n005  0640  16 Oct 79
 
BC-SCIENCE WATCH (UNDATED)
 c. 1979 N.Y. Times News Service
    Insects on the wing have long been a bane to meteorologists trying
to detect weather patterns by radar. The insects, which reflect the
microwave radiation of radar, can distort or obscure weather features.
    But now meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration have decided to take advantage of this fact and come
to the aid of entomologists trying to track insect flight and detect
potential invasions of insect pests. Currently, relatively little is
known about the winged stage in the insect's life cycle although this
all-important time is when the insects propagate themselves.
    Using Doppler radar, Drs. Russell Chadwick and Earl Gossard have
found that theyan observe insect movements with ''remarkable
detail.'' It may even be possible to distinguish different insect
species by such radar-detectable characteristics as size or wingbeat
frequency. The radar, which also monitors wind, can determine which
insects are strong flyers moving faster than the wind and which are
just drifting with wind currents.
    The radar should be particularly useful at night, when insects on
the move are otherwise impossible to see.
 
    The same invisible forces that bounce airplanes in clear skies may
be accelerating the pace of pollution in the upper atmosphere.
So-called ''clear-air turbulence'' has been shown to shepherd
automotive and industrial pollutants high into the stratosphere,
where the noxious chemicals could reduce the ozone layer that
protects us from solar radiation.
    Examining the exchange processes between the near-earth troposphere
and the overlying stratosphere, Melvyn Shapiro of the National Center
for Atmospheric Reasearch in Boulder, Colo., found that the two
layers can exchange materials in a matter of hours. Previously,
scientists thought that only slow-moving global circulation patterns
and occasional violent storms were responsible for carrying air from
the troposphere up to the stratosphere.
    The new findings, based on velocity, temperature and turbulence
measurements made from a specially instrumented aircraft, have
aggravated Shapiro's concern about the extent to which human activity
is altering the atmospheric environment.
    Since large circulation patterns take several weeks to exchange air
between the two layers, Shapiro explained at an international
symposium in Bulgaria, scientists had thought that rain could wash
many pollutants out of the sky before they reached the ozone layer.
Now, his evidence shows that chemically reactive pollutants are being
incorporated far more quickly.
 
    Physical exercise early in life can stimulate the development of the
part of the brain that controls motor activity, according to studies
in young mice. Whether such brain development enhances later physical
ability is not known, but at least one previous study in human
infants showed that certain exercises done early in infancy can lead
to walking at an earlier age than usual.
    Environmental manipulations early in life, including exposure to
visual stimuli, had previously been shown to affect the development
of the brain's vision center, but this is believed to be the first
demonstration of an effect of environment on the motor area.
    In the new study, described in the current issue of the journal
Science, mice from two litters were separated after weaning into two
groups. One group was placed in a small cage in which the animals
were able to move just enough to obtain food and water. The other
group lived in a large cage equipped with a variety of exercise
equipment on which they could run and climb. In addition, they were
trained to swim, walk tightropes and run on wheels for 10 minutes a
day.
    After 17 days, the animals' brain tissue was studied. The brains of
the inactive mice weighed 3 percent less and the cerebellar cortex -
the outer layer of the cerebellum, the part of the brain through
which movement messages flow - was about 10 percent thinner. More
significantly, in the active mice, the cells of the cerebellar cortex
had larger extensions with more branches than those in the inactive
animals, suggesting that the brains of the active animals were able
to process more movement information.
    The researchers, Drs. J. J. Pysh and G. M. Weiss of the anatomy
department at Northwestern University in Chicago, said their study is
''just a first step.'' ''We don't know what effect exercise may have
on brain development in younger animals or in animals with mature
brains,'' Dr. Pysh said. ''Nor do we know how long the effect
lasts.'' He pointed out, however, that like the mouse, the human
brain continues to develop anatomically after birth, at least for the
first 10 years of life, so the potential for influencing that
development exists.
    
ny-1016 0937edt
**********

a092  0730  18 Oct 79
PM-Rural Crime, Adv 29, 1st add,440
$ADV 29
For Release PM Mon Oct 29
Crime in Rural America
Part I: Crime, Country-Style
UNDATED: Joseph Donnermeyer.
    Several reasons are offered for the rise in rural crime. A leading
cause cited is the lack of law enforcement personnel in rural areas.
    A second factor is the wealth in many country towns: there's plenty
worth stealing and not much protecting it. Rural America is much more
affluent these days.
    In Montmorenci, Ind., Thunderbirds are parked in front of $100,000
homes. As often as not, the keys are left in the cars, and the front
doors of the houses are unlocked.
    Inside are stereos, color TVs and microwave ovens.
    New highways and new industry have helped open the way for crime in
rural America. Strange cars cruise through, strangers move in.
    In many towns, city people buy country homes. The distinction
between country and suburb is gradually blurring.
    Phillips notes that the past decade witnessed the first increase in
rural population in years. Rural communities are losing their first
line of defense: knowing your neighbor, knowing who belongs.
    ''What you have is homogeneous communities becoming more
heterogeneous. People don't know each other,'' he says.
    Life for rural teen-agers has also changed. In many states, tight
money has forced small high schools to consolidate into sprawling
county schools just as crowded as their city cousins.
    Donnermeyer says peer pressure and lack of adult attention in these
county schools often lead to drug use, drinking and sometimes crime.
    Ironically, according to sociologists, rural America finds itself
facing the same basic problem faced by crime-ridden city
neighborhoods: the ripping of the social fabric, of knowing and caring
about neighbors.
    Many, including the federal Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration and the National Sheriffs Association, feel the answer
is to restore the strength of country neighborhoods, to make the
neighbors care again.
    Since 1972, the sheriffs' group has received an annual $250,000
grant from LEAA to operate a National Neighborhood Watch Program. The
program, initially geared toward the suburbs, is shifting its
emphasis toward rural crime.
    Director Ben Gorda says the program teaches people to fight crime
with common-sense precautions like locking doors and vehicles and
installing anti-burglary devices.
    It also encourages people to keep an eye on strange cars driving
along rural roads, and note license plates if they appear suspicious.
    But beyond such programs, many who have studied rural crime complain
the problem has gotten meager attention from government.
    ''There is a myth about rural areas being relatively crime-free, and
that's not true,'' says Donnermeyer. ''I don't think the government
recognizes the problem yet.''
    End Adv PM Mon Oct. 29
    
ap-ny-10-18 1029EDT
**********

n057  1520  22 Oct 79
 
BC-SCIENCE WATCH (UNDATED)
 c. 1979 N.Y. Times News Service
    Insects on the wing have long been a bane to meteorologists trying
to detect weather patterns by radar. The insects, which reflect the
microwave radiation of radar, can distort or obscure weather features.
    But now meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration have decided to take advantage of this fact and come
to the aid of entomologists trying to track insect flight and detect
potential invasions of insect pests. Currently, relatively little is
known about the winged stage in the insect's life cycle although this
all-important time is when the insects propagate themselves.
    Using Doppler radar, Drs. Russell Chadwick and Earl Gossard have
found that they can observe insect movements with ''remarkable
detail.'' It may even be possible to distinguish different insect
species by such radar-detectable characteristics as size or wingbeat
frequency. The radar, which also monitors wind, can determine which
insects are strong flyers moving faster than the wind and which are
just drifting with wind currents.
    The radar should be particularly useful at night, when insects on
the move are otherwise impossible to see.
 
    The same invisible forces that bounce airplanes in clear skies may
be accelerating the pace of pollution in the upper atmosphere.
So-called ''clear-air turbulence'' has been shown to shepherd
automotive and industrial pollutants high into the stratosphere,
where the noxious chemicals could reduce the ozone layer that
protects us from solar radiation.
    Examining the exchange processes between the near-earth troposphere
and the overlying stratosphere, Melvyn Shapiro of the National Center
for Atmospheric Reasearch in Boulder, Colo., found that the two
layers can exchange materials in a matter of hours. Previously,
scientists thought that only slow-moving global circulation patterns
and occasional violent storms were responsible for carrying air from
the troposphere up to the stratosphere.
    The new findings, based on velocity, temperature and turbulence
measurements made from a specially instrumented aircraft, have
aggravated Shapiro's concern about the extent to which human activity
is altering the atmospheric environment.
    Since large circulation patterns take several weeks to exchange air
between the two layers, Shapiro explained at an international
symposium in Bulgaria, scientists had thought that rain could wash
many pollutants out of the sky before they reached the ozone layer.
Now, his evidence shows that chemically reactive pollutants are being
incorporated far more quickly.
 
    In contrast with the general tightening of funds for conventional
scientific research, a grant of half a million dollars has been
awarded to a physicist for research in parapsychology - the study of
mental telepathy and similar subjects.
    The award was announced in a statement by Washington University of
St. Louis. Peter F. Phillips, a physicist on the Washington faculty,
received the grant from James S. McDonnell, chairman of the board of
McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which manufactures the DC-10 airliner.
    Phillips will continue his work in physics, but in addition will
pursue psychic research in psychokinesis (the movement of physical
objects by will power alone) and spontaneous occurrences, the
university said.
    A statement issued by Washington University quoted the donor,
McDonnell, as saying: ''Man is approaching the evolutionary point
where he is beginning to realize there is a possible merging of
matter and mind, and a priority item for current scientific research
is the understanding of human consciousness.''
 
    Teen-agers flying on ''angel dust,'' a popular drug of abuse known
technically as phencyclidine, or PCP, have suffered hallucinations
and even death. No antidote for PCP is known, but researchers in New
York have announced a discovery that may lead to one.
    Stephen R. Zukin, a psychiatrist at the Mt. Sinai School of
Medicine, and R. Suzanne Zukin, a biochemist at Albert Einstein
College of Medicine, have found that PCP interacts with the brains of
rats at specific locations where hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD and
mescaline do not bind. Reporting their research in the October issue
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Zukins
expressed hope that knowledge of PCP's mode of action ''may finally
permit scientific search for a drug which could reverse its action.''
    The presence of specific receptor sites for PCP in the rats' brains
suggests that the animals produce some substance, as yet
undiscovered, that interacts with these receptors and is involved in
important nervous system functions. The Zukins are trying to identify
such a chemical.
    Noting that PCP-induced symptoms mimic the thought disorder and
paranoid delusions of schizophrenia, the Zukins also expressed the
hope that deciphering PCP action could aid in the understanding of
mental illness.
    According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, an estimated 5.8
percent of American 12-to-17-year-olds have used PCP, and 13.9
percent of 18-to-25-year-olds.
    
ny-1022 1814edt
**********

a264  1630  25 Oct 79
AM-Chevron,390
EDS: A version of this story moved on the financial wire.
By STEPHEN BROWN
AP Business Writer
    NEW YORK (AP) - Several major oil companies said Thursday they won't
match the wholesale price cut of 3 cents a gallon on fuel announced
by Standard Oil Co. of California.
    Representatives of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco and Shell declined comment
on the move by Standard Oil of California (Chevron) to decrease the
price of diesel fuel, gasoline and heating oil, saying only that their
companies had not changed prices.
    The spokesmen also said their companies do not speculate on future
price changes. Several noted the Justice Department has complained
that such speculation amounts to anti-competitive ''signaling'' of
pri square,'' she said Wednesday, after the Miami
Police Department's Operation Hot Stuff began rounding up small
businessmen who had bought television sets, radios, blenders,
microwave ovens, jewelry and other ''hot stuff'' from Mrs. Boyd.
    Sixteen alleged fences were arrested Tuesday and charged with
dealing in stolen property. Five others were arrested Wednesday.
    ''Are you going to take that junkie's word for it?'' demanded a
salesman at a Miami auto parts store when he was arrested Wednesday.
    ''Junkie? You think that woman's a junkie?'' shouted back Sgt.
William Cauchi, head of the Hot Stuff squad. ''She's been a
policewoman for five years.''
    She hadn't always dreamed of being a cop. Growing up as one of nine
children in Jacksonville, she wanted to be a nurse or teacher. She
said she changed her mind when she got mediocre grades in chemistry
and biology in college and got excellent marks in criminology.
    Mrs. Boyd met her husand, Harold, a patrolman, at the police
academy. She started as a public service aide - a kind of apprentice
police officer - and then became a patrol officer.
    
ap-ny-10-25 1928EDT
**********