SCIENCE CONGRESS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19512, 10 June 1933, Page 17

SCIENCE CONGRESS

IMPORTANT PROBLEMS EXAMINED.

United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received June 9, 5.5 p.m.) VANCOUVER, June 8. The Science Congress was resumed to-day. Rust in Wheat. Dr. L. Waterhouse, of Sydney, said that compared with the complexity of the problem in America, in combating cereal rust, the situation in Australia was simple, as only seven different strains of wheat stem rust were found. All but one were peculiar to Australia, and this one, which had been recently discovered, was known in other countries, and had superseded the other six. No Australian wheats were resistant to this form of rust, and the plant breeding problem in Australia had been profoundly affected in consequence. Dr. Waterhouse emphasised the desirability of the standardisation in the technique followed in each country, which studied the problem, in order that the form of rust, in one country, might be known by the same name in another. Is There Life On Mars? Dr. W. S. Adams, of the Wilson Observatory, Pasadena, said: “The proof that there is insufficient oxygen in the bands around Mars, to sustain life, such as we know it on the Earth, had been supplied through the medium of infra-photography. He added that recent developments- In photography had shown clearly that the oxygen content of the Mars bands was probably less than one-tenth ol 1 per cent. Dr. J. S. Plaskert, of Victoria (British Columbia), added: “This definitely sets aside the idea of life on Mars, as we know it on Earth,"