On supporting science journalism
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DECEMBER 1955
SPACE BIRD--"Some time in the next few years a new object will appear in the heavens. It will be quite inconspicuous. But as men lift their heads and, watching, catch a glimpse of this faint body racing across the sky, they will feel the excitement of witnessing a great historic event. For the tiny object circling the heavens will be metal that man has touched, a satellite that man has made and flung from the earth into space. The satellites that the U.S. will launch for the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) are still, of course, only scribbles and sketches on pieces of paper."
THERAPY OR POISON?--"In 1940 a Boston ophthalmologist was abruptly confronted with a new disease which defied his skill to diagnose, let alone to treat. In the course of just a few months he examined six cases of babies going blind from some obscure cause. By July 1950, statistics seemed to show that the babies who developed retrolental fibroplasia had been treated for oxygen deficiency, as evidenced by the fact that they were kept under oxygen longer. It had not yet sunk in that the giving of oxygen might itself be the cause of the trouble. Retrolental fibroplasia emerged in epidemic proportions when hospitals began to expose premature babies to very high oxygen atmosphere in efficient new incubators. Often the atmosphere used was 50 percent oxygen."
