CHICKS LIKE BRIGHT COLORS—Chickens tend to like bright colors and dislike dull or drab colors and black, a poultry scientist said. However, chickens, like people, are individuals and also show individual preferences for different colors, Dr. George D. Quigley of the University of Maryland, College Park, Md., told Science Service. For in-stance, yellow is generally “disliked” by the chickens Dr. Quigley is testing for color recognition and preference. Nevertheless, some of the chickens apparently “think” it is prettier than all other colors by the preference they show for yel... (p. 4)

TRAFFIC CONGESTION SEEN AS FUTURE SPACE PROBLEM— Traffic congestion may be one of the most serious problems man may have to face when he starts commuting regularly from earth to outer space. This new frontier gradually is becoming cluttered with earth-launched orbiting vehicles and other debris.… [A]stronomical observatories, weather, TV and other communication satellites as well as the larger economy-sized USSR spacecraft to be boosted upward in the future also promise to diminish the wide open look that has up to now characterized outer space. Control over the amount of traffic pl... (p. 4)

RELIEVE ARTHRITIC JOINTS — Chronically inflamed arthritic joints can be relieved, but not cured, by injecting cortisone-related steroids, or hormone drugs, directly into the joint. Repeated injections, up to 142 times in one case, had no apparently harmful effect, three doctors report in the Bulletin of Rheumatic Diseases, Jan., 1961. Some 4,000 patients at the University of Pennsylvania Arthritis Clinic, Philadelphia, received more than 100,000 injections during a ten-year period.... Reduction in swelling and relief of pain was found in 90%. The physicians state that relief varies and is of... (p. 4)

SEE ATOMIC WASTE USE IN SALT WATER CONVERSION — Radioactive waste products from atomic plants may soon be a source of energy for converting salt water to fresh water. This use could help solve the problem of disposing of highly radioactive material, and also help combat the growing water shortage in the United States.... The energy from the waste products could provide the heat source for a salt water distillation plant. One batch of radioactive material, in powder form, could give off heat for 15 years.... The powder is left as a residue when highly radioactive liquid waste material is ... (p. 4)

MAN-MADE DIAMONDS ONE-CARAT SIZE PRODUCED— Large, man-made diamonds, more than a carat in size, have been produced for the first time. The diamonds are dark in color and cannot now be used for industrial purposes because of structural imperfections. They were made at the General Electric Research Laboratory, Schenectady, N. Y., where the first man-made diamonds were also made. Small man-made diamonds have been perfected to the point where they are superior to natural diamonds for many uses. These small diamonds are used for cutting, grinding and polishing. Industry uses carat-size di... (p. 4)

"TAKING IT EASY" IS BAD FOR BUSINESS EXECUTIVES— Physicians should not always tell worried, nervous business executives to "take it easy," [said] Dr. Gerald Gordon…. If the emotions were not released, they would be turned inward and result in "suicide through stress diseases like heart disorders," [he] said.... The basic emotions of pain, hunger, fear and rage are designed to help us adapt to the complex, changing times. "That is not to say that many men do not work too hard and should not take a vacation once in a while," he said. "Many do. But modern man seems to have forgotten that life... (p. 4)

HEAVY SHIELD UNNECESSARY — Heavy shielding as protection for an astronaut against space radiations may not be necessary, at least for trips of less than 50 hours and at distances not greater than 618 miles from earth…. [B]iological specimens were encased in different types of metal to test their effectiveness as shielding materials. Some specimens were shielded only by the thin aluminum covering of the specimen capsule and the comparatively thin shell of the recovery capsule. Radiation dosimeters showed that aluminum provided better shielding properties than lead and that any heavy... (p. 4)

ASTHMA CLUE FROM HORSES — Research into the deaths of thoroughbred horses, especially foals, has produced an entirely new approach to the treatment of asthma, hay fever and skin troubles in human beings…. During the course of the investigation on horses, a substance was found in certain white cells in the horses’ blood that played an active part in the control of histamine, frequently the cause of surgical and accidental shock.… Earlier research work has shown that the effects of this excess were automatically reduced in the presence of white blood cells (leucocytes) known as eosinophi... (p. 4)

MERCURY CAPSULE FAILS — Failure of the test shot of the Mercury space capsule and its pilot escape system will not “necessarily” delay putting a man in space, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported. NASA has scheduled a manned rocket launch for 1961. The Mercury spacecraft, designed to take an astronaut safely into outer space and return him to earth, failed to separate from its Little Joe rocket booster 13 miles from Wallops Island, Va., where it was launched. “If the cause of the malfunction is a minor mechanical failure, I see no reason why the Mercury Pr... (p. 4)

“BUMPERS” FOR SPACE SHIPS — Sound-proofed “meteor bumpers” for space ships are needed to provide important psychological and physical protection for astronauts traveling through fast moving concentrations of space dust as they leave the earth, Dr. Fred L. Whipple, director, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and a professor of astronomy at Harvard University, reported. The sound of the tiny “cosmic puff balls” as they hit the space vehicles may give the occupying astronaut “the sense of being under military siege,” he warned scientists attending the symposium.… The conc... (p. 4)