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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 elimi the car battery of the electri- cigarette quickly : volt of The 31 1964 Shreds oe read itic and et starts id stops ed The he rect- d plugs rves as 31 1964 spring 2 easier leather e dog's person's sudden oring is d The ish will 31 1964 eB tal San 1 medi of their g with as from enewed Govern- r since Reports ve cases ercially d foods ncreased o avoid , chief n with Service d States r 31 1964 4 rhe "er 7 November 7 1964 VOL 86 NO 19 19 PAGES 289-304 MEDICINE QF General Electric Research Laboratory iltered Fresh Air ret Ss See Page 293 badbib SCIENCE NEWS LETTER for November 7 1964 ised, JPM sindiat: Bub: 297 , , 573 573 64 TECHNOLOGY Insulating System Creates Square Vacuum Bottles A GOAL that has eluded scientists for more than 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 system Flat panels of the new system called P- Zero have passed the atmospheric and thermal tests with great success the General Electric Research Laboratory Schenectady 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 applicaations 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. P. Bundy and Harold duced this new system Strong Dr. Francis P. Bovenkerk pro- Science News Letter 297 November 7 1964 TECHNOLOGY Computer Shows How Shelley Aped Milton BECAUSE OF electronic computers erty" 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 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 cb Dr. Vinton Dearing an English professor at the University of California at Los An- geles is using a computer in his work on the 17th century English poet dramatist and critic John Dryden 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 contentions 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 indexes 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 quantity quality It cannot decide whether ing is good literature nor at the present time about of the author he said a piece of writ- can it tell us the personality Science News Letter 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 after the babies were delivered At Madigan General Hospital in Tacoma where Dr. Ladner is on the staff approxi- mately one in 2,200 deliveries occurred when cancer was present he said He warned that individual cases require different 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 Obstetricians and Gynecologists at Andrews Air Force Base Washington D.C. Science News Letter 297 November 7 1964 AGRICULTURE New Kind of Onion Resists Storm Damage > 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 damaging burn on the plant tips caused by ozone accumulated during thunderstorms Tipburn is a serious prob- lem to many Midwest farmers This globe onion developed by bio ogists at the University of Wisconsin is bred from two other onions called W4A and W101B The Sunburst has a dense 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 297 November 7 1964 AGRICULTURE Fruitful Results from Air Conditioning Fruits BY AIR CONDITIONING fruits and vegetables with a fine spray of water a scientist has produced healthy crops even during a summer with average tem- peratures With tiny water nozzles sixth of an inch in diameter Dr. Robert Carolus of Michigan State University East Lansing sprayed tomatoes lettuce strawberries and other garden crops By reducing the water loss from the leaves a 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 for producing higher yields Dr. Carolus found that the air condi- tioning reduced transpiration or water loss by more than 80 when the air temperature was 85 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity 35 Science News Letter 297 November 7 1964 PUBLIC HEALTH Asbestos Workers Live Longer But Get Cancer A/SBESTOS 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 asbestosis 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 biological effects of asbestos in New York City Still more recently said Dr. Gilson the workers who have developed only moderate degrees of asbestosis have survived long enough to develop the associated bronchial carcinoma In addition and unexpectedly the researcher reported malignant tumors called mesotheliomas arising from the linings of the chest and abdominal cavities are now occurring in workers after a delay of 40 or more years Another speaker from the Pneumoconiosis Research Unit of Glamorgan was Dr. J. C. Wagner who told the conference that it is not known exactly how asbestos causes disease nor how asbestos fibers migrate in the body Injections of the major varieties of asbeschrysotile crocidolite and amositehave apparently caused mesotheliomas in the chest cavities of animals These pleural mesotheliomas have also been the result of injections of silica which occurs naturally in asbestas as well as in sand and quartz To find out more about the effects of asbestos Dr. Wagner said there is a need for a joint effort by the experimental biologist mineralogist and chemist Science News Letter 297 November 7 1964