SCIENCE JOTTINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 11736, 25 January 1924, Page 4

SCIENCE JOTTINGS

SALT TEARS. Tears, it has been discovered, are one of Nature’s methods of protecting us. Not only are they salt; they are also antiseptic. In other words, they are endowed with the power of killing rapidly any germs which may happen to get into our eyes. “A good crymakes a blight eye,” is an old proverb; it would seefn also to he a true one. TREES WITH PULSES. Whether or not trees and" plants possess organs* of the nature of “hearts” is still in dispute, hut the idea that the sap rises as a consequence of a pulsing action in the stem is gaining ground. It is asked how else it can rise, and so far no satisfactory answer has been given. Nature is rather economical of her methods, and adopts the same sort of devices throughout the whole of her kingdom. BREATHING UNDER WATER. As a test of a new breathing apparatus of a type introduced for mine rescue work the inventor got a man to put it on and walk about the bottom of a swimming bath. These masks are primarily intended to enable the wearer to move and* work in places filled with poisonous gases; but mines are sometimes flooded, and a mask that provides good air under any circumstances is therefore additionally useful. In the test this man walked about under water for 25 minutes. TESTING ON ATHLETE’S MUSCLES There is nothing that science is not inquisitive about nowadays. Recently Bane Ruth, most famous of American baseballers, was put through elaborate tests ir. an attempt to discover how and why he was able to hit the ball harder and more accurately than anyone else. A new apparatus was used for recording the tension and flexibility of the different muscles of a trained athlete. THE LAND WITHOUT CANCER. The great campaign against cancer which was launched a few weeks ago will enable many clues to be followed up which hitherto have been, perforce, neglected. One of these is the rather surprising fact that this disease is unknown in the Arctic Circle. A CLUE? No explanation has ever been forth coming. Clearly, however, the matter needs investigation, for it may well be that the unknown cause of this disease has its special requirements in regard to temperature and climate. A study of these might lead, at iong last, to its discovery. NEW BRITONS. Climate, as we are now learning, exorcises a most profound effect on all living things. The climates of the British dominions, for exmaple, are producing “new types of Englishmen.” These new Britons even cat different food from their cousins at home, and Professor Wardlaw, of Sydney, has recently begun an investigation into the 1 present-day diet of Australians.

CLIMATE AND CHARACTER, He finds tnat his fellow countrymen or© in prooe6s of adapting themselves to a fresh environment. Few of them can claim an Australian descent of more than two generations, yet many of their habits and customs are already peculiar to themselves. Even 'the oast of mind is changed by different surroundings. A CHEMICAL HORSEWHIP. Science has no more fascinating or difficult problem than that of the “catalyst.” _ This, briefly, is a substance, inactive in itself, yet possessing the power of making other substances extremely active by its mere presence. The simile of a horsewhip has been used recently to explain such action. NATURE’S SECRET. Nature, not man, invented catalysis. Many of the engymes or ferments which play so great a part in the functions of the living body belong to this catagory. They remain unaltered though the presence of even minute traces of them enormously increases various activities. It is possible that the new famous remedy for diabetes, insulin, is of this nature, an “influenoe” rather than a chemical. SCIENCE AS “GOOD BUSINESS.” To-day immense industrial operations depend entirely for their success on the use of catalysts Thus many processes can be carried on at very low temperatures if niokel or copper is present; in the absence of these metals much higher temperatures are necessary. What, therefore, must have been commercially impossible without catalysis becomes commercially sound by means of it—owing to the saving of fuel and for other reasons. NEW CEMENT FROM SHALE. Still another valuable substance has just been obtained from shale. At the Building Research Board’s experimental station efforts were made to utilise “spent shale” from the Scottish oilfields. These were very successful, and produced a hydraulic cement of very great strength. AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. Indeed, at three months age, this new cement is of greater strength than that required for Portland cement by the standard specification. It is of a pleasant light-red colour and is much harder than ordinary Portland cement. The discovery, indeed, is regarded as being a very important one. DARKEST SUMMER. July opened with hot weather; but until the beginning of July the present was the “darkest summer.” Indeed, at the lint-hams ted experimental station, where sunshine records have been kept since 1891, no lower figures than those met with this year have been encountered. During the first six months, January to Juno, there were 586.8 hours of sunshine. The average for the'past 30 years is 811.9.