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FILE NAME: Newspaper & Magazine Articles (NMA) DATE: 1964 Nov 7 DOC#: NMA017 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Science News Letter - Asbestos Workers Live Longer but Get Cancer C. 20036. R elimithe car battery of the clectrijigarette quickly ; 12-volt of. The 31, 1964 shreds K* read (tic and et starts ul stops ed. The lie rectd plugs rves as 31, 1964 spring it easier, leather ic dog's |>erson's sudden >ring is ul. "The ish will 31, 1964 lai, San 1 metlioi their g. with is from enewed Mivem- ir since j Reports, ,ve cases nercially d f(khIs ucreased o avoid n, chief, ;n, with Service, : . d States, r 31, 1964 I --I --...; ......... N ovem ber 3^ 1 9 64 VOL. 86, NO. 19 PAGES 289-304 \V OjC fUitfriil Klectric IU 'm sw cIi [,;tb o ru tn ry ' ' Itered Fresh Air See Page 293 Science N ews L etter for November 7, 1964 297 tech n o lo g y Insulating System Creates Square Vacuum Bottles > A GOAL that has eluded scientists for more titan half a century, a square vacuum bottle, has now been reached because of a newly developed vacuum insulation system. A major obstacle to "squaring the vacuum bottle," which would give it more storage space, was the need for a filler material that would prevent the walls of a bottle from collapsing under atmospheric pres sure and would not transmit too much heat by conduction. Flat panels of the new system, called PZero, have passed the atmospheric and thermal tests with great success, the Gen eral Klectric Research Laboratory, Schenec tady, N.Y., developer of the new system, reported. The system consists of a thin metal en velope that encloses a specially compacted pad of glass fiber. It has potential applica tions in the trucking, railroad, chemical and food industries as well as in the manu facture and storage of liquid rocket fuels. Fundamental studies on thermal insula tion by Dr. Herbert M. Strong, Dr. Francis P. Bundy and Harold P. Bovenkerk pro duced this new system. Science News Letter, 86:297 November 7, 1964 TECHNOLOGY Computer Shows How Shelley Aped Milton BECAUSE OF electronic computers readers can now get more accurate versions of literary classics. By comparing different editions of a writer's work, literary data processing is catching changes and errors. The reader is thus offered a version closer to the author's intent. The computer is also being used as a never-miss proofreader; its eyes do not grow tired, and its attention never wanders. It can rapidly compile indexes, and concord ances which are alphabetical listings of the principal words in a work and cite the passages in which they occur. Dr. Vinton Dcaring, an English professor at the University of California at Los An geles, is using a computer in his work on the l"th century English poet, dramatist and critic, John Drydcn. A computer has been used to show how the diction of the 17th century Puritan poet, John Milton, was apparently purposely imitated by the 19th century romantic poet, Percy Shelley, to refute Milton's philosophi cal c o n t e n t i o n s . Development of a writer's unconscious thought and the growth of language by charting changes in the meaning of words also have been the subjects of computer study. Other computers have produced in dexes and concordances of the Dead Sea .Scrolls, the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and other great writings. Dr. Dearing says the computer is not only freeing scholars from a large amount of tedious, repetitious clerical work but is giv ing them more time for research and for the enjoyment of literature. Dr. Dearing points out, however, that a computer deals only with cpiantity--not quality. "It cannot decide whether a piece of writ ing is good literature, nor can it tell us, at the present time, about the personality of the author," he said. Science News Letter, 86:297 November 7, 1964 MEDICINE Cervical Cancer Need Not Injure Baby > IN RARE CASES of pregnancy accom panied by cancer of the cervix or neck of the womb, babies need not be sacrificed for early treatment of the mother unless the malignancy has invaded the womb, an Air Force physician reported. Six babies were allowed to come to term when the cancers were "in situ," or confined to the site of origin on the outside of the womb, Dr. Calvin N. Ladner told Science Service. Caesarian operations were performed when the cancer had become invasive, how ever, which occurred in 11 cases. All patients were treated, of course, alter the babies were delivered. At Madigan General Hospital in Tacoma, where Dr. Ladner is on the stall, approxi mately one in 2,200 deliveries occurred when cancer was present, lie said. He warned that individual cases require differ ent treatment, and especially emphasized that-no woman should allow herself to be come pregnant if she knows she has cancer. "We were able to follow eight of our patients for three years," Dr. Ladner said, "and only one mother had died." Dr. Ladner made his report to the annual scientific meetings of the Armed Forces Chapter of the American College of Obste tricians and Gynecologists at Andrew's Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. Science News Letter, 86:297 November 7, 1964 AGRICULTURE New Kind of Onion Resists Storm Dam age > THE LOWLY ONION can now stand up to the mighty thunderstorms. A new hybrid, dark golden onion called Sunburst has recently been bred to resist tipburn--a damaging burn on the plant tips caused by ozone accumulated during thunderstorms. Tipburn is a serious prob lem to many Midwest farmers. This globe-type onion, developed by biol ogists at the University of Wisconsin, is bred from two other onions called W4A and W101B. The Sunburst h a s a d e n s e up right top with leaves that do not break as the plant grows and scales that do not rub off when handled. During storage the onion will shrink slightly, and over the winter months it will not sprout roots. Science News Letter, 86:297 November 7, 1964 AGRICULTURE Fruitful Results from 'A ir Conditioning' Fruits BY "AIR CONDITIONING" fruits and vegetables with a fine spray of waiter, a scientist has produced healthy crops, even during a summer with above-average tem peratures. With tiny waiter nozzles, one-sixth of an inch in diameter, Dr. Robert Carolus of Michigan State Univeisity, East Lansing, sprayed tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries and other garden crops. By reducing the water loss from the leaves, i satisfactory water balance in plants was maintained. Mist irrigation has several advantages over common soil irrigation, Dr. Carolus said. It cools the vegetables, reduces their transpiration and conserves their energy lor producing higher yields. Dr. Carolus found that the "air condi tioning" reduced transpiration or waiter loss by more than 80% when the air temperature was 85 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity 55%. Science News Letter, 86:297 November 7, 1964 PUBLIC HEALTH Asbestos W orkers Live Longer But Get Cancer ASBESTOS WORKERS used to die young of tuberculosis or pneumonia brought about by poor factory conditions and lack of drugs to control these diseases. Now they live longer but get cancer. Later effects of asbeslosis, or lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos dust, included severe bronchial conditions and enlargement of the heart, Dr. J. C. Gilson, researcher of Glamorgan, Wales, told an international conference on biologic;.! clients of asbestos in New' York City. "Still more recently," said Dr. Gilson, "the workers who have developed only moderate degrees of asbeslosis have survived long enough to develop the associated bronchial carcinoma." In addition, and unexpectedly, the re searcher reported, malignant tumors called mesotheliomas, arising from the linings of the chest and ahdomiral cavities, arc now occurring in workers alter a delay of 40 or more years. Another speaker from the Pneumoconi osis Research Unit of Glamorgan was Dr. J. C. Wagner, who toll, the conference that it is not know'll exactly how asbestos causes disease, nor how asbestos fibers migrate in the body. Injections of the major varieties of asbes tos--chrysotile, crocidolite and amosite-- have apparently caused mesotheliomas in the chest cavities of animals. These pleural mesotheliomas- have also been the result of injections of silica, which occurs natu rally m aslicstas as w ell as m sand and quartz. To find out more about the elfects of asbestos, Dr. Wagner said there is a need lor a joint ellort by the experimental biolo gist, mineralogist and chemist. Science News Letter, 06:297 November 7, 1964