Salt Lake Telegram | 1932-05-11 | Page 4 | Freaks and Oddities in Science News

F FREAKS REA K Sand and 0 ODDITIES D D I TIE S SI I IN N S SCIENCE SCIENCE C 1 E NeE NEW NEWS NEWS- s- s Aardvarks arl s which now live only In Africa and andare U about the are queerest-looking queerest mammals that walk had relatives in America fifty million years ago Fragmentary remains that probably sent nt a Low Lower Eocene bear ant were found in wyoming TIle une two IWO existing species or aardvark look like something out of the geologic dark ages It Is a clumsy-bodied clumsy animal about the size of a pig with huge cars ears long snout snout- and arid claw-armed claw feet which it uses for digging into anthills for Its favorite Insect food It can also retreat into the ground with amazing digging speed when threatened whence its name which is Dutch Boer for earth pig 0 0 0 There are said to be 2000 cases of leprosy in U the Ul United ted Stat States at the present time The disease Is only transmitted now in Florida Louisiana Louis Louis- iana lana Texas an ana California though it is not so long since cases originated in other states as well There still are arc cases of leprosy in some of tho the other states but no new cases occur he explained Leprosy cannot be eradicated by direct attack as can be done in the case of diphtheria or bubonic plague for instance because too little is known about the disease But much may be accomplished pUshed by securing hygienic living for the patients pa pa- by early carly treatment isolation and other common sense methods 0 0 U y 71 The basal metabolism of presumably healthy elderly women is lower tower than that of oC younger women of the same weight This means that the vital Ual changes constantly going on in the body proceed pro pro- at a slower rate and with with- the production of oC less heat at the older age levels As a result of this study practicing physicians now nave normal Standards formerly not available for Cor comparing the metabolic rates a of elderly women Determination of ot the basal metabolic rate is of practical importance roid void tance Lance in diagnosing certain conditions of oC the tho thyroid thy thy- gland