SEEKING ANSWERS TO UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31113, 16 July 1966, Page 5

SEEKING ANSWERS TO UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

(By

BEN DAVIE

in the "Sun”, Sydney)

'JHE International Biological Programme will begin next year. Papuan youths will ride bicycles furiously—and get nowhere; in Sydney, migrant children will be weighed and measured —often enough to bore them silly; and the blood of Highlanders will go under a battery of microscopes.

While all this is going on, teams of scientists will nose around Australia’s great central desert, through Arnhem Land and under water at the Barrier Reef.

At the same time, thousands of others will roam the world observing, measuring, recording, taking samples from human beings, animals, sealife, plants.

These scientists—and the Papuans on stationary bicycles, the migrant children and the Scots—will all be part of a fascinating international study programme. This study will be the most extensive of its kind.

It was inspired by the success a few years ago of the International Geophysical Year—which actually was stretched over two years.

Next year, scientists of 40 nations will begin five years of field work, laboratory analysis and compilation of results. The International Biological Programme is being run from London by a committee of the International Council of Science Unions. Cosmopolitan The committee is headed by a Swiss and includes two Britons, an American, a Pole and an Italian.

The Australian Academy of Science has set up an 1.8. P. committee under the chairmanship of Sir Otto Frankel, formerly of the executive of the C.5.1.R.0. The world’s search for new sources of food for its expanding populations has triggered some of the 1.8. P. projects. Basic studies of marine life will better equip scientists to assess the food harvest to be won from the sea. Work will be done on converting little-used plant and animal products into food and to make traditional food preservation more reliable and effective.

One of the most important Australian contributions will be research into “human adaptability” in New Guinea.

And there is a sense of urgency associated with this and many other projects. Scientists say New Guinea Is galloping so fast into the 20th century that soon it may be difficult to find people there who have not been changed by the process. The New Guinea project

will cover intensive study of such fields as nutrition, work capacity of inhabitants, environment, behaviour patterns, growth and possible genetic links with disease.

In Sydney, Dr. R. J. Walsh,

a geneticist, a member of the Australian Academy of Science and chairman of the committee organising our “human adaptability” effort, talked about the programme. “New Guinea is particularly interesting because of the high incidence of tropical diseases, high childmortality rate and the cooperative population,” he said.

“The beliefs of some other peoples make it almost impossible to use them properly in studies of this kind. “There are some who believe that if you take a sample of their hair you can use it in sorcery to do them harm. “They won’t even let you have urine to test.” Nutritional studies will be particularly important in New Guinea. “We know they are taking far less protein than we are,” Dr. Walsh said. “And we know it’s mostly in the form of vegetable protein. Yet they develop fine physiques. “The basic question is raised —which may be solved by the study—of how much protein a person needs. “You need protein for growth and development and for resistance to disease. “We want to know whether the amounts they are having —although apparently satisfactory for growth—make them more prone to disease as adults.” Bicycle Tests Malaria is prevalent in New Guinea but natives there appear to have adapted themselves to it. Scientists want to know how they did it and what factors are involved. To test work capacity, men and women will ride “bicycle ergometers.” These are stationary bicycles on which the rider’s reactions—heart, pulse, blood —to physical effort are measured. In some parts of New Guinea the infant mortality rate is more than 300 for 4000 births. In Australia the rate is under 20 a 1000. In a genetic study, scientists will try to find out why some children die and others do not. There will be tests for

colour blindness and others, with a chemical known as P.T.C., for taste. Some persons find P.T.C. unpleasantly bitter, others can’t taste it at all. The test has little value in itself. It is more of a scientific arrow which hopefully, when it lands, might help show a link between nontasters and severe malaria cases or certain blood groups. Patterns Found Many of these apparently insignificant or unexplained facts may begin to make sense when they are combined with research work in other parts of the world. In Britain, for example, people on the north side of the River Tyne at Newcastle differ in their blood group distribution to those on the south side. Scientists don’t know why but will try to find out. Group “O” blood, a common one, is found relatively most often in the north of Scotland and less often as you move south. It has been noted, too, that the ability to say the “th” sound follows roughly the same pattern—the word “with” becoming more often “wid” or “wiv” as you move from north to south. Possible Lead “That may be just a coincidence,” says Dr. Walsh. “But it could be the begining of a lead from genetics to behaviour." Back in Sydney the wellworn statement that Australia is “a wonderful place to bring up kids” will be put to the test. This will be done with a growth-and-development study of migrant children. Three groups of children will be measured and weighed regularly: (1) Children born in Australia of parents born in Europe. (2) Children born in Europe. (3) Australian-born children whose parents were born here.

The rates of growth of national groups here probably will be contrasted with those of similar groups in Europe.

From these studies scientists may get an indication on the effect nutrition has on growth rates. In Arnhem Land and the

central desert, scientists will make the first comprehensive study of Aborigines. “The Aborigine must have adapted in some way to the conditions in which he lives,” says Dr Walsh. “We want to find out how he has adapted and how he failed to adapt.” The world’s soaring populations and the rising demand for food, clothing and shelter could lead, scientists believe, to major disturbances in the world’s biological balance. In the long run our continued existence may depend on how well we understand and control those changes. In the process almost every fact of the Aborigine’s bodily existence—from b!6od grouping to hair and tolerance to cold—will come under examination. The 1.8. P. may pose more questions than It answers, and he would be a brave scientist who predicted immediate every-day value from the knowledge that may be gained but some of the more pressing problems of existence may be solved.