To introduce this program on poisonous plants, Lynn Poole exhibits a quiver of poisonous blow gun arrows used by primitive Ecuadorian Indians. William A. Dayton, chief of the Division of Dendrology for the U.S. Forest Service, recounts the superstitions and myths about poisonous plants and notes allusions to them in the Bible and in Shakespeare's works. He shows sketches of two groups of particularly virulent plants: water hemlocks and amanitas mushrooms. Mr. Dayton says that there are more than 500 species of poisonous plants in the United States, and some cause the loss of 4% of livestock each year. Two such classes of plants are the alkaloids, which contain nitrogen, and the glycosides, which produce prussic acid. He shows photos of toxic plant specimens and their reactions when ingested by animals. Cattle are susceptible to larkspur and St. John's wort; sheep to pingue, lupine, horsebrush, and halogeton; horses to locoweed and death camas. Mr. Dayton recommends various ways of controlling poisonous plants. A film shows poison ivy identification, and a man displays the poison ivy blisters on his arm. Mr. Dayton concludes with a description of nettles, burrs, and poison ivy/oak/sumac.

Lynn Poole briefly interviews Howard Ross, Director of Broad Creek Memorial Scout Camp serving the Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Mr. Ross notes that the camp promotes scouting skills more than athletics. To demonstrate this, Mr. Poole talks with several scouts who discuss and/or demonstrate how to build a lean-to, handle an axe safely, build a fire with a flint, find and prepare food in the wild, use a watch as a compass, tie artificial flies for fishing, and create and use decorative wooden neckerchief slides. An older scout demonstrates butterfly collecting for species identification, the use of leaves for making decorative splatter prints, and identification of birds by sight and song.

Lynn Poole describes various historical accounts of flying saucers and reads from an article in the 1893 "Nature" magazine about mysterious lights. Although Harvard's Dr. Donald H. Menzel was unable to appear on the program as planned, he permitted Johns Hopkins Science Review to tell his story using his photos from "Life" magazine. Dr. Menzel has actually seen these mysterious lights or flying saucers and attempted to recreate them in his lab. An explanation of temperature inversions shows how they can produce optical mirages by reflected sunlight, and Menzel's lab experiment reproduces this phenomenon. Lynn Poole shows viewers a home experiment to simulate the gradual bending of reflections to make them appear as mirages. A film shows another explanation of flying saucers, offered by Noel Scott, Army physicist. Believing that "flying saucers" are created in the same way as lightning and the northern lights, he simulated the atmospheric conditions in a bell jar, producing tiny "saucers" of ionized gas from charged particles sensitive to magnetic movements.

Lynn Poole pays tribute to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, founded in 1848, and dedicates this program to the men of science. Tools used by scientists in their labs are shown and explained: glassware, such as test tubes, beakers, mortar and pestle, graduated cylinders, condensers; microscope, to magnify specimens such as the ganglion shown; leak detector, such as the teslacoil, to determine sources of leaks; recording potentiometer, to accurately measure voltage; strobotac, whose flash appears to slow the action of a moving object so the eye can study it; arc lamp, to study optical instruments; dial indicator, to measure minute movements accurately; cathode ray oscillograph, to record electrical impulses of circuits; supersonic wind tunnel at Johns Hopkins University, to study the problems of air turbulence; Van de Graaff generator at Brookhaven National Lab, to study the acceleration of particles and explore the atom; cosmotron nearing completion at Brookhaven, to accelerate particles; Van Slyke gas analyzer, to measure body tissues and fluids for compounds; hand and foot counter, to detect and indicate radiation in humans; mass spectrometer, to analyze heavy elements in body tissues; remote control tongs, to place items safely near radiation; and stereoscopic microscope at Brookhaven, to protect observers from radiation and keep colonies sterile.

On this fourth anniversary program, Lynn Poole reads a few congratulatory telegrams from stations around the country and from Colorado Senator Edward C. Johnson. This program also celebrates the 157th anniversary of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps and reviews their recent research and development in clothing and food. Navy Lt. Philip Crosby shows photos of old uniforms and then explains the new fabrics and design features of improved cold weather gear, such as the Navy's A-2 ensemble, which is modelled. He also compares various vintages of rubber boots, including the new insulated, waterproof ones used in Korea to eliminate frostbite. A waterproof submarine suit is also modelled. Lt. Commander J. A. Corrick, Jr. shows the list of foods on a 1794 Naval ration card and explains the space problem of carrying large quantities of food, such as potatoes, for the crew. Lt. Charles Shulman describes the cooperative project between the Navy and private industry to manufacture a "radar range," which cooks a frozen turkey in eighteen minutes.

This program is a behind-the-scenes film featuring the people and activities at Johns Hopkins Hospital between 9:00 PM and 9:00 AM. Lad Grapski, assistant director of administrative services at the hospital, discusses the various roles of the hospital staff: guards, accountants, switchboard operators, cleaning crew, and maintenance men. Electrician Vincent Tomasetti demonstrates his procedure in making an electrical repair in the operating room of the Halsted Clinic. Pediatrician Dr. Thomas Reichelderzfer represents the professionals at the Harriet Lane Home children's hospital. Members of the emergency accident room staff include the registrar, x-ray technician, operating room nurses, and surgeons. In the obstetrics ward of the Women's Clinic, nurses tend to newborn babies. Cook Waverly Jennings notes that the hospital's food staff prepares 4,200 meals a day for patients and employees. Dr. Harry L. Chant, assistant director for professional services, comments on other continuous hospital functions, such as preparing for skin grafts or other surgeries.

Lynn Poole briefly explains Copernicus's theory and the difference between revolution and rotation. Malcolm Davies, author of "A Geographic Gadgeteer" and instructor at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, proves to viewers that the earth rotates and revolves. He starts a pendulum swinging along a line in the studio, like Foucault's 1851 experiment, and returns to it at the end of the program to show that the room has rotated about 3 degrees during the half hour. During the rest of the show, he demonstrates a Trippensee planetarium, explains why water funnels in a counter-clockwise spiral in the northern hemisphere, and describes how a monkey wrench dropped into a mine shaft drifts to the east before landing because of the earth's rotation. He then explains how the earth revolves in orbit around the sun, mentioning Frederich Wilhelm Bessel's 1838 theory of stellar positions based on astronomer James Bradley's observations. Davies also simulates the approach of meteors at difference times of the day to demonstrate the earth's revolution around the sun.

This program opens with a litany of insurance statistics relating to problems from being overweight. Dr. Harry F. Klinefelter, of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, explains charts showing the mechanical, metabolic, degenerative, and psychological complications of obesity as well as the issues of decreased life expectancy, malignant disease (cancer), and cirrhosis of the liver. He points out that the basic problem is overeating, or taking in more calories than the body requires for energy. However, since the basal metabolism and average daily metabolism varies by person, two people of similar build may have quite different food requirements. Dr. Klinefelter compares people to cars of similar size that get different mileage due to variations in their engine construction and design. He displays average height and weight tables, which don't consider body build and bone structure, and thus are merely guidelines. Dr. Eugene Meyer, psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins, discusses the psychological factors in weight reduction. Compulsive eating begins when one habitually seeks comfort and satisfaction through eating, creating the cycle described by Dr. Hilde Bruch. This pattern may also begin by filling a sense of loss or emptiness with food or by mothers habitually consoling a child with food. Dr. Klinefelter explains that for weight reduction fat must be metabolically burned. Massage and strenuous exercise are both ineffectual in doing this. Since losing more than two pounds per week is dangerous, Dr. Klinefelter recommends a long-term balanced diet, limiting high calorie foods such as bread, potatoes, butter, and cereal and eliminating sweets. He also suggests eating three small meals each day, drinking 6-8 glasses of water per day, using the normal amount of salt, eating a well-balanced diet, and weighing only every two weeks on the same scale and the same time of day.

Lynn Poole opens the program by summarizing a letter from viewers who are members of the Science Club at Monclair State Teachers' College in New Jersey. Baltimore Polytechnic Institute teacher Malcolm Davies proves that perpetual motion does not exist. The device purporting it is actually a Crookes' radiometer that merely demonstrates the facts of radiation. Davies then discusses the navigational issues confronting Columbus and his sailors, such as the differences in distances from the magnetic poles to the actual poles and the strength of the tradewinds. Poole exhibits a copy of "The Story of Maps", written by Peabody librarian Lloyd A. Brown, which mentions an astrolabe, like that used by Columbus. Davies displays an astrolabe and shows how it's used in conjunction with the north star for navigation. He also demonstrates Gunter's quadrant and a marine sextant. The camera views through the sextant eyepiece as Davies makes adjustments, allowing viewers to experience its operation. Finally, using several examples, Davies explains Bernoulli's Principle, which occurs when vehicles at high velocity pass on roads and atmospheric pressure appears to push them together. Lynn Poole concludes the program by announcing that the current "Look" magazine has a preview of the next program, "Troubled People Meet."

Lynn Poole invites members of the Federal Communications Committee, meeting in Washington, DC for hearings on the use of television as an educational medium, to watch this program as a practical example of how educational institutions can bring educational programs to the American people. This is the first public showing and demonstration of a combination of x-ray photography and fluoroscopy picked up by a television receiving tube, affording both dynamic and clear internal views of patients. The equipment was constructed at The Johns Hopkins University with funds from the U.S. Public Health Service and developed by Dr. Russell H. Morgan. Dr. Morgan shows and explains the dim images of a standard fluoroscope and the static x-rays of a chest, colon, and kidney produced on a radiographic table to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each procedure. With physicist Ralph Sterm at the controls and assisted by Vernon Bowers, Ed Custer, and Roy Collier, Dr. Morgan then demonstrates his new invention, which amplifies images 300-3,000 times, and x-rays the movement of the chest and hand of Joan Hunter for viewers to see. Finally, in the first live television, inter-city diagnosis, Dr. Paul C. Hodges, at the University of Chicago, and Dr. Waldron Sennott, at the U.S. Marine Hospital in New York, observe the x-ray/fluoroscopy images broadcast on their televisions and consult with Dr. David Gould, at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and together diagnose and prescribe treatment for a patient, machine operator James Carter, who has metal particles clearly lodged in his chest and possibly his lungs.