From studio to your home

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Lynn Poole displays a section of coaxial cable and shows on a map the 67 U.S. cities using this and microwave relays to service 109 television stations. Dr. M.E. Strieby, Director of Demonstrations for AT&T, explains the two ways to carry television programs: by coaxial cable and transcontinental radio relay. He tells how coaxial cable works and shows an amplifier, Bell Labs radio tube, and other electronic devices used in television transmission. Using a phototransistor, electromagnetic wave generator, crystal detector, and a phonograph, Dr. Strieby experiments with various materials to show how microwave signals can be disrupted, reflected, and polarized. Photographs show the lenses of a microwave system and typical metal and concrete relay towers with television transmitters and receivers.

Troubled people meet

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This repeat of a program from two years earlier demonstrates how patients in group therapy help each other. Dr. Jerome Frank, professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, explains that patients with psychoneuroses have emotional symptoms that often manifest themselves in biological symptoms. Psychotherapy helps them discover what their real problems are and how to overcome or cope with them. In group therapy, five to seven people of both genders discuss their problems. A doctor is present, listening and asking occasional questions, but he never gives advice or answers patients' questions. For this program, the staff of Hopkins' Phipps Psychiatric Clinic role play a therapy group based on disguised but actual records of patients' various issues. In this "laboratory of living," many of the patients discover that others have problems similar to theirs and therefore feel less isolated and more normal.

The world from 78 miles up

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Lynn Poole introduces this program by showing photos of early Wright brothers' planes, a Martin 404, and a rocket. Clyde Holliday, a senior engineer at Johns Hopkins' Applied Physics Lab, describes the Aerobee sounding rocket, developed by Aerojet Engineering Corp. in cooperation with the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance. Holliday shows a diagram of the 1,000 lb., 20-foot Aerobee as he explains its specifications and component parts. A film details a typical Aerobee preparation and take-off at White Sands proving ground in New Mexico. Holliday displays a still camera, installed in two rockets, that photographed one picture every two seconds of the upper atmosphere. Several photos from 70 miles up create a 1,400-mile panorama of the U.S. southwest. The camera is justified as a means to determine the rocket's position in space for properly reading data, to obtain meteorological data, and to perform long-range reconnaissance. Holliday also developed a 35 mm. motion picture camera that records views on either side of the rocket. He displays the internal workings of the movie camera in operation, a lens from the camera, and a motion picture taken by the camera. A film captures the preparation and launching of a V-2 rocket, including Holliday inserting the camera into the rocket. Camera views of the earth from 78 miles up reveal the curvature of the earth, the Gulf of California, and other distinctive landmarks.

Scientists of tomorrow

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Lynn Poole gives the statistics of U.S. graduates in science and predicts the numbers through 1961, noting that a growing supply of competent scientists is critical. He discusses "juvenile delinquents" and suggests that a constructive way to guide them is through the Science Talent Search. In order to qualify, student contestants must submit answers to an examination measuring their science aptitude, a record of their grades, personal data by their teachers, and a 1,000-word project report. In the thirteenth annual Talent Search for Westinghouse Science Scholarships, 32 boys and 8 girls throughout the United States received a trip to Washington, D.C. to compete for final scholarships. Photos show some finalists during their trip visiting such scientific sites as the Bureau of Standards, the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, the National Institutes of Health, and the Naval Ordnance Lab. In the studio, $400 scholarship winners Mary Jeanne Kreek, of Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., explains her project on allergies, and Victor A. Schmidt, of Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County, demonstrates his planetarium project. The program concludes with photos of a random selection of the other forty winners and their projects.

Time and size

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Photos and sketches show methods and devices for recording the passage of time. The narrator explains Greenwich time, the world's 24 time zones, distortion of time under hypnosis, and chemical reaction time (such as the iodine clock). Demonstrations reveal how photography freezes time, a microscope stops time and magnifies it, and a motion picture speeds or slows time. A film details the process involved in time-lapse photography of both plant movement and crystal growth. Another film shows how atom structures are better represented by soap bubbles, rather than table tennis balls, to show the "slip" within a metal when it's bent. This film segues into another comparing the actions of various detergents and how scientists study fabric fibers under a microscope and within a tiny, transparent washtub. The final film, of a flame, uses the schlieren system to capture a minute segment of the "birth of a flame."

Don't take your heart for granted

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The program opens with the TV Guide citation and medal awarded to The Johns Hopkins Science Review, the first university program on the air, for its outstanding educational programming. Mortimer Loewi, Director of the DuMont Network; Kenneth Carter, general station manager of WAAM; and P. Stewart Macaulay, provost of The Johns Hopkins University, express thanks to TV Guide and pay tribute to the scientists who make the shows possible. Dr. John Spence demonstrates heart percussion, developed in 1761 by L. Auenbrugger, to outline the position and shape of the heart, which can now be done by x-ray. Dr. Francis Schwentker uses a model of the heart and a water pump to demonstrate heart activity and uses diagrams of the heart to explain the route of blood circulation, which is also shown on a human model. With the use of the heart model and diagrams, Dr. Schwentker explains the problems caused by congenital heart malformations (and the blue baby operation by Drs. Taussig and Blalock to correct it), rheumatic fever, high blood pressure, and coronary heart disease. He then demonstrates how the heart functions are studied with percussion and x-ray, stethoscope, blood pressure monitoring, electrocardiogram, heart catheters, and angiograms. Finally Dr. Schwentker notes the different ways heart problems are being prevented. An ad at the end of the show encourages viewers to contribute to their local heart fund during Heart Month.

Effect of the sun on your skin

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Dermatologist Maurice Sullivan discusses the benefits of sunlight in treating some diseases; however, he notes that many diseases are caused by or aggravated by the sun. He shows a light spectrum chart and draws a diagram of the layers of the skin as they would appear under a microscope and then explains the effects different wavelengths have on the biologic activity of the skin. Ultraviolet rays, not filtered out by the stratum corneum, create the first stage of sunburn. Dr. Sullivan explains how tanning occurs then compares the stratum corneum depth and pigment of five studio models with different skin types. He shows a graph of major U.S. cities and skin cancer cases, which parallel the hours of sunlight and exposure in different geographic locations. To protect against sun damage, Dr. Sullivan recommends limiting exposure to the sun; using drugs such as quinine, zinc oxide, etc.; reapplying protective creams; and being aware of environmental conditions that filter or reflect the sun's rays.

Your life in 1975

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Lynn Poole briefly describes the natural resources of the United States and shows their location on a map as an introduction to this program on the Materials Policy Commission, appointed by President Truman, which has just published its five volume report of facts and recommendations for the future. According to the report, the projected 1975 demand for raw materials will be an increase of 64%. A chart compares consumption of raw materials in 1900, 1950, and 1975 and the resulting production surpluses and deficits. Dr. Arnold C. Harberger, Johns Hopkins University economist and staff consultant on the Commission, explains how projections on zinc and steel demands are calculated. He assumes that although the 1975 GNP will be twice that of 1950, demand for many goods, such as automobiles and televisions, won't grow at the same rate. A chart shows the general demands of all natural resources in 1975. Harberger says that to meet these demands, the Commission recommends efficient production of coal and petroleum, geological surveys of the United States, and mass production of such new materials as tantalum and germanium. Further recommendations include buying materials abroad to boost the world economy, studying the rising real costs, and conservation of natural resources.

Which came first?

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Drs. Ted Byerly and Wade Brant, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in Beltsville, MD, discuss nutrition research on eggs and poultry. Dr. Brant demonstrates how diluted B-12 is injected into eggs for improved growth and vigor in the resulting poultry. He and Dr. Byerly explain the grade labels on egg cartons, including size determination, and they demonstrate a candling device to determine the quality of eggs. Marge Holloway, a home demonstration agent in Baltimore, fries eggs to show the differences in high and low quality eggs. Dr. Byerly discusses breeding experiments with Rhode Island Red hens for improved quantity and quality of eggs. Dr. Byerly explains the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). A film promotes the NPIP's mission and its benefits for raising healthy, thrifty chicks.

Separating Siamese twins surgically

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Lynn Poole discusses abnormally conjoined twins and shows a poster of the Biddenden Maids of England and a photo of Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese twins. Dr. Francis Schwentker of Johns Hopkins Medical School, explains the odds of having twins, triplets, and quadruplets and the heredity factor of twinning. Two pairs of twin nurses at the Johns Hopkins Hospital exemplify the difference between identical and fraternal twins. Using charts, Dr. Schwentker explains how conjoined twins occur when the germplasm fails to cleave, and he shows examples of posterior, anterior, lateral, and cranial connections. Dr. A. Earl Walker, Director of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, describes the December 17, 1952 surgical separation of the Brodie twins in Chicago. Using a diagram, X-rays, and a medical model, Dr. Walker offers a general explanation of the procedure and considerations in separating these boys joined at the top of the head. The stronger twin was given the venus sinus, which they shared, and a tantalum plate was used to cover the exposed brain. Both twins were still alive at the close of this program.