Unique ID

30ec9f17-565a-4c62-9086-49024ef8e9ca

The skin you're in

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Dr. Sullivan explains that dermatology is the science of skin and its diseases. Skin, covering approximately 18 square feet, is a human's largest organ and serves as the body's protection. Using both live animals from the Baltimore Zoo and representations of animals, Dr. Sullivan explains their protective mechanisms: the lizard's skin changes color for camouflage; the duck's preen gland maintains its feathers with a precursor of vitamin D; the rat's sebaceous glands repel lice; the lion's mane protects it from other animals' bites; and a turtle's shell, a porcupine's quills, and a pachyderm's thick skin all protect the animal within. Dr. Sullivan draws a diagram of the layers of human skin, stressing the epidermis and protective barrier that prevents water from penetrating skin. He notes that a frog has no transitional layer, so its skin can take up water. The human sweat glands continuously secrete a wet film on the skin. The sebaceous glands secrete sebum, which contains two emulsifiers that allow the skin to sweat.

Basic tools of science

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This program opens with a visual of the sound waves of Lynn Poole's voice as they appear on an oscilloscope. A brief film shows some of the glass tools that are basic to scientific research. Frank Witt, a Johns Hopkins University graduate student in electrical engineering, then explains the design and function of a cathode ray oscilloscope. He shows how to solve a simple electrical problem using this oscilloscope and comments that its applications make it one of science's most versatile tools. Chemistry graduate student Bernard Blaustein discusses the process, history, applications, and importance of distillation. He also explains equipment used to separate liquid from a dye using distillation. After a brief film on the history of microscopes, Dr. Dethier explains the parts of a microscope and their functions. He then offers a microscopic view of both a butterfly's wing and a snow flea. At the conclusion of the show, Lynn Poole asks viewers to send him what they consider to be the greatest achievement in science in 1953.

Symbols of science

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Lynn Poole displays and discusses various symbols including: the skull and crossbones, horseshoe, swastika, barber pole, cigar store Indian, mortar and pestle, and chevron. Words can be symbols also. Latin, although not spoken today as a living language is still used in scientific communication. Latin began as the language of Rome and its vicinity, but through many conquests the Romans spread the use of Latin to the rest of Italy and what is now France, Spain, and North Africa. The Romans also conquered Greece, but since Green was also a highly developed literary language, the Greeks retained their own language. Latin also became the language of the Roman Catholic Church and medieval universities. Many scientific discoveries made during the Renaissance and the early modern period were given names in Latin. Even today Latin names such as Zea mays (corn) are used in scientific communication. Carl von Linné or Carolus Linneaus in Latin classified life forms in an orderly way using Latin terms. In his classification of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species, a dog would be animal, chordata, mammalia, carnivora, canidae, canis familiarus. The Babylonians were fond of the number 60, which is retained today in 60 seconds in a minute, and 60 minutes in an hour, and even 360 degrees in a circle, which is 6 times 60. Weights and measures have been standardized so that they mean the same thing all over the world.

Girl with the lamp

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Lynn Poole displays a nurse's cap designed by Florence Nightingale as a prelude to the premier of a film on nursing education and training produced by the Maryland Society for Medical Research. Non-speaking guests invited to the studio for the film's showing include Dr. D. C. Smith, of the Maryland Society for Medical Research; Mrs. George H. Yeager, Mrs. Edwin Stewart, and Mrs. Thomas Webster, of the Women's Auxiliary to the Baltimore City Medical Society; Ruth Mowbry, of the Maryland State Nursing Association; Dr. Walter Graham, of the Medical Research Organization, and nurses from numerous local hospitals. Before the film is run, nurse Elizabeth Singleton briefly discusses different nursing programs that are available. The film, available for loan or purchase, shows what to expect and what is studied, both theory and practice, in nursing school: uses of equipment, functions of drugs, importance of sterile technique, care of newborn infants, proper nutrition, x-ray technology, and emergency measures.

The Christmas star

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Dr. Paul Hessemer considers the possibilities of the star of Bethlehem seen by the three Wise Men at the birth of Christ: comet, nova, meteor, or conjunction of planets. With illustrations and charts, he explains planetary orbits and demonstrates how the "star" most likely was a triple conjunction of planets on that date.

Catching a brain wave

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This program deals with electroencephalography, recording impulses from the brain. Dr. Walker explains the parts of the brain and a diagram of nerve cells discharging impulses. Lights on a model of a human head indicate brain activity under differing conditions. Dr. Marshall demonstrates how eighteen electrodes are attached to the scalp to record brain waves during an EEG (electroencephalogram) and notes that this is simply a diagnostic tool. He explains the EEG machine and shows the graph produced by the output of its amplifiers. Dr. Marshall then explains what constitutes a normal brain wave based on comparing the voltage and rhythm of a large sampling of medically normal people. Dr. Walker compares several EEG records with differing patterns, and Dr. Marshall explains the significance of the differences, including one lengthy EEG from a patient having an epileptic seizure.

A trip through your heart

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This program offers viewers an x-ray of a beating heart and its sounds from a stethoscope. Dr. Russell H. Morgan uses a model to describe the construction and function of the heart and its arteries, veins, and chambers. An animation shows the flow of blood through the heart. In a filmed sequence, a patient is injected with uricon so that a slow-motion x-ray view of his blood can be seen passing through his heart and lungs.

Battle of a century

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Lynn Poole explains the etymology of entomology, the study or science of insects and displays pamphlets produced by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Mr. Hall, from the Agriculture Research Service, discusses the diversity of color, size, activity, and scope of insect species, which make up about three-quarters of the world's non-human species. He notes that beneficial insects offset the enemy insects; however, the latter can wreak havoc. Mr. Poole mentions Sir William Osler's malaria research linking the disease to mosquitoes and current prevention efforts for this and other mosquito-related problems. Mr. Hall explains how houseflies breed and how our health depends on controlling them, but he singles out grasshoppers as being particularly destructive. A film documents grasshoppers' reproduction and their natural enemies. Other destructive insects are clothes moths, silverfish, termites, and tree-killing insects. Means to control insect damage include insecticides, such as DDT, presumed safe and effective at that time.

Heating houses with the sun's rays

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Mr. Contini briefly explains both a film about photosynthesis and a pictorial history of solar energy, including Hero's solar devices in Egypt, Frank Schuman's 1910 solar pump for irrigation, C. G. Abbott's solar flash boilers, and Felix Trombe's solar ovens for industrial uses. Dr. Telkes shows photos of a solar-heated house in Massachusetts and explains a diagram of its operation and a graph of its chemical storage method. She refers to recent books on energy sources of the future by Palmer C. Putnam and Eugene Ayres. Dr. Telkes displays the experimental solar oven she has designed for primitive civilizations in the tropics, and a film shows the oven's success in baking rolls. Solar stills are useful for desalination of salt water, according to Dr. Telkes. She refers to a large one built by Charles Wilson in Chile and demonstrates a still's use with a simple model. She notes that the U.S. Dept. of Interior's saline water program's goal is to convert arid lands through solar still irrigation.

Total eclipse of the sun

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In anticipation of the forthcoming total eclipse of the sun on June 30, 1954, Lynn Poole explains a schematic model of the planets' orbits around the sun and primitive peoples' reactions to a solar eclipse. He also briefly describes the layers of the earth's atmosphere: troposphere, stratosphere, ionosphere, and exosphere. Film clips from the National Geographic Society document its expedition to Brazil, in conjunction with the Army Air Force, to witness the May 20, 1947 total solar eclipse. Led by Dr. Lyman J. Briggs, the expedition included other notable scientists from institutions around the world, such as Rev. Francis Hayden, Director of the Georgetown University Observatory. Photography of the eclipse, taken by National Geographic's Richard H. Stewart, shows ambient lighting changes and the sun's corona at the height of the eclipse. A drawing and a model show how the moon obscures the light of the sun, and an animated graph shows the radiant heat curve before, during, and after an eclipse.