The program opens with a brief history of the evolution of metal and its uses in early tools, utensils, weapons, and ornaments. In 1900 only sixteen kinds of metal were used by American industry, but at the time of this program, there are 321 known metals and alloys. Lynn Poole shows a piece of a new metal, Fiberfrax, that doesn't get hot when heated. Dr. Maddin, associate professor of metallurgy at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the inside of metal and shows a model of atoms in a perfect metal and one with deviations or imperfections. Mr. Poole notes that only 460 metallurgists are being trained in 45 colleges each year but at least three times that number are needed each year for the next ten years. Dr. Hollomon, head of the metallurgy and ceramic research division of General Electric (GE), lists common metal products and discusses how metals, such as titanium alloys, must be made stronger to withstand the higher temperatures occurring at faster jet speeds and to solve the problem of fractured pipelines and ships. There are career opportunities for chemist metallurgists, involving ingots and arch melting; process metallurgists, researching the forces in metals; development metallurgists, testing stresses and corrosion of metals; and research metallurgists, looking inside metals. Dr. Hollomon recommends studying math, physics, and chemistry in high school to begin the path to becoming a metallurgist. Dr. Vannevar Bush, president of the Carnegie Institution, promotes the benefits of this forthcoming Johns Hopkins career series and comments on the applications of modern science to the improvement of life. The pamphlet, "A Career in Metallurgy," is offered to viewers for a postcard.

As an introduction to this program's career, Lynn Poole notes that it was announced this week that the Salk vaccine is effective in preventing polio. He also points out that in 1890 Dr. M. Cary Thomas was only allowed to attend classes at Johns Hopkins University if she sat behind a screen because she was a woman in a men's institution. But this program features Isabelle Schaub, assistant professor of microbiology at that university and author of the Diagnostic bacteriology textbook. She introduces a number of young women and describes their laboratory job functions in the fields of bacteriology, biochemistry, hematology, serology, and histology. Brief film clips, from the National Committee for Careers in Medical Technology, show the processes of preparing slides of body tissues and studying blood cells under a microscope. Ms. Schaub lists three ways to enter the field: as an entry level lab aid, as a recipient of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists certificate, or as a college graduate.

Raymond Loewy, the Father of Industrial Design, defines his profession as one that designs products for mass production. Simplicity and functionality are key in his designs of packaging, service centers, uniforms, household goods, modes of transportation, and other functions. Mr. Loewy, who came to the United States in 1919, displays some of his product designs such as the Lucky Strike cigarette package, an electric heater with better stability, a bathroom scale with improved legibility, a silent eggbeater, a safe pressure cooker, a bottle with anti-slip grip, inexpensive but tasteful flatware, and other items. He comments on designs typically found in rooms in 1900 and 1926 and shows how they've been improved. His 1951 book, Never leave well enough alone, recommends simplifying goods and improving them to lower their manufacturing costs. Designer of the Studebaker car, Loewy shows cartoons of overdone cars with "dagmars" and others influenced by airplane designs.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.