Beams of light can be controlled by polarization, by rotating polaroid filters to focus or block out light. Cross polarizer filters can eliminate car headlight glare at night, and reduce reflection on camera lenses, microscopes, compasses for polar navigation, and the brightness of white paper. Sunglasses also use polaroid lenses that aid drivers by cutting down on pavement glare.

The stereoscope was a popular entertainment and educational object in use in the late 19th century. Stereovision or 3-D is the natural way that we see nature, since we see two images, one with each eye that are processed into one image in the brain. When we look at pictures we coordinate the image with what we see in real life. Cameras can be arranged to simulate this effect. 3-D effects can be used in aerial photography, x-rays, microscopes, astronomy, eye therapy, and testing driver's vision. Television production companies are working on the development of 3-D television.

Lynn Poole welcomes station WFIE-TV in Dayton, Ohio, where Paul Kane, former Science Review Director, is the new station's manager. Then, using a diagram, Dr. Firor explains that sutures are necessary when a wound is deep and tissues cannot be brought together with a Band-Aid. A film illustrates the healing process in a microscopic view of white blood cells carrying out phagocytosis, destruction of bacteria. Dr. Firor then summarizes the history of wound closure techniques, from the Edwin Smith papyrus detailing the Egyptians' procedures in 1600 BC to the introduction of gold thread by Fabricius in 1550 to South American Indians' use of soldier ants' bites to clamp wounds closed. A film dramatizes late nineteenth century improvements on Lister's methods of surgical cleanliness and the use of violin strings and cat gut as sutures. Dr. Firor shows current sutures made by commercial firms of nylon, linen, silk, and stainless steel wire and the needles used with them.

BBC Producer Andrew Miller-Jones introduces this second exchange program produced in Baltimore and sent to Great Britain. Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab, sponsored by the Navy's Bureau of Ordinance, is featured. Dr. Gibson discusses cosmic rays and instruments used to do research on the effects of high altitude flying. Mr. Riblet explains how telemetering works and shows instruments used to transmit information from a distance. Mr. Miller-Jones exhibits cameras developed by Clyde T. Holiday to take photos in outer space and some of the pictures and films taken by these cameras. A chart shows the current maximum altitude of flight (nearly 80,000 feet) and the effects of altitude on pilots. A pilot tests the U. S. Air Force-developed pressure suit, and pictures show the U.S. Navy full-pressure suit.

Lynn Poole explains that "microscope" is from the two Greek words "mikros," small, and "skopos," a watcher. He notes that Dutch Antony Van Leeuwenhoek and English Robert Hooke were both instrumental in the development of the instrument and that Charles A. Spencer was America's first microscope maker. Dr. Schwartz, using the RCA Vidicon (a microscope connected to a television monitor), shows slides of water specimens from ponds in New York and New Jersey. The organisms he identifies include one-celled blepharisma and stentor, which he compares to the multi-celled rotifer, the plant spirogyra, diatoms, and the beating heart of a daphnia or water flea. Dr. Schwartz also shows a replica of Van Leeuwenhoek's microscope and his drawings of bacteria, and he demonstrates how to make a slide for viewing.

Dr. Proctor discusses examples of and reasons for hypodermic injection rather than oral administration of drugs, examines injection methods, and shows various styles and construction of syringes. He also gives a historical account of development of the hollow needle and intravenous injection by such scientists as Serturner, Pravaz, Wood, Osler, LaFarge, and Wren. Dr. Walter Dandy, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins, shows the endemic method of applying a drug to the skin by blistering the skin. He also offers examples of and reasons for the need to administer drugs hypodermically rather than orally. Using an orange, a nurse demonstrates the method for teaching laymen how to administer an insulin injection.

Mr. Miller-Jones introduces this program on the dangers of radioactive fallout, the third in a series of exchanges between Baltimore, Maryland's station WAAM and Great Britain's BBC. Dr. Kruse explains that current incineration of radioactive waste could be detrimental to people's health if safe gas and ash levels are exceeded. Dr. Geyer and Mr. Talboys discuss the effectiveness of laundering of radium-tainted clothing. To improve removal of radioactive materials from clothing, combinations of several variables must be considered: isotopes, fabrics (fiber, weave, treatment), detergents, concentrations, water temperatures, agitation degree, and time. Dr. Renn then examines the problems of releasing radioactive waste into sewage treatment plants. Some waste, such as radiophosphorous, is easily absorbed by bacteria in the system; others could be captured by experimental trickling filters or the aerated sludge process, but the sludge must then be disposed.

Before the program begins, Jerome Spingarn, on the Board of the National Association for Better Radio and Television, presents to Lynn Poole the television award for Outstanding Educational Program for the second consecutive year. As an introduction to the show, Mr. Poole reads from Sir Charles Blagden's 1774 "Experiments and Observations in a Heated Room," about the dangers of overheating. Dr. Lee then describes the operation of Johns Hopkins University's Mobile Climatic Laboratory, built for the Quartermaster Corps. The lab consists of an engine room with generators, an anteroom with controls, and a climatic chamber with treadmill and other equipment. Test subjects are wired to provide data to a recorder as they exercise on a treadmill under different temperature and humidity levels. Oxygen analysis and perspiration evaporation measurements are also explained. Dr. Lee shows a film and photos of graduate students doing preliminary testing of the lab's equipment before its use in the Yuma, Arizona desert.

A film produced by the U. S. Navy lists some recent defense research with benefits to civilians: raising research animals in sterile conditions; discovering unknown properties of metals by super heating and super cooling; researching man's reactions to motion; studying nuclear collisions and cosmic rays as alternative sources of power; creating heat with aluminum solar reflectors; studying solar chromosphere and solar activity; and developing computers, the cyclotron, fluid dynamics, surgical techniques, etc. A film by the U. S. Air Force then shows the by-products of their research: rayon and nylon tires, fiber A weather resistant fabric, stereoscopic strip camera for mapping large areas quickly, electric blankets and space heaters, and ground control approach (GCA) used at airports. The final message is that defense research and engineering funds pay dividends by providing improvements in daily living.

This film by the British Information Service explains how British scientists of the Hydrographic Dept. of the Admiralty chart the seas. Since sands and shoals shift, charts must be updated for accuracy. The echo sounder on shipboard takes depths continuously by sending out sound waves, which are reflected from the sea bottom back to the ship. This is used in conjunction with the sextant's measured angles of landmarks on shore to fix the exact position of the sounding. The triangulation procedure is explained and demonstrated on land, including the use of an astrolabe, chronometer, and chronograph true bearing of the triangulation framework. For triangulation at sea, floating beacons establish baselines, soundings are made, and chart datum of tides' heights for a lunar month is collected. Cartographers then draw charts from the collected information.