DIG DITCHES WITH ATOMS — Digging earth by atomic explosions is proving successful, but if President Kennedy’s suspension of underground atomic testing on Jan. 26 is maintained, the method may not be used practically. Future excavation experiments are described for the first time by the Atomic Energy Commission in its annual report to Congress. The AEC says underground blasts can be used for canal construction, harbor excavation, recovery of minerals, oil or water, processing of chemicals and desalting water. Detonations of useful, peace-serving atomic and hydrogen “bombs” are of two ki... (p. 4)

DOGS FOUND COLOR-BLIND — Some animals are able to distinguish colors but others are practically color-blind, Dr. Gerti Duecker, zoologist of the University of Muenster, West Germany, has determined by a series of tests. Dr. Duecker found cats and dogs to be color-blind, although there is some evidence that some dogs have a faint sense of color. The color vision of mice, rats and rabbits is also not positive. The golden hamster and the opossum are definitely color-blind. Horses, deer, sheep, pigs, squirrels and martens can perceive colors, but only in certain parts of the spectrum. A few spec... (p. 4)

DAILY SCIENCE NEWSPAPER SEEN NECESSARY SOON — The increase in scientific research will make necessary a daily newspaper devoted to science in a short time if predictions made by Prof. Derek J. de Solla Price of Yale University to the American Association for the Advancement of Science are fulfilled. In the next decade there will be as many scientific papers published as have appeared in the total history of the world until now, he foresees. The number of scientists will increase prodigiously and as the population doubles, the scientific manpower and literature will increase ten times with ev... (p. 4)

INSULIN SYNTHESIS SEEN — Synthesis of insulin for the first time may be realized early in 1963…. Dr.  Panayotis G. Katsoyannis [of the University of Pittsburgh] is hopeful  that the last problems are about to be  solved in synthesis of the life-saving protein-hormone important to  diabetic patients. Chinese scientists, either  in Shanghai or Peking, are believed to be working on the insulin-B chain containing  30 amino acid molecules that when joined with the A chain (containing 21 amino acid molecules) will produce  insulin. Spurred by competition, Dr. K... (p. 4)

NEW LASER USES LIQUID — A new way of producing the very intense light beam of lasers, which are promising for use in space and earth communications, was reported to the American Physical Society in New York. Organic liquid lasers give off light at wavelengths not previously available and are predicted to become important in the fundamental understanding of matter. The new kind of laser, or optical maser, operates on a principle never used before — stimulated “Raman” scattering. Although the Raman effect is well known to physicists it has not been involved in laser action. In the ordina... (p. 4)

NEW DATING METHOD FOR MILLION-YEAR-OLD FOSSILS — A new radioactive dating method promises to close one of the major remaining gaps in methods of fixing dates on the geological and archaeological time scales. The new procedure, based on radioactive inequality in nature between uranium-234 and its parent U-238, was originated by David Turber of Columbia’s Lamont Geological Observatory at Palisades, N.Y. The research is described in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Nov. 1962. Uranium-234 is an isotope of uranium formed by the radioactive decay of U-238. The “disequilibrium” between th... (p. 4)

COMPUTER MIMICS WEATHER — How and why the world’s weather behaves as it does is being attacked by one of the most powerful computers yet built. The U.S. Weather Bureau in Washington, D.C., dedicated a new research laboratory aimed at gaining better understanding of the earth’s atmosphere. Mathematical models of the atmosphere up to 20 miles above the surface are tested in the new laboratory on an International Business Machines’ STRETCH computer…. The electronic “brain” is expected to simulate day-to-day changes at 10,000 points around the world, analyzing surface weather pattern... (p. 4)

PAST-SEEKING CAMERA — A camera that can “see” what already has happened as well as what is happening may have provided the United States with information on missile bases in Cuba…. Special photographic plates are sensitive to heat (infrared) radiation and the past presence of objects is shown differentially. This is only one of the many unique photo-devices developed for the defense of the United States. Aerial photographs taken before “quarantine” [by President Kennedy of offensive weapons entering Cuba] using a camera with telescopic lens, probably at altitudes above 60,000 feet ... (p. 4)

U.S. NOW HAS CAPABILITY FOR TWIN SPACE SHOT  —  The United States now can equal the Soviet manned twin space shot, SCIENCE SERVICE learned at Cape Canaveral. The systems and power to do this are now available, J. Merritt, operations director of Project Mercury at Cape Canaveral, said. Although we do not have the vehicle or booster to keep two men up as long as the Russians did, we can launch two men into orbit at different intervals and return them to earth almost simultaneously…. The astronauts would be able to communicate with each other in space, and the return to earth could ... (p. 4)

SOLID-STATE GYROSCOPE “DOES THE TWIST” — The “Twist” has reached outer space. A new solid-state gyroscope which “does the twist” has been developed by Westinghouse research scientists, the company announced. The vibragyro — as the dancing cylinder is called — develops a lengthwise twist for the same physical reason that body twist develops in a “twister” doing the popular dance. This is the first successful solid-state gyro and is particularly suited for use in space capsules and satellites, the scientists claim. The new gyro looks nothing like the conventional wheel-spin... (p. 4)