Biotechnology in the marine sciences

Genetic engineering applied to the production of fish, molluscs, algae, algal products, and crustaceans in natural environments and hatchery systems is still at the rudimentary stage. Cloning systems for producing commercially important chemicals, pharmacologically active compounds, and metamorphosis-stimulating substances present in marine organisms are being sought. Attempts are being made to develop useful drugs from the sea, including antineoplastic, antibiotic, growth-promoting (or -inhibiting), analgesic, and antispasmodic agents. Immediate commercial applications can be expected from engineered systems involving polysaccharide and specialty chemical production, with marine microorganisms as the source of genetic material.     

Martian relief and the coming opposition

In the report "Martian relief and the coming opposition" (3 Mar., p. 1100), D. H. Harris stated that, "... the reduced contrast with decreasing (terminator distance) just balances the increase in visibility due to shadow length." This is obviously erroneous. A more careful examination of the problem shows that for favorable values of the Aerocentric EarthSun Sun angle, visibility of relief increases toward the terminator, clouds not withstanding.     

Martian relief and the coming opposition

Ground-based observations of Martian relief may be possible when the Earth-Mars geometry is optimum and the observing conditions are near perfect. There is some evidence that detectable relief is present. Groundbased observations of Martian relief during the coming opposition will be optimum between 1 February and 1 March and between 1 June and 15 August 1967.     

Communication in the physical and the social sciences

Although composed of similar elements and structured similarly, the communications systems associated with the physical sciences and the social sciences differ markedly with respect to the operation and use of these elements. For both groups of disciplines, as information flows through the system it encounters lags and filtering, and much of a scientist's communication behavior is an effort to compensate for these factors. Because the lags and filtering within each system differ in loci and extent, the members of different disciplines adjust to them differently, and the overall information flow patterns in the physical and in the social sciences differ.