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.

Howard Owens, of Northwestern High School in Prince Georges County, MD, briefly discusses the purpose of the National Science Fair. Talented students then display and explain their Science Fair projects. Don Boyle experiments with the effects of radio waves on seed germination. Mary Catherine White reconstructs a functioning battery using Volta's methods. Gary Miggs creates a diorama based on the fossils characteristic of the Devonian Period. Jean Spencer determines the amount of black widow spider venom required to kill a white mouse. Fred Shindler researches the life cycle of the corn borer in an unsuccessful attempt to break that cycle and thus eradicate the pest.

Lynn Poole and Dr. John Woodburn, with the Masters in Teaching program at Johns Hopkins University, interview five students about their winning Science Fair projects: Roger Roberts demonstrates his computer-programmed "logical mouse" in a maze; Wayne Grimm discusses zonal distribution of land snails of Maryland; Ann Taylor experiments with radioactivity measurement in the dials of a clock; John Clauser demonstrates his electronic interceptor computer; and Jeannie Hodges discusses her study of goose pimples. Mr. Poole also talks with the 1950 National Science Fair winner, Dominic Edelen, who is now a design specialist in the manned satellite division of Martin Co. in Baltimore, Md.