HORMONES AFFECT NERVES — Add sex hormones to all the other things that can make you feel depressed on some days and elated on others. Evidence that sex hormones can affect the body’s central nervous system in roles unrelated to sexual functions has been reported by physiologists at the University of California, Berkeley. The findings show that a potent female hormone known as estradiol has a marked effect on brain excitability, a fact that may help explain the well-known monthly ups-and-downs of feminine temperament. Contrary effects produced on the brain by male and female hormones also p... (p. 4)

ELECTRONIC COIN TOSSING — An electronic method of tossing coins that determines “heads” or “tails” 200,000 times a second has been devised at the U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory, San Diego, Calif. The new machine is not a gambling device but is being used to develop automatic signal detection methods for future Navy radar. It promises to have application in civilian communication systems and quality control. In the device, electrical circuits play the part of coins. These electrical circuits rest in either one of two states — these two states represent the heads and tails of the c... (p. 4)

NEW EVIDENCE FOUND OF EXPANDING UNIVERSE — The universe is expanding, then collapsing again after a long time, evidence from photographs taken with the 200-inch telescope atop Mt. Palomar indicate. Dr. William A. Baum of Mt. Wilson and Palomar Observatories, Pasadena, Calif., said that present-day observations are not compatible with a steady-state universe in which matter is continuously being created. The observations were made on very distant galaxies belonging to clusters of galaxies, he told the Royal Astronomical Society meeting in London. The observations are based on the red-... (p. 4)

ARTIFICIAL HEART VALVE — A previously hopeless condition of the heart — a defective heart valve — can now be corrected by successful surgery, it was reported at the American Heart Association meeting in Miami Beach, Fla. Many of the 500 gravely ill patients described by three teams of surgeons who did partial or total replacements of the aortic valve (located at the root of the aorta, the body’s main artery) are still living, 10 to 18 months following surgery.… Another key factor reported was the development of synthetic materials such as Teflon, which can safely be implanted... (p. 4)

‘ALARM CLOCK’ BRINGS SNAKES TO SURFACE — A built-in “alarm clock” apparently helps a brightly-banded little desert snake come to the surface at night after he has buried himself to escape the day’s heat…. It had been noted that these snakes, which remain buried in the sand most of the time, appear to come to surface virtually in unison over a wide area every night. It was thought that they followed a rising heat barrier in the sand which rises as the sand cools off each night. Laboratory studies ... have indicated that there may be a little more to it than this. The inves... (p. 4)

CHEAPER WATER FROM SEA — Lower cost conversion of undrinkable sea or brackish water to potable fresh water will come closer to practicality through use of $75,000,000 appropriated by Congress for the next six years. Lowest cost achieved so far is one dollar per thousand gallons compared with the cost from ordinary sources of 30¢ per thousand. The money is for research and development in the Government's saline water conversion program. Eventual goal of the program is to supply the nation with cheap drinking water from the oceans and brackish water…. The water supply problem is becoming qu... (p. 4)

ALGAE COULD PROVIDE OXYGEN FOR SPACEMAN — Minute plant life that form the common green scum found on the surface of stagnant ponds and in river beds, Chlorella algae, assisted by the sun, may provide the future man in space with the oxygen essential to maintain life. A new gas exchange device operating on the principle of photosynthesis was designed and demonstrated by Lt. Col. John B. Fulton of the U.S. Air Force Arctic Aeromedical Laboratory, Fairbanks, Alaska. The algae using the energy of the sun convert the carbon dioxide exhaled by the astronaut into oxygen which is breathed in ... (p. 4)

NEW PARTICLE DISCOVERED — The discovery of a new elementary particle, omega meson, made at the University of California’s Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, and the finding of unidentified additional “particle systems” in the subatomic realm are believed to make it possible to push on in the next decade or two to a better explanation of how matter is put together. More than 30 so-called elementary particles are known. The new elementary particle discovery gives important insight into the structure and behavior of the atomic nucleus. It plays an important role in the structure of pro... (p. 4)

EARTH ONCE GLOWED — The earth’s surface in its early years of life may have glowed like a beautiful rainbow, shimmering with the colorful array of light emitted by primitive organisms. Light emission may have occurred soon after life appeared on earth, when the atmosphere lacked oxygen…. As small amounts of oxygen appeared in the atmosphere, not all of the organisms could tolerate the presence of oxygen. However, those that could quickly and rapidly remove the oxygen by reduction with hydrogen or electrons from primitive foodstuffs survived. In removing the oxygen by the use of o... (p. 4)

“CLIMBERS” PRONE TO ILLNESS — “Nonhazardous” occupations can be dangerous for men who work their way up.  Eighty-four out of 139 young men between the ages of  22 and 32 who had attained managerial positions showed more illness than 55 co-workers who stepped into the same kind of job right out of college.... The men who had worked their way up displayed both acute and chronic symptoms, including signs indicating eventual high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.... The men who were sick more often ... had grown up in modest to substandard neighborhoods in low-inco... (p. 4)