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Show Science Talent Quest I Shows Aid To Progress j By HALKIIAGE j News Analyst and Commentator :! WASHINGTON I don't often go into such intimate matters as private murders in these columns, but I have been impressed lately to see the results of the untrammelled spirit of modern youth, whose repressions and inhibitions have been removed by i thoughtful parents who use reason instead of the cruel discipline I such as 1 have suffered having to go to bed without supper, for instance, when I was impudent to my elders, or being kept in I the house for throwing my arithmetic at the cat instead of doing j my homework, or having my mouth washed out with acme soap 1 when I used language unbecoming a future commentator. I Recently a pretty little brunette j who was irkec by having to leave the city to dwell with her parents in r Ht some dull rural area of Missouri re- direi belled. After shooting Mama and r'B 8 Papa, she stuffed them behind the sofa and tried to dispose of their property. Then there was the poor 5 little seventh-grader who smarted under thoughtless taunting by a far- ! mer who thought the youth displayed A phenocopy is a change a change in the body-shape of a fruit fly. The fly itself will not be permitted per-mitted to get at your fruit. Its eggs have been dyed and irradiated, observation ob-servation of which processes in the long run probably will help the fruit industry. When Miss Wolff isn't dying dy-ing eggs and irradiating them she L" poor form in sawing wood. The boy . shot the old man and dumped him r!n in a creek, jime' jiest There was the 18-year-old girl from aur i Portsmouth, Va., who playfully of ( sprayed five G.I.'s with revolver , mu shots in a shooting gallery, and the e six girls, aged 14 to 16. who beat up 'e their female gym instructor in a n jjj Bronx high school. pu Ol course I am not old-fashioned f Ol enough to encourage corporal punish- ugh ; ment, but it does seem that a little J1 ! less sparing of the rod might have s , prevented spoiling the crime record (.jjg j of the peaceful communities from g M which these youngsters came. ; ? ' ' . v i f. Perhaps it wouldn't have helped, j gy though, when the - nations of the gj : world set such bad examples. whic i coudn't help thinking of a para- 1 "::, graph in the concluding chapter of for y! that highly important and revealing 3em; book by former Secretary of State ,f colj CordeU Hull. Said Hull (and I can itside see him leaning back as he dictated, vay 1 looking over the wide sweep of the ailabl Maryland landscape, letting his resid thoughts go back over the rich days 1 "e ; of his years) : "We have a desperate new ' need for more religion and morality ,gemi as the background for government, tah l The religious and moral foundations k cioi for thought and conduct require the t strengthening here as well as for o: throughout the world. There is no B nf! higher civilizing influence than re- uJjej ligious and moral concepts. Corrup- ucl j tion and tyranny can be driven out ,st p of government only when these con- Xabe cepts give men the faculty to rec- 7 at : ognize such evils and the strength E. Sr to eliminate them." ph tne p In these days when we hear so a saj many unpleasant references to the v of i atom bomb, it was a relief to the h Syr national capital to get its annual a aei reminder that the people who know hich most about atomic energy think far more about how it can promote human welfare than about how it ! can extinguish human life. I Sixteen thousand high-schoolers Zt .! presented themselves this year as fZk '! possible winners in the seventh an- v v$ nual Westinghouse science talent ifx- search. After rigorous elimination "E tests, 40 finalists were selected to Jy( come to Washington for talks with f J.' scientists, visits to Capitol Hill and -AvJ the White House and conversations .with their colleagues, in Ty . : These 40 students have a reason- the ( able assurance of scholarships of ne of 1 $1,000 each from . various sources, diii aside from the search awards, while the two lucky top winners each are ody t: t given $2,400 with which to continue bring their studies. as: There was another interesting oing- thing about this year's awards the its, so'j revelation that America still is draw- n't-ope:i ing heavily on the Old World for its it way ! s ltific talent- rhe by wl10 won 1 I tl e top prize was born in Budapest, expeni Barbara Claire Wolff, who plans to become a geneticist, is shown with the equipment she uses to produce phenocopies. is editing her school paper, playing badminton, studying, and, we suppose, sup-pose, practicing the modern dance and enjoying her clubs, which include in-clude math, cancer and microscopy organizations. Young Kende's project has to do with removing or reducing explosion hazards in the chemical processes by which such modern synthetics as the silicones, sex hormones and some synthetic rubbers are produced commercially. com-mercially. Some day, thanks to him, men and women may be able to face the most alluring hormone or the most explosive overshoe or automobile automo-bile tire in comparative safety, and may even be able to walk right up to a silicone and slap it on the back. The 40 finalists were reminded by Watson Davis, Science Service di-, rector; Harlow Shapley, director of Harvard college observatory, and W. W. Waymack, atomic energy commissioner, com-missioner, that it is not, enough these days, however, for scientists to stick to their scientific last, letting the rest of the world go by. As Dr. Shapely put It: "Don't be so laborious in your laboratories labora-tories that you ignore your responsibilities respon-sibilities as citizens." And as Way-mack Way-mack warned: "Nowadays the scientists sci-entists must not only aid in the creation of knowledge, but in the dissemination and use of that knowledge for the general welfare." wel-fare." Unfortunately, there are all too few trained scientists in this atomic age. As the report of the President's scientific research board pointed out, the technological and scientific progress prog-ress of this country depends upon one-half of 1 per cent of our population popula-tion some 750,000 persons. This small group comprises the trained manpower the scientists, technicians techni-cians and engineers upon which the operation and the expansion of our economy depends. And those actually actual-ly engaged in scientific research, technical development or teaching comprise a much smaller group within this pool only 137.000 persons. the Wj . . ules ai s , f 313 v: i ; - - -'.- I v ; 5 ' ''.--;ilA uii2aa.i : iiiiid The science talent search and similar sim-ilar projects undertaking to discover and encourage youthful scientific talents are helping to ensure the future fu-ture security and prosperity of the United States which depend as never before on the rapid extension of scientific knowledge not only because be-cause the laboratory is the first tine of defense in wartime and the scientist sci-entist is the indispensable warrior, but also because .scientific discovery is the basis for our progress against poverty and disease. Ex-G.I.'s can upset the budget again this year. In its attempt to trim Mr. Truman's spending, congress con-gress makes no allowance for nearly near-ly 500 million dollars still unclaimed in terminal leave pay due enlisted men. The President's bulging budget bud-get set aside only five million dollars for this item, just 1 per cent of the total possible cost. In contrast to the usual Hollywood practice, the government's film production pro-duction includes none of the usual : "thrillers." Latest 25-minute short subject made by Uncle Sam bears the prosaic title, "Toward a Uniform Uni-form Plumbing Code." Other recent "sockeroos" cover movies on blister rust control, Japanese agriculture, foot and mouth disease. j ' I Some of the people who say they would rather be right than president don't get the chance they deserve. ";l Andrew Kende displays his ex- . ' periments with new solvents to re- ; duce explosion hazards. i e 's Ancu"ew Kende, a 15-year-old f- ! chemist, a handsome youngster, five feet eight inches tall. Of the 40 final- . : ists, five were born in Europe, and J ; 26 parents of the 40 finalists were t ' foreign-born. J '", The girl winner was 17-year-old Barbara Claire Wolff of Flushing, L. J., (where the United Nations has its headquarters although there is no connection). All the contestants 1 must have worked on a special sci- i entific project, and Miss" Wolff de- r. f. '. voted her time to production of infc'vH, phenocopies. Now, if you raise fruit, ! you will be interested in this, al- 4 i though you probably wouldn't recog- ; nize a phenocopy if you met it on one "j, of your strolls through your orchard. v . |