Lynn Poole introduces the program by pointing an arrow gun, or optical pointer that is used to point to objects on the dome of a planetarium. Man has wondered about the universe around him since prehistoric times, noticing the movement of the stars and planets. Early in the 20th century the Zeiss planetarium was developed and built in six cities in the United States. After World War II, Armand Spitz produced the Spitz planetarium which made it much more economical for smaller sites to have planetariums. There are now over one hundred in the United States. Mr. Spitz discusses how these planetariums work. He has also designed a toy planetarium that can project images of the stars and planets in the home.

The program opens with the announcement that last week in New York City The Johns Hopkins Science Review was awarded its second George Foster Peabody Award for outstanding educational and informational programming. Lynn Poole honors the scientists currently attending the 90th annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), presided over by Johns Hopkins University's president, Detlev Bronk. Poole describes highlights in the history of the organization, such as Congress' legalization of use of the metric system in 1866 and creation of the U.S. Forest Service in 1896, both based on recommendations of NAS. In 1916 NAS established the National Research Council, and through the efforts of its first chairman, George Ellery Hale, and Dr. Robert A. Millikan, President Woodrow Wilson requested NAS to perpetuate the Council. The remainder of the program explains and demonstrates misconceptions about scientific facts: a copper penny can not substitute for a burned out fuse; small flies are not offspring of large flies (houseflies, blow flies, and stable flies are all in their adult stages); spontaneous generation of rags into mice or horse hair into worms does not occur; people can not be hypnotized against their will; frozen body parts should not be rubbed with snow; ice does not make anything near it very cold (as an experiment with liquid nitrogen shows); water will not put out any fire (water on potassium will start a fire); oysters are also edible in months not containing "r"; mentally ill people can be cured; and mothers do not "mark" their babies before birth. Lynn Poole concludes the program by asking viewers to send him their requests for previous programs they would like repeated in June.

Lynn Poole offers a definition of cancer in this third program in the series. Dr. Samuel P. Asper, Jr. describes the thyroid gland and the characteristics of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism. William S. Halsted's operation is still used for surgery on the thyroid to remove a goiter or cancer, and both the incision and the gland are shown in photos. A recovered surgery patient, operated on by H. William Scott of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, is shown on film. Radiation of the thyroid and radioactive iodine taken internally are considered treatments rather than cures. Additional films show Dr. George O. Gey's cancer cell labs at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Frederik B. Bang using the electron microscope to detect cervical cancer, and the U. S. Public Health Service's National Cancer Institute's use of mice in cancer research and treatment. Dr. Isaac Berenblum's book, "Man Against Cancer," the basis of this series, is promoted. Mr. Poole reminds the audience once again, early detection is the key to a cure.

In this second program of a three-part series on cancer, based on the book by L. Berenblum, Dr. Richard Te Linde, of the Johns Hopkins Medical School and Hospital, discusses cancer of the cervix. Dr. Te Linde notes that although three-quarters of women afflicted with this cancer die from it, it is curable if treated in its early stages. He answers commonly asked questions about the development of cervical cancer and describes typical symptoms. He cites Dr. Norman Miller's study on how the loss of time in treating cervical cancer can make a difference in curability. Dr. Te Linde draws a uterus, cervix, and vagina and shows how a speculum, biopsy forceps, and a spatula are used to detect early cases. Drs. Trout and Papanicolaou's pap smear test can reveal both normal and malignant cells from the cervix. Dr. Telinde shows several slides of cervical cancer cells in various stages of malignancy and says that at the pre-invasive stage, this cancer can be cured with either surgery (hysterectomy) or irradiation.

This is an updated production of a program originally broadcast two years earlier, entitled "Science of toys." Lynn Poole points out that over 1,400 different toys are now manufactured for learning and sportsmanship. He visits a studio toy shop with local child Joey Vitale where "shopkeeper" John Lockwood explains the science of such toys as slinky pull trains, punching bags, gear toys, a helicopter launcher, an electric airplane and steam engine, wind-up toys, and cog-driven toys. The trio also looks at how flexible plastics are now used to make some toys safer and dolls softer. They consider polarization in magnets, static electricity in balloons, ball bearings in bike wheels, and how toys were invented. Kits on the shelf include a chemistry set, a super sleuth science kit, and a weatherman set.

Lynn Poole distinguishes between weighing and other forms of measurement and comments that the Latin word for balance is "bi-lancis," meaning two dishes, as in the two pan level beam instrument. He shows sketches of other early balances, including the Egyptian first class lever and the Roman steelyard, both still in use today. Other types of scales and the kilogram weight kept by the Bureau of National Standards are shown. Johns Hopkins University chemistry professor Alsoph H. Corwin exhibits the highly precise balance he developed to measure very small samples of rare substances for microchemical manipulations. His assistant, Joseph Walter, demonstrates how magnetism, heat, vibration, and static can interfere with accurate measurements, and Dr. Corwin explains how his balance avoids all of these interferences. Dr. Corwin describes the parts of the balance, including the boron carbide knife edge bearings, and explains its operation. The studio camera also shows what operators of Corwin's balance see to discover the equilibrium point.

In this program Lynn Poole asks local alumni of national universities to introduce the scientific research occurring in their alma maters. Dr. Brownlee Corrin, a professor at Goucher College and alumnus of Stanford University, describes the campus and its electron linear accelerator. Photos show Director Edward Ginzton and the operation of this new atom smasher. Alumnus of the University of California, Dr. Richard McQuaid, tells about the university, and photos show Dr. George H. Hart and his research on cattle grazing. Carl Foster, alumnus of Indiana University, lists some of that university's famous scientists. A film documents the work being done there by Dr. Joseph C. Muhler, Dr. Harry G. Day, and Dr. William H. Nebergall on the effects of fluorides on children's teeth. Baltimore Judge Joseph Kolodny describes Boston University, and photos from that institution show staff of the Physical Research Lab demonstrating an aerial camera, which uses glass spherical negatives. Assistant dean and alumnus of New York University Dr. F. K. Teichman describes that school's programs. To research air pollution, NYU's engineering research division has constructed a smoke tunnel to observe the behavior of plant emissions based on stack speed and wind velocity and a wind tunnel to determine how building design affects smoke flume behavior. Current scientific activities at The Johns Hopkins University include diffraction gratings used in a spectroscope, research on cancer, and trace element studies, all of which will be featured on forthcoming programs. In closing, Lynn Poole announces that Brookhaven National Labs opened their cosmotron today.

This program opens with a dramatization of Max Brodel as a student trained in art and medicine discussing his future with Dr. Carl Ludwig. Brodel subsequently founded the Department of Art as Applied to Medicine at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Annette Burgess, medical illustrator at the Hopkins Wilmer Eye Clinic, demonstrates a slit lamp to examine the iris and cornea of the eye and then sketches them. She also uses an ophthalmoscope to see problems with the eye's retina. The drawings she displays are often used as teaching tools. Leon Schlossberg, of the medical arts staff, sketches the heart of a blue baby for use in medical journals and textbooks and shows an illustration of fetal circulation drawn for a pharmaceutical company. Other drawings show a cross-section of a head with sinus and nasal passages, a brain, and the lungs of an asthmatic. Chester Reather, a medical arts photographer, documents various views of such medical procedures as rebuilding a chin, brain surgery, and treating arthritic hands. Reather also demonstrates and explains photomicrography: photographing such anatomical objects as a forty-day old human embryo or thin slices of human intestinal tissue, both shown to the viewers. Elizabeth Blumenthal, also in medical arts, demonstrates the process of "moulage" by molding a wax hand and casting a nasal portion of a human head.