actual 35mm reflex camera with a completely interchangeable lens system! You can make and develop photographic film. Enjoy the fun and fascination of having your own optics lab. Fully illustrated 112-pg. manual, 81/2" x 11", clearly explains usage of this stimulating kit's 114 precision engineered components. YOU MUST BE DELIGHTED! EVERYTHING EDMUND SELLS HAS A 30-DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE. Return kit if you aren't delighted. GIANT FREE CATALOG! NEW! 164 PAGES-OVER 4500 UNUSUAL BARGAINS FOR HOBBYISTS, SCHOOLS, INDUSTRY ... JUST CHECK COUPON! STOCK NO. 71,6460 $2250 JUST Ppd. COMPLETE AND MAIL COUPON NOW EDMUND SCIENTIFIC CO. 300 Edscorp Bldg., Barrington, N.J. 08007 America's Greatest Science ? Optics ? Hobby Mart I City Helping to develop America's Technology for over 30 years. ------- EDMUND SCIENTIFIC CO. 300 Edscorp Bldg., Barrington, N. J. 08007 Send me: Optix? Experiments Kit(s) at $22.50 each. (No. 71,646 CI) $ - 0 FREE (add 500 for 164-page shipping & handling) Catalog "9" TOTAL $___ Encl. is 0 Check, 0 M.O. in amt. of Name Address State Zip -J Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09 : CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 ---4101MWA Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8 Dr. Richard Klimisch does original catalytic research but his art is old masters. Dick Klimisch saves his analytic abilities for his research. His hobby is copying great works of art for his own collec- tion. He doesn't invent his own artistic themes, he explains, "because there are too many great ones available to copy." So he is currently working with paintings by Modigliani. Picasso and Hiroshige have also been recent favorites of his. During Dick's six years at GM, on the other hand, he has been a real pioneer. He explains his job as "trying to understand the basic functions of catalysts, and applying this knowledge to the control of air pollution." Dr. Klimisch is a super- visory research chemist for the Research Laboratories at the GM Tech Center in Warren, Michigan. His work on catalysts is helping GM build catalytic converters, exhaust-cleansing devices that will be used on many 1975 GM cars. Dr. Klimisch is also work- ing beyond current product development toward long-range understanding and product applications of catalysts. Richard L. Klimisch is a unique example of the kind of interest- ing people working at GM to improve the quality of life for us all. General Motors Interesting people doing interesting things. GM MARK OF EXCELLENCE NOTE: This advertising is being sponsored by General Motors in several Youth publications. It is hoped that the subjects featured will serve to increase teen- ager interest in scientific studies and can be used, perhaps, to show now the things your students are learning are utilized in actual industrial activities. Reprints of this ad are available upon request. Simply write to General Motors, Advertising & Merchandising Section, P. 0. Box 5446, Detroit, Michigan 48211. Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010089-8