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    INEUTRINOS:

    BULLETS THATREVOLUTIONIZE

    OWNSPLANETS?LAW COMES OF AGEAS ART:OBSERVATORIESOBSERVINGVS. NATURE:

    OUTER LIMITSHUMAN POTENTIALHOW REAL DRAGONSFIRE 'SNEAKOF HOLLYWOOD'SHORROR FANTASY*CANDID CONVERSATION

    THE WHITE HOUSE

    ^""ISSi?-.^

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    onnaiiEDITOR & DESIGN DIRECTOR: BOB GUCCIONEEXECUTIVE EDITOR: FRANK KENDIGART DIRECTOR: FRANK DEVINOEUROPEAN- ljTOFi: DR, BFRf-.ARD DIXONC-tCTORO: ADVi-RllSlNG BIVERLE: .VARD&LEEXECUTIVE VIOr-PR-SDEM"- IRVV N E B1LLMAN

    FIRST WORDOMNIBUSCOMMUNICATIONSFORUMEARTHSPACE

    EnvironmentAstronomy

    Kenneth BrowerMark R. Ctiartrand II

    LIFE Biomedicine Bernard Dixon 2STARS Comment Patrick Moore 2THE ARTS Media 2UFO UPDATE Report Art Gartt 3CONTINUUM Data Bank 3ARTFUL DODGER OF THEPHYSICAL WORLD Article Hai Hellman 4THE MICKEY MOUSEOLYMPICS notion Tom Sullivan 5MIND AND NATURE Article Gregory Bateson 5EYES ON THE UNIVERSE Pictorial Trudy E. Bell 5HALFJACK notion Roger Zelazny 6FRANK PRESS Interview Daniel Greenberg 7THE MATTER OF SPACE LAW Article George S. Robinson 7ALIEN Pictorial Cynthia Grenier 8THE WAY OF CROSSAND DRAGON Fiction George R. R. Martin 86FUTURE FARMING Article Alan Anderson, Jr. gFLIGHT OF THE DRAGON Article Peter Dickinson 9THE MADAGASCAR EVENT Fiction Robert Hai sty 10HOW TO WRITE AN SF NOVEL Article Sam J. Lundwall 107

    :. ^a^ '

    travel Roy A. Gallant 13SYMBIOSIS Phenomena Roman Vlshniae 14GAMES Diversions Scot Morris 144LAST WORD Opinion Bruce Wallace 146

    ;

    Zover art tor this month's Omnis space artist Don Dixon'sision of our largest planet,upiter Seen from lo. Dixon,'ho nov.' lives in California, na?:; cc"i)j :eiec a^liriaboii wykn a t^n f,y 1-jASJ, This cow-,.:,.-K ,- i-j,. s ii-nffj appearance in

    OMNI, 1979 (ISSN GHM7T1), U S. Ve

    semilicticn and real places or perse*

    umel, Number g Ccpy-ghi c.- i:i:-:! by 0"-ni Inia-ialkna! l;l; -.-. -igtits 'eserved. Publishe! " . '' .' -ii i :! ' ' Z -,.-=,-=, ? territoria

    J.K ;i:.yCur!i:;-.r(:L..ar.vi:-.riipar-, 2: Hsrr^.'ss-.D'i. West Caldwell. N. J 07006. Distribute!

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    miriTfoe concern, ofcourse, is that if thefear spreads,there may never be anothernuclear-powerplant licensed in theUnited States. 9

    When the first reportsinfamous "accident"

    larch at the Three Mileiwer plant near

    Pennsylvania, ii seemed likeiut of a novel a reactor gone

    al radioactive dust and gasspewing out over the countryside,thousands of people evacuating the areain panic. One could envision thescience-fiction scenario, complete withthe "Harrisburg Crater" cordoned off,guarded, completely abandoned exceptfor roving-bands of mutants. (The firstfictional account of this incident shouldappear any day how,. if it hasn't already.)

    Luckily, it appears now to have beenonly" a close call. The resulting fallout wasnot so much radioactive as political, but.nevertheless, it may yet prove to be lethal.The Three Mile Island incident

    galvanized both critics and proponents ofnuclear energy inio action. For the critics.the accident at Three Mile Island provideda distinct advantage in the nucleardebate fear. As Henry Kendall,president of the Union of ConcernedScientists, put it. "There were a number ofpeople who were terrified, and that's a newcomponent in the nuclear debate." Therepercussions of this element of fear werefelt throughout the country, At ColumbiaUniversity in New York City some 100students staged a sit-in in Seeley W. MuddHall, the engineering building, demandingthat the. university's small, soon-to-be-activated nuclear reactor be dismantledimmediately. The school's engineeringfaculty responded by declaring "amoratorium . . . that would forestall eitheractivation- or- dismantling of the reactor"The professors stressed that they were notconcerned about questions of safety butrather were "very concerned about thegrowing apprehension on campus andhat mis st'ess has reached seriousdimensions,"' Dr. William J. McGill,president- of the university, capitulatedeven further. "I cannot and will not agree toactivation ol She reactor while l serve aspresident.'" he said.Proponents of nuclear power have

    recognized this, growing fear and arescrambling desperately to assuage it.President Carter himself, donning his hatas a nuclear engineer, went to

    Pennsylvania to pump up publicconfidence-. The concern, of course, istif the fear spreads, there may never beanother nuclear-power plant licensed inthe United States.The pro-nuclear position was.stated b

    Walter Creitz, president of. MetropolitanEdison, which runs the Three Mile Islandreactor. According lo Creitz, the nuclearindustry has operated for 30 years'without a single-nuclear-related injury,. lalone death, to any member of the publi. . an enviable record Tor anytechnological industry.'-

    Both sides of the nuclear debate.haveapproached the Three Mile Island incidas though it were the most crucial eventthe history of nuclear power. The criticssee it as t^e realization of the dangers oreiving on miciear fission and, perhapsmofe important, as a crucial setbackto__:.--:: we* industry, interestingly, noteh . the =-.:.'.sd activists in the antjnuel"": t - -' " but a nosier congressmen asenators abvtously seeing votes. _;; -; - : jnd Biis issue havemourned the soapbox. The pro-nuclear: ices "" nurse, are running scared; a-----

    . ... . -.- .i _ --:_:r- ;.,iiie ici=nc!accident are stressing the impending.:"-:- .; : =- : s and the necessity of buildmore nuciear-power plants to preparefor the day when the oil pumps finallyrun dry Bofli groups are desperately--.-.;_ :a: -= ze ~ -= emotion ofthe momentThus the real fallout from the Three Mi

    Island affair has been fear, and with it a__.-: . . - : ; J rhetoric ratharthan reasofromcotfi sides o-:ne nuclear debate.From one camp we hear that nuclear,vr-^-: = ::- ,, earn that nuclea

    emotion, not oy logic It ts perhaps triecurse of our species.Whatever the outcome, it appears tha

    Three Mile island has forced the issue.Before we make a final decision, we woudo weft to look back on the Wisdom ofSolomon found in the Apocrypha "forfear is nothing but a surrender of the hethat come from reason."DO

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    ntri&jor:Dnnruii

    f% e are at (he Fermi NationalJ

    |I I Accelerator LaboratoryU vv (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois,

    where the world's largest particle accel-erator is "making" neutrinos. What is aneutrino? Simply, a mysterious subatomicparticle that may reshape our totalunderstanding of the universe, force arewrite of all the textbooks on how the sunworks, and perhaps provide a finalexplanation of fhe very nature of matter.

    Producing neutrinos "in captivity" isa complicated and astronomicallyexpensive business, but as Hal Hellman,author of more than 22 books on sciencetechnology and physics, explains, it doeshave its practical advantages. "Somedayneutrino radios, because of their superiorpenetrating power, may allow us to sendmessages straight through the center ofEarth, or may provide a more rapid meansof communication with inhabitants of otherplanets." The neutrino is the hottest storyin physics to date. Catch "The ArtfulDodger of the Physical World" on page 44.

    Energy-intensive vs. energy-efficient: Aheated debate has divided the agriculturalcommunity into two camps, each offeringa conflicting view on the future of agri-culture. Alan Anderson, a specialist inexperimental agriculture, examines bothsides in "Future Farming" (page 90)."There are two ways of thinking about thefuture," writes Anderson. "The high-technology bag farming under bubblesand in skyscrapers, supertractors,vast soilless layouts, that sort of thing;10 OMNI

    and then there's the opposite viewlow-technology less meat, minimumtillage, and small machinery Large vssmall. Whom are we supposed tobelieve?"Space law to date has dealt primarily

    with earth-oriented legalities, ranging fromcommunications satellites lo productliability in the manufacture of spaceequipment. However, these issues paiewhen compared with the far more exoticlegal principles and guidelines that willnecessarily apply to long-durationmanned missions, permanent spacecommunities, and the environmentalalteration of other planets, known as"terraforming."Already a few pioneering attorneys have

    taken up the challenge of space law andare committed to the occupation of spaceas the next evolving phase in humandestiny. George S. Robinson, the world'sfirst attorney to receive a Ph.D. in spacelaw, files a provocative report. "The Matterof Space Law," starting on page 76.

    Ph i Iosophe r-anthropolog is t-cyberneticianGregory Bateson offers some engagingthoughts in Omni's excerpt of his latestwork (see page 54). "Mind and Nature."Bateson challenges all of us to becomemore aware of the pattern that connects allliving things, a subject he will discussfurther in an exclusive upcoming Omniinterview.Considered one of the most respected

    science-fiction writers of the past 15 years,Roger Zelazny ("Halfjack," page 66) was

    ;:-- ' 1 -:-t ;~: .1 - : : J Polish. Irisn.American, and Dutch origins. Noted,among other things, for his sureness of:" eZe;:" rose"o prominence by.' z ..:: \eo:s swa-'cs n the sameyear for his stories 'He Who Shapes" and"The Doors of His Face, the Lamps ot HisMouth."

    in 1969 he wrote Damnation Alley, whicwas later released as a major motionpicture by 20th Century-Fox The cast waheaded by Jan-Michael Vincent, GeorgePeppard. and Dominique Sanda. Rogerdid want us to mention that the film borelittle resemblance to the book. OtherZelazny novels under film option are Lordof Light, The Dream Master, Sign of theUnicom, and Courts of ChaosGeorge R. R. Martin ("The Way of Cross

    and Dragon," page 86) published his firstscience-fiction story in 1971. Martin hassubsequently sold and published morethan 40 pieces of short fiction, severalarticles, and two short-story collections.Winner of the Hugo Award in 1974 for hisnovella A Song for Lya, Martin was fourtimes a finalist for the Nebula Award. Healso won the Locus Award for The StormsofWindhaven, a novella published in 1975

    Finally, don't miss Omni's exclusivepictorial on 20th Century-Fox's newscience- fiction thriller Alien. Described as"the dark side of Close Encounters," Alienpromises to be the smash hit of the year.Film correspondent Cynthia Grenier'scoverage begins on page SO. (Also seeThe Arts/Film, page 24,)DO

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    Editor m ChiDorm.in; SeraO' Ed/to". Di

    n -Editor- Ben;an fdilor. Df. !

    ;b Editors: Owen Davie:

    lowitwng Editors: MontEvans, Dr. Patrick Moore. Oi

    son, Sandy Shakociu:

    Lynda Chyhai; Designer Perry Colerr ditor: Hildegard Kron: Staff Photographer. Pal H

    ADMINISTRATIVE

    Bod Guceione. JrADVERTISING OFFICES

    New York (Beverley Wardale) Omni Public[ernational Lid. 909 Third Avenue. New10028 Tel (212) 593-330' Tela* no. 23712

    /1H7DH Tel(0i|262-033t TeleEDITORIAL OFFICES

    it 9D9 Third Avenue. New York

    Paler Goldsmith; Press and Public Relations DireBUREAUS

    CDonruiuaiicMTorusScience or God?I would like to ask Saul Kent [Commu-nications, February 1979] if he believesscience is a substitute for God.

    Mr. Kent's list of possible benefitsresulting from a designed program of invitro reproduction is quite horrifying to me.What makes him think that man has a rightto "unlimited youth, intelligence, wealth,and access to the universe"9

    Nature, God, or whatever one wishes tocall that which controls us provides its ownchecks and balances and follows its owndesign. We, as humans, are not fullyevolved; we are incapable of tapping ourown total brain potential. To desire tocontrol human evolution, using the limitedhuman judgment of what is best for man,is nothing but folly.

    Stacy JannisProvidence, R.I.

    UFO ChallengeHow funny it is to read these endlessliterary debates concerning UFO research.

    I have only two questions. If Ufologyemploys an indefinite number of experts,why hasn't over 30 years of investigationrevealed a conclusive answer to who, why,and what for?Second, ever since 1948 investigators

    have been firing hard photographicevidence toward the UFO skeptics, notfazing their stubbornness a fraction. Ichallenge you, Philip Klass, and you,James Oberg: What evidence do youpossess that can convince me and theworld that the UFO phenomenon is nothingbut a case of swamp gas, weatherballoons, or a wild human imagination?

    Jeff HenryWilliamsport, Md.

    Oberg replies: Taking the second questionfirst, it is a perversion of science todemand a skeptic to disprove anything,especially a topic so nebulous that you'vegot to ask that first question about it.Gale's Ark?I don't mean to be pessimistic, but, as faras Lean tell, civilization as we know itstands about a one-in-ten chance of

    survival must by all means continue to doso. it perhaps behooves us to give seriousconsideration to the only other alternative,should our efforts on this planet provefruitless: exodus.

    It seems unlikely that our governmentswill be of any assistance, preoccupied asthey are with politics, finances, resources,and war. It is up to us.

    Project Noah will certainly be vast, mostlikely expensive, but definitely notimpossible. If you have anything tocontribute, from practical suggestions,through financial assistance, to your ownperson as a colonist, I urge you to contactme through this magazine. This appearsto be a logical first step.

    Tom GaleToronto, Ont, Canada

    Impending DoomIn response to fiction editor Ben Bova'spitch for more money to NASA [March1979], citing Skylab's final failure, I wouldlike to state that NASA was criminallynegligent in sending up Skylab in the firstplace. If any space hardware cannot bemade 1 ,000-plus-percent safe to allinhabitants of this earth, then it becomesoutrageously irresponsible to launch it.

    More money for NASA would not havechanged this total lack of irresponsibility,but probably would add more hardwarewith which to threaten mankind. NASApeople responsible for this space bombshould stand in court for criminalnegligence and crimes against mankind.

    If conquest of space means possibledisasters to mankind anywhere,anytime then let's not conquer space!

    Howard MeyerLittle Neck, N.Y

    Behold the lowly turtle; he only makesprogress by sticking his neck out!Seriously, Skylab's troubles come fromtotally unforeseen solar storms that heatedthe earth's atmosphere enough to reachSkylab In its "safe" orbit and drag itearthward. Nobody on Earth could haveforecast that; the mission was completelyCON" INLCD ON PAGE 133

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    FDRunnIn which the readers, editors, andcorrespondents discuss topics arising outof Omni and theories and speculation ofgeneral interest are brought forth. Theviews published are not necessarily thoseOf the editors. Letters forpublicationshould be mailed to Omni Forum, OmniMagazine. 909 Third Avenue. New York.N.Y. 10022.In Favor of the HuntI am disconcerted that your prestigiousmagazine appears to support thecampaign against the seal hunt off thecoast of Newfoundland IContinuum,February 1979], This campaign is aclassic example of good intentions run

    While it may be an overstatement to saythat the federal government's regulationhas completely eliminated the cruelpractices of several years ago, they havecertainly been drastically curtailed. Tooppose the seal hunt per se is akin toopposing the "cattle slaughter" thatprovides us with our beef, or the "fishslaughter" off the east and west coasts ofCanada and the United States.The seal hunt is an important part of

    Newfoundland life. To terminate it wouldhave serious social and economic effectsNot only does the seal hunt provide animportant supplement to the meagerincomes of many Newfoundlanders, butit also allows them to retain theirindependence and self-respect. Somepeople have proposed that a ban on theseal hunt should be accompanied byfinancial compensation to the hunters.This glorified form of welfare, where themen would be paid to sit around and donothing, would open the door to theproblems that emerge whenever welfarebecomes a chronic part of life. Loss ofself-esteem, alcoholism, and socialinstability are apt to be the "benefits"reaped from such a scheme.

    I am concerned about the quality of ourenvironment and the preservation of ourwilderness areas. I believe that we needgroups like Greenpeace to draw thepublic's attention to important issues andto apply political pressure for the changes14 OMNI

    and safeguards that are needed. However,in the case of the seal hunt, lack ofconsideration of all the factors involvedhas led to ridiculous protests, whichundermine the credibility "f suchorganizations as Greenpeace.The campaign against the seal hunt

    reminds me of a sad chapter in Canadianhistory around the turn of the century. Atthat time the federal government hadrefused to sign treaties with Indians innorthern Alberta. These Indians lived atraditional life-style of trapping, hunting,and fishing. Because treaties had notbeen signed, the Indians did not "qualify"for government aid in the form of medicalcare or emergency provisions when theywere starving. Many died from starvation,and many more died from the diseasesbrought to this continent by the whiteimmigrants (smallpox, tuberculosis, and

    At the same lime that the Indians' pleasfor help were ignored the governmentdecided that steps had to be taken toprotect diminishing wildlife. A gamereserve was created that took away theIndians' prime hunting grounds andan important source of food andclothing the buffalo. Game laws wereintroduced regarding the hunting andtrapping of other animals. All this wasdone without a care for the well-being ofthe Indians!

    Now, I realize that opponents of the sealhunt do not desire such i nhumaneinconsideration for the Newfoundlandsealers and their families. Nevertheless,the single-minded pursuit of the anti-seal-hunt campaign could very well haveserious adverse repercussions on thequality of human life in Newfoundland.There are many cases in the United

    States and Canada that need our atten-tion, such as the hazards of nuclear-waste disposal, the near-extinction of theperegrine falcon in the United States, andthe chemical spraying of New Brunswick'sforests for a quarter of a century to protectthe trees (what about the people?). Let usnot be sidetracked by a nonissue wheremore harm than good is apt to be the-result of any further intervention.

    Let the Newfoundlanders continue toeke out a living without unnecessaryharassment from the world!

    Daniel D. HorsmFredericton, N.B., Cana

    Loves Free EnterpriseIn the article "Planet Antarctica" [March1979] Kenneth Brower states, ". . . itappears that our use of space will be puexploitation. Mankind will not benefit frit; rich men will."Under free enterprise, that's impossib

    None will invest unless there will be areturn, and there will be no return unlessothers find it beneficial.We certainly cannot say that spaceprograms to date have enriched theaerospace industry to the detriment ofmankind.

    Charles M. HCranford, N

    Specific PainMr. J. B. Tucker's examination of the gaibeing made in the area of research onchronic pain in the February Omni [pag861 offers a vivid example of the mostcrucial problem facing modem medicalscience, a basic lack of lateral thinking.The current approach to control ofchronic pain involves the attempts to bltransmission of the signal by removing tfactor responsible for its generation.

    While information as to the psycho-logical basis of pain has only recentlycome to light, we have long known thatpain serves a specific purpose. Quitesimply, pain informs us that a particularbody system or tissue has been injuredhas ceased to function in a proper fashiSimilarly, a smoke detector that soundsduring the night is informing us that apotentially dangerous fire has occurred.To remove the battery of the detector inattempt to return to a pleasant dreamwould be illogical. It is just as illogical tointerrupt any pain signal without correctthe situation that created the pain. To throne's hands in the air in frustration andseek the comfort of painkillers is aninjustice.

    If we see pain as the major problem aCOMTIMUED ON FW3E 134

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    16K BYTES OF MEMORY, SPEECH,ACTION SOUNDS, MUSIC

    Two years ago we wrote a piece on themost startling product of the decade. Thefirst personal computer. It actually brought develop zthe miracle of computing power within gramforireach of small businesses. At less than$1000, it was even affordable for home use.That was two years ago. Today, that sameunit, and other second and third genera-tion models are still being sold. Enter nowInteracts fourth generation American-made personal computer with total sound.color, 16,000 bytes or words of usablememory, and superb ease of handling athundreds ot dollars less than any compar-ably equipped computer.

    GIANT COMPUTER HARDWAREBeneath its cover is the Intel 8080^ micro-processor brain a powerful logic com-ponent used in computers costing tens ofthousands of dollars. Interact loads dataup to 5 times faster than most other com-pacts. Its 8080 brain does all of the complexdata saving, processing and retrievalchores. All that's left is typing in the datathrough the 9 inch, 53-key standard type-writer keyboard.

    WHY IT COSTS LESSSince the unit performs in color, it is de-signed to hook up to any TV antenna ter-minal. If- we included a color screen (CRT},we'd have to charge more. Witness the 16KRadio Shack Model. It's only black andwhite, and with its screen that isn't even aTV, it costs $899.00. Ours, with full soundand color is several hundred dollars less,interact full sound is generated three ways;There are game action sounds from themicroprocessor, tunes within the programsand actual speech and music from any ^ s[a r-fcassette software. In fact, it is the onlyputer able to transmit full sound thratTV. Image resolution is superb.

    $300. WORTH OF14 PROGRAMS INCLUDINGEDU-BASIC AND LEVEL 2 BASIC.

    That's why High/Scope, an eduresearch foundation, was commiss

    If you'rethinking about aHome Computer,

    make sure it'snotjustagameBeci

    TheLetteithrough Word RootReading and Writing15 year old. Studentsprepare assigni

    itional SPECIAL OFFER-OVER S300 WORTH OFned to FREE PROGRAMS-INCLUDING LEVEL IIexceptional. But, there is just nojve it, unless you are enjoying It

    sscnooiers in your own home and business. You havear, Critical to try it. That's why we are giving you 14

    .__ for the 8 to different full color and sound programstakenotesand FREE-including Edu-Basic and the Basicugh the com- Level II program for advanced applic;

    nilar math and foreign languageams are also being prepared. By com-in, any one ot these courses given by to checku or commercial school could easily FREEvak:s much as the computer itself. Edu-Basic'

    way of backing up everythingsaid and making it worth your while

    ' for yourself. Your $300.evel II Basic Blackjack ' Hangman Knockdown'" Dogfight1" Showdown 7" centratlon Add-Em-Up'"Biorhythm" and 1 Blankomputer Maz

    Data Tape.Fourteen programs are actually more thanother computers have to offer. They'reyours FREE with your purchase of theInteract. If, after 15 days you are not satis-fied with your Interact, you may return itfor a prompt refund of the purchase price.Sorry, but you'll have to return the 14 pro-grams and the data cassette also. The unitis backed by a ninety-day parts and laborlimited factory warranty.

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    THE MOST EFFICIENT BUSINESSTOOL EVERInteract-' comes ready to handle a widerange of business applications. Its Level IIBasic, and 16K byte system capacity giveyou the instruction set and the room towrite your own programs for payroll, inven-tory, client records, etc. For accountants,attorneys, doctors, salespeople, and smallbusinesses, it's a lot of computer tor very Chess, Backga'little money. Races, Con.For the enlightened computer expert,

    IT'S A BRILLIANT MUSIC TEACHERcomprehensive music program and aino keyboard overlay turn the computero a perfect pitch maestro. You can prac-lody. you can select both key and tempo.

    '" ;played on which to write yoursong, note by note, complete with rests andvalues. Play the composition back; correctany note; instantly transpose it to anotherkey; or store it on a blank cassette for laterrevision. A student can listen to his lessonand transpose it into another key for usewith F, E^, E* horns, etc. The youngsterthen plays along in the right key, in the cor-rect meter. It's a fantastic application.

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    soft'". livalent to all Lcavailable. The program Includes: a super-

    I operations in floating point with integertring arrays, direct memory access, direct

    OF COURSE, IT PLAYS GAMESlet is a total entertainment center

    d music. There areHangman, RegattaTrailblazers, Black-

    jack, -Star Track games that would costany arcade owner $2000 or more. Challengethe computer or another opponent. Eachgame will bring family and friends togetherfor hours of quality fun.FCC AND CSA APPROVED FOR YOUR TVThe I with C

    AN INCOMPARABLE SCHOOL TEACHERSince it can talk, play music and perform incolor, Interact is a phenomenal teacher.

    age and programmability. is FCC and CSAapproved for attachment to any TV. It is ULlisted and operates on standard 110V house-hold current. It's portable, too: weighs 12pounds and is only 19" Lx12" Wx8"D.

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    PHOENIXOF CRESTED BUTTEEARTHBy Kenneth BrowerIn 1971 W Mitchell was driving towork he was a gripman on the cable

    cars in San Franciscowhen a truck hithis motorcycle. The cap to his gas tankflew open, and the gas ignited. Mitchellwas, in his own words, "burnt up." Formonths his eyes were bandaged. Whenthe wrappings were removed, he round hecould see. Plastic surgeons rebuilt hislace as best they could. Mitchell taughtthe stubs of his hands first to hold cupsand newspapers, then the controls ofairplanes. He learned to fly. With thesettlement money (rom the motorcyclecrash he bought a Cessna 207. In 1975,taking off from the airfield at Gunnison,Colorado, Mitchell realized that his wingswere icy. He chopped power he still hadsome runway left but the plane camedown too fast and crashed, breaking hisback. His legs paralyzed now, he moved toCresled Butte, Colorado, a village of1 ,000 few enough inhabitants that hisface and wheelchair soon became familiarto everyone and ceased to draw stares.

    In 1977 a deposit of molybdenumvalued at $7 billion was discovered underthe mountain just west of his adoptedhome. Later that year Mitchell rolled his

    wheelchair through the town's muddystreets, campaigning for mayor, with justone issue on his mind. He spent $45 onadvertising a bold and unprecedentedmove in Crested Butte. He won by 20votes, a margin of victory greater,proportionately, than Jimmy Carter'smargin in 1976. In 1978 Mayor Mitchell, stilla glutton for punishment, announced hisintention to fight the giant miningcorporation that wanted the molybdenum.Of his first accident, the mayor of

    Crested Butte remembers nothing. "Thebrain is too smart for that," he says. Hedoes recall his four months in the hospital,and the many months of helplessnessafterward, and the slowly departinghypersensitivity of his hand stubs, and" 20sessions of plastic surgery. (He couldnever grow accustomed to going underthe knife.) He does nof remember beingparticularly depressed.

    Mitchell did a lot of walking. Anex-Marine, on walks he wore his.government-issue, wide-brimmed Smokeythe Bear hat, in order to shield his skingrafts from the sun. As he passedschoolyards, children ran to the fences,shouting, "Monster! Monster!" Mitchell

    Mining "Red Lady" i16 OMNI

    was not angry; his instinct was to explain."I wanted to go into the schoolyard and tthem about what had happened tome that I had been in a bad fire, but thaI could still do different things." Teachersran up to hush the children. Mitchellchanged his mind and just walked on.He was born in Pennsylvania in 1943.His career before his accidents had been

    varied: the Marine Corps on turningseventeen, then selling insurance,substitute teaching, and taxi drivingafterward. He had worked in radio inHawaii sales, newscasting, discjockeying. (Today his voice still has a radiannouncer's resonancethe fire mayhave charred him outside, but everythinginside emerged intact.) In Honolulu in1964, on his discharge from service, hemarched in protest against the VietnamWar. He had liked the Marine Corps, theparades, the discipline, the shooting hewas an expert rifleman when he hadhands but he felt perfectly comfortablein this new kind of parade. An affinity forliberal causes developed in him. As acampaign worker for Senator RobertKennedy, he visited Colorado for the firsttime, and then California. Kennedy'sassassination temporarily soured, butfailed to kill, his affection for politicalcauses.He was never much concerned with thenvironment. While he resided inCalifornia, he visited Yosemite NationalPark, cead John Muir, and joined the SierrClub, but he was not a great outdoorsman"I was the laziest bum in the whole world.wasn't even a hiker I was a walker."When he first got to know Colorado well, iwas on the motorcycle with the faulty gascap, the year before it failed him. "I wasplaying Easy Rider. I drove up throughMesa Verde, Durango, and Silverton. Itwas so green that I thought I was in a beecommercial." (As an aesthete, he was stillmostly the ex-Marine.) He admits, a littleembarrassedly, that he seldom strayedmore than 100 feet from the motorcycle.He first saw Crested Butte through thewindow of his Cessna, not long before itcrashed.

    "It was just the perfect place. I found aCONTINUED ON PAGE 128

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    EYEINTHESKX

    'By Mark R. Chartrand III

    n a rainy afternoon ten yearsfrom now an astronomer walksinto a basement observatory and

    siis at a televisionlike screen. An operatorpushes buttons, checks dials, andmakes adjustments. Stars appear on thescreendozens of them, in the heart ofa distant cluster. The astronomer steersthe telescope to the single point of lighthe wants to observe, then commandsthe telescope to place the properinstrument in this case a spectro-graph in the light path. Hours later hewalks out. his data stored on reels ofmagnetic tape, while the operator goes onto another researcher's program.A few weeks later two techniciansprepare for some minor maintenance onthe telescope, interrupting its usualround-the-clock operation. Carefullydonning their space suits and picking uptools, they pass through the airlock ofthe space shuttle, drifting at a speed of29,000 kilometers per hour above theblue-and-white globe of Earth 600kilometers below. Slowly they float over tothe space telescope and begin working.

    This scenario should be a common

    occurrence by the end of the 1980s. Thespace telescopeonce the Large SpaceTelescope but now shrunken by budgetproblems is due to be launched in1983; that date could change because ofproblems with the space shuttle's engines.

    This new eye in space should help usanswer many of the teasing problems ofthe universe: How old is it? How did it formand evolve? How fast is it expanding?Are there really black holes? Where doQuasars get their energy?Viewed from far above Earth's turbulent

    air. the stars will appear one tenth the.size seen in ground-based instruments.Because the telescope puts the star's lightinto a smaller area on a photograph, it willbe able to see fainter objects and scan avolume of space 350 times greater thanthat now open to us.

    Unobstructed by the filtering atmo-sphere, it will peer far into the ultravioletand infrared regions of the spectrumon either side of the part we see. Thesewavelengths carry important informationabout the hottest and coolest objects inspace. Each part of the spectrum is awindow onto the universe with a unique

    Free of Earth's distorting aIS OMNI

    , the space telescope will open distant si

    view. All the windows put together givepanorama not visible from Earth.

    Far from replacing earthly obser-vatories, the space telescope willcomplement them. These thousands otelescopes are still the most cost-effectway to make most astronomicalobservations. The new facility will bereserved for the crucial studies that peat fainter objects or that pin down stellpositions more precisely.The space telescope contains a

    2.4-meter mirror, with five major scientiinstruments, their support devices, apower supply with solar panels, and aradio to relay the observations to EarthAround all this is a shield to protectagainst stray light and micrometeoroidThe space telescope will be carried

    orbit by the space shuttle, the "spacetruck" of the 1980s. The telescope willfit into the shuttle's cargo bay. which isabout the size of a DC-9. During thetelescope's 10- to 15-year lifetime, shutmissions will stop by occasionally for mmaintenance and once or twice to hrinthe satellite to Earth for refurbishing.On the ground the Goddard SpaceFlight Center, at Greenbelt. Maryland,supply facilities for astronomers usingtelescope Each investigator will haveask for telescope time six months to ain advance. A group of scientists willreview the proposal's merits and. if theaccept it. fit the project into an observischedule. To make full use of thetelescope, the work of many astronomewill be closely interleaved. All actualtelescope operations will be handled bspecialist.An entire book could be written abouthe problems to be tackled by this newastronomer's tool. We can say for certathat it will help us establish the distancscale of the universe and improve ourknowledge of the evolution of stars andgalaxies. It may even detect unseenplanets circling nearby stars and confior disprove the existence of black holeThe most exciting prospect is thatserendipitous discoveries, unguessablnow. will add yet another piece to solvithe puzzle of our fascinating universe.

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    FAT FALLACIES

    By Dr. Bernard Dixon

    oes any government have theright not simply lo advisecitizens about healthy diet

    habits but to ensure that they consumeprecisely what it considers good for them?Norway is the outstanding example of acountry that has chosen this brand ofnutritional totalitarianism. Since 1975Norwegians have found themselvesmaneuvered by tax incentives anddisincentives toward an officially endorseddiet. Farmers, importers, and thewholesale and retail trade have also beenregimented into line under thegovernment's "integrated nutrition, food,and agriculture policy"The main aim of the policy is to curb

    people's consumption of saturated animalfats and to increase their appetite tor thepolyunsaturated vegetable variety Thepayoff Big Brother hopes will be adramatic fall in the incidence of coronarydisease.

    It is perhaps ironic that the four yearsthat have seen the launching of theNorwegian program have also witnesseda damning scientific revolt against itsprincipal tenets. Earlier this year one of theworld's most distinguished experts onheart disease, Sir John McMichael,summarized the position in a major articlein the Brrt/s/i MedicalJoumal (1979, Vo|.1,p. 173}. Pointing out that comparisonsbetween different countries do not supportthe link between animal fats and coronarydisease and that some vegetable fats arepositively harmful, he concluded, "Thetime has come to reject advice tosubstitute polyunsaturated fats for animaland dairy fats in the nation's diet."So much for a fashionable piece of

    health advice. And if the evidence is thatcontroversial, how much less justified aregovernment measures to dictate thegastronomic habits of an entire populace?

    But where does the scientific debateleave those of us who worry about heartdisease? Two points emerge very strongly.First, therejs no serious disagreement withorthodox advice about taking exerciseand avoiding tobacco. Obesity is alwaysharmful, but diet is less important thanexercise and abstinence from tobacco.20 OMNI

    Second, it's becoming abundantly clearthat the saturated-versus-unsaiurated-fathypothesis is hopelessly vague. Whatseems to matter is not our consumption ofeither of these two broad categories of fatbut our intake of specific fatty acids.We cannot yet be certain, but the latestevidence (British MedicalJoumal, 1979,Vol. 1, p. 484) suggests that onepolyunsaturated fatty acid in particularmay be important in the prevention ofcoronary disease. Eicosapentenoicacid remember the name is commonin fish oils. And Eskimos, whose diet is richin this substance, are known for theirtreedom from coronary trouble.

    Eicosapentenoic acid is certainly mycandidate as a heart-attack preventerTime will tell. Meanwhile, nutritionaltotalitarianism based on incomplete,controversial data seems unwise, to saythe least.

    Coincidental^, it was from Norway that areport came recently to threaten anotherfondly cherished myth about body fats. Animportant part of the ideology of exercisehas been a belief that strenuous activity

    A fatty acid abundant in fish oil may be theEskimos' secret tor preventing heart disease.

    reduces the amount of fat and cholestecirculating in the bloodstream. Theevidence has always been inconclusiveso two experimenters at the UniversityOslo, Dr. E. Rasmussen and Dr. A.Hpstmark, set out to resolve the issue.They bred two distinct groups of rats:"energetic" animals, keen to exercisevoluntarily on a treadmill, and "lethargicones, reluctant to take exercise. Next tdivided each group into two subgroupsHalf were allowed access to a wheel, athe others were denied that pleasure. Tresult was that the energetic rats givenexercise facilities ran 12 to 15 kilometerday while the others ran only 2 to 5kilometers.Rasmussen and H0stmark analyzed

    animals' blood regularly, and their findiwere unambiguous. The amount ofexercise taken on the wheel had no effon circulating cholesterol and fats withieither group supplied with a treadmill.there was a difference between the twogroups that were prevented fromexercising. The energetic males had anincreasing concentration of fats in theblood with age. At one year it was fourtimes that in their lethargic brethren. ThOslo investigators conclude that the rawith an inherited desire to exercise hadalso inherited a tendency to develop hiblood fats and presumablycardiovascular disease {CirculationResearch, Vol. 42, p. 598). It's likely butnot absolutely certain, that these resultcan be extrapolated to human beingsconclusion that may once again putanother piece of conventional wisdomjeopardy.

    If we are to accept that lesson, thoughthere is another implication of the Oslowork worthy of consideration. Among tenergetic rats, the two sexes contrastedramatically in their choice of exercise.The females were very keen and playedthe wheel more as their life progressed.The males began less actively and tookeven less exercise as they grew older.Whether this "age-related tendencytowards sloth" in males is typical of thehuman condition, I would not dare toguess. DO

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    HIDDEN EARTH

    5TMRSBy Patrick MooreFor several years now we havebeen hearing about "new

    planets." There are suggestionsthat our familiar companions Mercury,Venus, Mars, and the restmay not be allthere is to the sun's family, that onemember or more still await discovery. Thisidea is not new. A century ago it waswidely thought that another planet couldbe found within the orbit of Mercury. It waseven given a name: Vulcan.

    While Vulcan does not exist, the case fora planet orbiting at the outer rim of thesolar system is much stronger. This seemseven more likely now that we have foundremote Pluto to be more like a couple ofice balls than an Earth-style planet. I cangive no proof, but in my view, Planet Ten isprobably real. However, it is bound to beso faint that its discovery will be largely amatter of luck.

    (En passant, we must stop referring toPluto as the outermost planet. Since Janu-ary, it has been closer to the sun than Nep-tune is, and this will remain true until 1999.I hasten to add that Pluto's path is tilted sosharply that there is no reason to fear ahead-on collision with Neptune when theycross in their orbits.)

    But what about a planet much nearer to

    home, moving in a path similar to our own?This brings us to "Counter-Earth." ahypothetical planet that used to be takenvery seriously and still crops up occasion-ally in the literature.The theory is straightforward enough.

    Earth moves round the sun at a mean dis-tance of slightly less than 148.8 millionkilometers, taking 365.25 days to com-plete its circuit. The orbit is not perfectlycircular. We are somewhat closer to thesun in December than in June, but the vari-ation is not great. The other planetary or-bits are also nearly circular, apart from thatof the enigmatic Pluto. Moreover, Earth'sorbit is stable. Our mean distance from thesun is unchanging, with no suggestion thatit will vary in the foreseeable future;Now consider a planet exactly on the farside of the sun, also moving at a distanceof 148.8 million kilometers in a period of365.25 days. Obviously, the earth, the sun,and the extra planetthe Counter-Earthwould be lined up. We earth-dwellers could not see Counter-Earth atall, because it would be drowned in thesun's glare. It was once said that condi-tions there might well be much the sameas they are here, allowing for the existenceof intelligent life. In fact, as recently as 15

    w planets may yet be found.

    years ago. a science-fiction film portraa Counter-Earth so like our own planetan astronaut landing there found whatseemed to be his own wife and colleagwaiting!

    it is an intriguing theory and, of coursquite true that a planet exactly beyondsun would be invisible. This applies to athe known planets. When a planet is direly beyond the sun, it is said to be at"superior conjunction." Mars passedthrough superior conjunction quite re-cently, which is why it has been absentfrom the night sky. We will not see it wellagain until later this year.

    Unfortunately, science can be unromtic. Interesting as it would be to speculaabout conditions on Counter-Earth, itwould not be really profitable. There is aeasy way to show that Counter-Earth donot exist.

    All planets are perturbedtuggedaside in their orbitsby the gravity fielof other bodies. Because Earth andCounter-Earth would be separated by twhole diameter of their orbit, 297.6 millkilometers, the perturbing effects on thwould differ. Result: Before long, thestraight-line arrangement would be de-stroyed. Counter-Earth would swing outthe side of its arc, and we would see it.Moreover, Counter-Earth would produceits own perturbing effects upon Venus athe other planets, and these influenceswould have been detected long ago.Nowadays, of course, there is direct

    proof that there is no massive, unknownbody in our region of the solar system,Unmanned spacecraft have kept in touwith Earth even when almost on the farside of the sun, and their paths would hbeen violently twisted by the gravity of alurking Counter-Earth. There could besome small asteroids moving more or lein our own orbit, but nothing more significant than that,

    I have always thought that the CounterEarth concept is one of the most fascinaing in ancient lore. It is amusing to imaga world perhaps identical to ours, withpeople of equal technological skill, lessthan 300 million kilometers away And sua pity to realize that there is none! DO

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    HLM .THE ARTSBy James DelsonStar Trek The Motion Picture,now in the works at Paramount, is

    one of the few real mysteries in abusiness where you can learn practicallyeverything about any film by making a fewphone calls. Though myriad rumors haveclaimed to detail the picture's plot line,props, sets, and special effects, the studiohas made an immense effort to keep thefacts under tight security, Guards havebeen ordered to bar the stages to all vis-itors without proper identification.

    After having several visits to the StarTrek sets canceled without explanation atthe last minute, I finally managed to talkwith producer-coscreenwriter Gene Rod-denberry about his movie, now in its sixthmonth of filming. Roddenberry, a shaggy-haired ex-fighter pilot and perennial op-timist, met me at Paramount's Building E,headquarters for his film. The creator-pro-ducer of theSIar Trek TV series seems anunlikely choice for cult hero, much lessguru to the millions of devoted "Trekkies"who made the show the most popularscience-fiction program in history

    Roddenberry's office is crammed withmemorabilia from the series, several real

    mementos of outer space, and stacks ofmaterial about the film. Productionsketches litter the couch, several tentativeadvertisements cover a table, and somecolor paintings of the revamped starshipEnterprise share a chair next !o his desk.He is calmly philosophical about the film,now three months over its original shootingschedule."We didn't have any crises that held us

    up," he reports. "It's just in the nature ofscience fiction that things tend to takelonger." He's right. Of the half-dozen 5Fpictures, shooting in Los Angeles, mosthave gone over budget or over schedule

    " or have had to set back their announcedpremieres."We can storyboard every scene out,"

    Roddenberry explains, "but that justdoesn't work when there are so many vari-ables. All you have to do is go out with yournew space helmet and find that the glassreflects the camera, and suddenly you'redead for the day. In a regular picture ev-eryone knows how to use the telephone,catch a taxi, or whatever But we're dealingwith space suits that don't fit, spacegloves that won't close properly, and wires

    Spock and Captain24 OMNI

    to simulate weightlessness that get alljoggled up. There's nothing we can do bwait around, at thousands of dollars anhour, and have them put right. We're leaing so much that I feel like we've justfinished a semester at college: Space S101 , Advanced EVA, and Special EffectsSeminar. Everything in science fiction isnew and different."

    Except for the cast. Roddenberry hasmanaged to reunite the entire crew of thTV show Even Leonard Nimoy, as theelusive Vulcan with a human heart, canbe found on the new Enterprise bridge.This means more to Roddenberry thana guaranteed box-office draw What hewants is the depth of characterization aactor can create after he's had ten yearreflect on his role."The actors are older now" he says. "

    they have a broader grip on life. They'llplaying the same characters as before,but you'll see more of their insides here.This is particularly true with [William]Shatner and Nimoy. We got into deep dicussions in polishing the script, and theinput meant a lot in making this story coalive again."

    Re-creating Srar Trek has been Rod-denberry's dream for nearly a decade,the first day of shooting was more like aday doing The Twilight Zone than his owshow. "It was a feeling of total dejavu,"recalls. "It took two or three days beforefinally looked at each other and said,'We're really doing this again, aren't we.We thought there'd be exultation after tfirst day. I had planned a party, but noneit came off. It was just too big a shock aten years.

    "We're trying to remain true to the spirof the show yet still create a feature filmthat will please audiences who have neheard of Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock," Rodenberry comments. "Our constant woris how much Star Trek must be kept in STrek The Motion Picture"We would have had it much easier it

    we'd been able to design the film fromscratch. It would have been a lot less trble to work out the technical details. Foexample, everyone believed the old traporter on television, but after Star WarsCONTINU-1G ON PAGE 130

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    p'l

    _,,.,. A l_ I E NTOMSKERRITT SIGOURNEY WEAVER VERONICA CARTWRIGHT HARRY DEAN STANTONJOHN HURT IAN HOLM.YAPHET KOTTOS

    EXECUTIVE PRODUCER RONALD SHUSETT PRODUCED BY GORDON CARROLL, DAVID GILER AND WALTER HILL DIRECTED BY RIDLEY SCOTTBY DANOBANNON S RONALD SHUSETT SCREENPLAY BY DAN O'BANNON MUSIC JERRY GOLDSMITH PANAVISION4 EASTMAN KODAK COhol-g=?-gJ PRINTS BY DELUXE' , nnrSi^HKfl I .,.. .,., ,., . , ,, :i.

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    BOOKSTHE AET5By Robert Anton WilsonThirty years ago, old-timers mayremember, conservative scientists

    solemnly proclaimed that wewould never reach the moon. It is a mea-sure of technology's acceleration that mostwill now admit that we can reach the closerstars "eventually" But they add thai anythought of crossing the entire galaxy is"mere science fiction." One wonderswhether the same neophobic voices willbe arguing in 2379 that, no matter how farwe can travel in our galaxy, it is ridiculousto imagine flight to another galaxyWhat brings this to mind is the distin-

    guished English science writer AdrianBerry, whose mind-boggling new book,The iron Sun (Warner, New York), persua-sively outlines a way to make interstellarflights of any distance without violatingEinstein's speed -of-light barrier.

    I can already hear elderly voices mutter-ing, "Mere science fiction." Not so fast,please. Berry is a thoughtful, well-informed, and very hardheaded chapwhose first book, The Next Ten ThousandYears, is already a classic of futurist ex-trapolation. He is not assuming any suchfanciful breakthroughs as the antigravitydevices beloved of flying-saucer buffs.

    What he does assumeand makes agood case for is that within 200 years orso we will be able to exploit the technolog-ical opportunities of black holes. This ishardly a fantasy when you consider thatonly four decades separated Einstein'sE= mc 3 and the first atomic bomb.

    Berry's plan for crossing space quicklycalls on us to jumpoutofiheEinsteinianspace-time continuum via a black holeand to reenter it somewhere else. Thelargest part of The Iron Sun is devoted toshowing that the scheme must work if youapproach the black hoie according toBerry's flight plan: you get sucked into itand crushed by gravity only if you ap-proach the event horizon in a different way,This is "speculative" in that it is based

    on the Kerr theory of the rotating blackhole, and we have no way to test it. It wouldbe a mistake, however, to dismiss it asbeing "only speculation." Radio wasspeculative in exactly this sense whenJ. C. Maxwell published his electromag-netic equations. An Adrian Berry thencould only have argued that radio waspossible. He could not have convinced theskeptics until Guglielmo Marconi built thefirst radio transmitter. In the same way,

    conception of a black hole, an area in space warped by powerful gravitational'forces.

    Berry can say that his Trans- GalacticRapid Transit System is possible accord-ing to black-hole theory and that it is onlymatter of time until some latter-day Mar-coni builds the first working model.

    Berry's arguments are not in the whim-sical "what if" style of science fantasy.They are strictly in the logical "if/then" styof inductive reasoning. He is careful toshow that his system follows inevitablyfrom the Schwarzschild equations that firpredicted the existence of black holes.And the Schwarzschild model must betrue if general relativity is true. To provethat Berry's plan can't work, we must refutEinstein's gravitational equations.

    Berry says that failure to achieve in-terstellar travel "could bring about thestagnation and ruin of the human speciesYet if it can be solved ... the prospect willinstead be of the establishment of a galactic community, a society in which our de-scendants will be scattered through mil-lions of worlds in orbit around countlessstars. The race will be safe forever from ththreat of extinction, and there will be nolimit to the flowering of human culturewhich this diversity will produce."

    This is, of course, the real motive behinthe space program, even if the politiciansare afraid to say it openly to terrestrial vot-ers. It was this vision that motivated God-dard. Ley, and Von Braun when rocketrywas considered science-fiction kid stuff.

    Before 1914 the great Russian spacepioneer Konsiantin Tsiolkovskiy wrote:"The murky view which some scientistsadvocate as to the inevitable end of everyliving thing on Earth . . . should not be re-garded as axiomatic. The finer part of hu-manity will, in all likelihood, never per-ishthey will migrate from sun to sun asthe suns burn out. And so there is no endto life, to intelligence, and to the perfectioof humanity. Its progress is everlasting."

    It is salutary to have this cosmic visionrestated. This is especially needed today,when many antiscientitic intellectuals arespreading a gospel of doom with whatsometimes seems ghoulish joy. And it is areal pleasure to find it stated by a writer likBerry, whose logic is diamond-hard andwhose style has the clarity of cut glass. Do

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    THE ARTSBy Tricia VitaIn the shadow of the Capitol Building,what looked like a long, blue launching

    pad slept in the hours before dawn. Asthe sun inched over the horizon andclimbed through a cloudless sky, amirror-electronics system locked onto itspath. Captured sunlight was beamed ontoa row of glass plates mounted on thestructure, and apparitions took shape afew meters in front of each glass.Spectrum-hued forks floated in midairmagic circles. Prongs jutted out, but try tokarate-chop the dazzlingtableware-weaponry and your fingerssliced thin air.

    Scenario for a film about an alientakeover ot Washington, DC? No, theunidentified objects are part of anenvironmental sculpture calledCenterbeam, initially sighted atDocumenta 77 in Germany and seenagain in the summer of 78 outside theNational Air and Space Museum. Thephantom forks are Harriet Casdin-Siiver'ssolar-tracked holograms lor thecollaborative project of artists from theCenter for Advanced Visual Studies(CAVS) and scientists and engineers fromMIT.CAVS is a small, modernistic buildingthat makes sharp-angled gestures towardthe Cambridge sky. Inside may be the bestof all possible atmospheres lor thecreation ofthe art of the future. "Everyother art form is valid and will remain so.Painting will always be there, as willbeautiful pencil drawings,"artist-holographer Harriet Casdin-Silvertold me. "Oi course, we all feel that thestatement of this era will come out of thelaboratory" Casdin-Silver, a Fellow atCAVS since 1976, has been exploring theaesthetic possibilities of laser-lightimagery tor nearly a decade. Herinnovative concept oi displayingholograms outdoors, using the sun as alight source, adds to her impressive list ofholographic firsts. The artist described thesolar-trackers that the team ot anastrophysicisf," engineers, and graduatestudents designed and built. "Sometrackers were operated electrically. Otherswere operated by the spectator. With28 OMNI

    cloudy days and nighttime viewing I didhave a light. I liked to have the lights on atthe same time the trackers were workingwith the sun because then I got manyclusters ot forks. Also, the sun itself,without the trackers, would sometimes hitthe hologram, and there would be threeimages floating around each plate. Theforks acted for me on Centerbeam almostlike arms beckoning to the spectators,drawing them into the piece."Around holograms, and holographers,

    these acts of technological magic arenever unexpected. As I spoke with HarrietCasdin-Silver in her CAVS studio, sunstreamed through the skylight,reconstructing the reflection hologram shewore as a pendant. This third eye took ineverything at once and then disappearedas often as Casdin-Silver moved to flick acigarette ash. "i had complete artisticfreedom," she said of her training inholography with Dr. Raoul van Ligten atAmerican Optical Research Laboratories.'AO just wanted to see what would come

    Centerbeam: solar-tracked holograms ir

    from an artist working with the medium."Although Dr. Dennis Gabor had

    invented holography in 1948, it was notuntil scientific applications were well undway in the late 1960s that an artist was lthrough the laboratory doors. In thosepioneer days of 1969. Casdin-Silverremembers being called to work whenevlab space was iree after completion of ascientific project. For one of thesespur-of-the-moment holographic sessionshe glanced around the house for someobject to take along. And that was how adishwasher basket laden with silverwarebecame hertirst hologram.

    In a lab setup, a holographer bolts theobjects down on the table because, asCasdin-Silver warns, "if anything moves,the imagery can disappear entirely." Alaser beam is split in two. One beam hitsthe emulsion on the photographic plate,the other lights the object. AsCasdin-Silver explains, "The referencebeam meets the object beam at the platcausing an interference pattern which inturn causes the recording of the light wafrom the object in the emulsion."

    Casdin-Siiver's sculptures in light werdisplayed in 'Aesthetic Holography," aone-person exhibition at the PolaroidCorporation in 1972. There she met Dr.Stephen Benton, inventor ofwhite-light-transmission holography. Theartist and the physicist collaborated onCobweb Space, the firstwhite-light-transmission artwork.

    In 1977, Casdin-Silver was the firstperson to have a solo exhibition at theMuseum of Holography in New York. Thiyear, with the support of a RockefellerFoundation grant, she is makingholographic movies. On the subject oiholography's future applications in art,Casdin-Silver has a multitude oi visions."I'd like to see environmental holographshe said longingly. "Holograms onstage, . . holographic imagery that real actorswalk in and oui of or real scenery thatholographic actors walk in and out of.There's so much potential. And so muchhappen." And so easy to venture aprediction that Harriet Casdin-Silver willmake it happen first. DO

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    THE ART5By Tom JohnsonFor some people, learning to readmusic is a relatively simple

    matter. After a tew lessons, thelines and spaces take on significance, thesharps and flats make sense, and thefingers begin to respond appropriately.But many people are not so lucky. Westernmusical notation does not, after all, follow aparticularly simple or direct logic. It aroselargely through a complex series ofhistorical accidents, and while it worksquite well, it also forces the beginner toconfront a number ot tricky concepts.What does % mean? Three fourths ofwhat? Why the G clef, and why doesn't itlook like a G? Why do dots sometimesmean one thing and sometimes another?And why in the world is the same notesometimes called G-sharp and sometimesA-flat?

    For centuries, adults as well as childrenhave been getting lost in this maze, andnone of the attempts to write music inclearer and more graphic ways have evercaught on. Sam Berd's new method maynot catch on, either, but it is achievingresults for some hopeful beginners in NewYork, and, like Berd's new keyboarddesign, the Berdboard, the method hasdistinct advantages.

    Digit music is still a very new system. Infact, it was only last fall that Berd openedhis Digit Music Center on 57th Street inNew York City, hired a small staff, outfittedseveral classrooms with small electronickeyboards, and began assembling arepertoire of three-color editions forstudents to play. Students began arrivingat the center in December, and while anumber of revisions and improvements inthe materials are still being made, italready seems clear that the basic systemworks.When I observed two small boys whohad been grappling with digit music foronly a few lessons, I was particularlystruck by the accuracy with which theyfound the notes they were looking for. Theyhad the same, rhythmic problems that allchildren seem to have in their first weeks atthe keyboard, and, somewhat to mysurprise, they also managed to invent theirown awkward fingerings, instead of using30 OMNI

    those that were so graphically illustrated inthe written notation. But they never mixedup note 6 with note 7, the way studentsnormally mix up F and F-sharp.There is no doubt that digit music offers

    certain advantages. As Berd puts it, "Onedoes not have to know a sharp or a flat orclefs or rest signs. Even the fingering isbuilt in, taking guesswork off the mind.Modes are totally nonexistent. All it takes isreading numbers and colors." And thesystem seems clearly preferable tomechanical aids, such as the chord organ,since students of digit music must stillphysically play every note. The big"question is how much trouble thosestudents will have later on if, or when, theytry to switch to conventional notation.

    If Berd has his way, such a switch wouldnever be necessary because in a matter ofa few years all the music anyone will everwant to play will be available in digit-musicnotation. Berd is as ambitious as he isunconventional, and he is already makingplans to form the publishing wing of the

    'i?jr: 0s"J' 300 're 3erdbcar,i.

    Digit Music Center, through whicheverything from orcheslral scores andBeethoven sonatas to Cole Porter songand kazoo books will be made availablhis unique notation system. At themoment, however, he seems moreoccupied with his Berdboard.The Berdboard is a new kind of piankeyboard, and. like digit-music notatio

    stems from a basic contradiction that hconcerned Berd for a long time. Berd,has earned his income as a piano tunefor recording studios and rock groups,realized long ago that most ot our musinow involves the entire chromatic scal12 equal notes. Yet we are still workingkeyboards and a notation system thatcame out of an era when the scale wasseen to consist of seven important whinotes and five less important black notOthers have observed this contradictiotoo, but Berd decided to try to dosomething about it. Thus digit-musicnotation, which reduces the pitches toequal numbers, and the Berdboard, wreduces the keyboard to 12 equal keys

    While ordinary keyboards combineshort black keys with long white keys,Berdboard makes all keys exactly thesame size, retaining the colors simplyconvenient means of finding specificnotes. Berd's arrangement brings thecloser together than those on a standakeyboard, but on the demonstration mI tried the tops of the keys are roundedslightly so that, even if you have largefingers, it is easy enough to play the nyou want and not the ones next to it as wThe Berdboard also has obvious

    advantages when it comes to transpoOn a standard keyboard, playing in thkey of is very different from playingthe key of D-flat, and many melodic aharmonic patterns that are easy in onethe keys are not possible at all in theothers. On the Berdboard, however, alkeys feel exactly the same. Thus theronly one major scale to learn insteadchords have the same finger positionregardless of what key you are in;transposing is simply a matter of startin a different place; and chromatic scare duck soup.CONTINUED ON PAGE 132

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    ,/UCER-EYEDSPEUFO UPDATEBy Art GattiThe recent release of (op-secret filesby the CIA, Air Force, DIA, and

    others has added the U.S.intelligence community to the throngs whoare, if not believers in UFOs, at leastardent collectors of sighting reports andrelated data. The inability of those files toexplain the enigma can only bring us to asingle, albeit vague, conclusion: Indeed,there's something there. As far as ournational security forces are concerned,the UFOs are not the creation of individualor mass delusions.With all due respect to those servants of

    pure science determined to keep thestatistical 10 percent of unexplainables at *10 percent and no higher, the time hascome to give up those mindless ritualswith which we face the Unknown. It's timeto stop clutching at those reassuring IFOsand to quit kidding ourselves that the90:10 ratio of identitiables to unidentifi-ables can ever be reduced to the 100:zilchsome debunkers want to believe ispossible.

    If anything settles the irreversibleacceptance of the phenomenon, it's thatstack of UFO tiles declassified in thecurrent Freedom of Information (FOI) suitbrought against the CIA and USAF by theCitizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS).The declassification of the Air Force

    Blue Book files a few years back, intendedto underplay UFOs by depriving them oftheir priority status, only served toconvince once-uninterested citizens thatthere was something to UFOs. Maybe itwas only a few hundred out of severalthousand cases, but they were on officialrecord.

    That's stale information now however. It'sbeen a decade since the Air Forcestopped investigating. The current suitdemands to know what is going on.Not only did the judge rule in favor ofCAUS's basic action, but he attached asubsidiary ruling that forces the agency toresearch files in other departments wherethere was any interagency communicationon UFOs. Peter Gersten, CAUS's legaldynamo, plans to continue the suit againstevery U.S. intelligence organization,including the "untouchable" and very32 OMNI

    secretive National Security Agency.In a superficial way, the government has

    been following judicial directives andsubmitting to those demands; it has toldCAUS essentially what CAUS alreadyknows. But, like the ratio of knowns tounknowns in sightings, that's only 90-percent true 10 percent of theinformation is news, and some of it mayhave been inadvertently disclosed.The thousands of unexplained sightings

    in the CIA files are but the raw materialfrom which one would assume someevaluations must have been made; yetmost of the files are stamped THIS ISUNEVALUATED INFORMATION. CAUS hopesfurther legal action will uncoverevaluations of the rest of the material.What Ufologists have been referring to

    for years as "the 75 flap" has been verifiedby the documents that CAUS directorTodd Zechel obtained in his separate FOIsuit against the Air Force. His fileschronicle a near infestation by UFOs ofsensitive military bases in the continental

    Double disk over Huascaren Range, Yungay, Peru.

    United States that year, including severpursuits by our planes and radar/grouobservation returns. They also show thfrequent flyovers in areas where atomimaterials were either manufactured orstored.

    In sifting through more than 1 ,000 CIdocuments, I divided the material intobasic heaps: UFO sightings, theories,etc.; and miscellany includingbureaucratic repetitions, red tape,correspondence, and the occasional"revelatory document." It is this final,minuscule collection that may prove toof most practical use to Ufologists.

    If you get a large number of documesent to you by the CIA, you're likely toone or two totally unintended enclosurThe CIA sends off documentshaphazardly? Definitely CAUS got afour-page report on the 1950 resolutiothe All-China Store Clerk Workers'Conference.Correspondence proves the agencyas a matter of policy on UFOs. Referrione overly insistent citizen, the agencymost prolific letter writer, a memoconcludes: "... the extraordinarilynoncommittal and evasive answer weinstructed to give Davidson was perhathe only one possible if we were to avocrossing up previous statements of ouown, and other involved agencies, to tman." A draft of a letter sent tothen-Senator Lyndon Johnson advisesprecisely how to answer a constituentqueries about UFOs. The letter outlineuninformative 11-line reply, telling Johnto answer "along these lines" and "witdirect reference to this agency."

    There's evidence that the CIA regulmonitored private UFO groups whiledisclaiming any interes! in them. Filereferences were tound to such groupsthe National Investigations CommitteeAerial Phenomena (NICAP), to whichseveral pages were devoted, and theAerial Phenomena Research Organiza(APRO), to which one agency officialrefers as "some crackpot group in theMidwest."A February 1953 memo outlines a Cpolicy that was never changed inCON I l:\UFD ON PAGE 127

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    CDfUTiruuunn

    A PREVIEWOFCOMING ATTRAIIn

    the remole Yukon valley of Alaska, natives can now getmedical care irom a doctor That's quite a (eat, consideringthe nearest M.D is hundreds of kilometers away.

    Inpatients entering the cabinlike clinics at Galena and FortYukon find that the examination rooms have been converted to-elevision studios. Video pictures of (he patients are bounced offNASA's ATS-6 satellite to physicians at Tanana, Bethel, and An-chorage, Alaska. X rays, EKGs, and voices are relayed via RCA'sSatcom I. Patients' records can be retrieved from a computer inTucson, Arizona. As the data come In, doctors make their diag-noses and instruct health aides at the remote clinics in how toadminister treatment.This is the Indian Health Service's ASTRO Program an ex-

    periment in telemedicine. It is not unique; there is another like it inrhe SouthwestSTARPAHC that uses microwave transmittersto relay television signals. And the Pacific Northwest States haveput together their own medical-education satellite network.

    Doctors aren't the only people taking advantage of recentadvances in television technology. Educators are taking a hardnew look at it as a teaching tool. AT&T. RCA, and Western Union"ave plans to revive the old videophone and set up teleconfer-ences for businessmen. Everyone, from advertisers to zealots, isbenefiting' from new video/satellite/computer applications.

    With the proliferation of telecommunications, we're seeing acultural revolution as vast as any since the invention of writing.And we're listening to a storm of protests. Writing, legend has it,inspired a similar storm because, it was thought, literate menwould forget how to remember. Now television is turning us into a'ace of passive spectators. But is it really?

    In the Appalachian Mountains, the Appalachian EducationalSatellite Program (AESP) broadcasts televised graduatecourses via ATS-6 to some 45 rural sites. Students talk with theirprofessors over telephone lines. AESP classes aren't easy; "an-clary materials" (translation; homework) average 50 pages per*sek. Far from being passive watchers, these students find it'stA they can do to keep up with the work load.

    This teleducation experiment has been so successful that the-ESP has expanded to become the first nationwide public ser-. ice network. Soon we may go to college in our living rooms. But.ve won't just lie back and soak up taped lectures. We'll question .

    our teachers, carry on debates, and think up excuses for notdoing our ancillary materials.The AESP uses TV to communicate, an important point. True

    communication runs in two directions. Just how well we hold upour end of the teieconversa! ion will determine whether televisionbecomes our servant or our tyrant. Should we continue to let thetube babble at us, it could be Our undoing. "If this is so," wroteArthur C. Clarke in 1959, "then the epitaph of our race shouldread in fieeting.'fluorescent letters; Whom the Gods would de-stroy, they first give TV." .There is evidence, however, that we may survive. Destructionhas yet to rain down upon Columbus, Ohio, where the WarnerCable Company has hooked home TV sets to a computer in anexperimental system called QUBE. QUBE viewers can orderproducts, purchase movies, attend college courses, watch cul-tural and sporting events not offered on conventional television,and be polled. The experiment incorporates televdting, tele-shopping, teleducation, and telentertainment. Add a few on-airdoctors and a teleconferencing service, and CUBE might showus a preview of things to come: teleculture.

    To some, QUBE is reminiscent of E. M. Forster's SF classic"The Machine Stops," in which he portrays our descendants asconfined to tiny rooms, watching one another on the boob tube.But it was television, remember, that brought us the first steps onthe moon, a sunset on Mars, and Jupiter's Red Spot. Soon we'llget a video look at the Rings of Saturn There is nothing confiningabout a box that can bring the universe into our living rooms. Andwe can't really call it a boob tube anymore, not when we canobtain a graduate degree for watching it.

    For those of us who view the coming tidal wave of videotechnology with fear and reluctance, let's think about this: If usedfor interactive communication, these electronic miracles maygreatly enrich our lives, may even reinstate a few of those oldtraditions we now view with nostalgia. By touching a button on ourTV console, we might vote on important national issues as if wewere at a town meeting. We could shop in a leisurely fashionagain, finding what we want as quickly as we can change chan-nels, instead of searching like detectives in clerkless discountdepartment stores. And through the magic of television our doc-tors may once again make house calls. NICK ENGLER

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    corunruuunjiPLAYER PIANO

    Roll ovBr, Beethoven, andtell orchestra musicians thenewsthey could bereplaced by a portablekeyboard synthesizer calledthe Synclavier.The Synclavier is capable

    of duplicating the sound of25 musical instruments,including the tuba, clarinet,drum, and violin, and thehuman voice. And it can putthem all together to createthe sound of a full orchestra

    Invented by DartmouthCollege composer JonAppieton and engineersCameron Jones and SidneyAlonso, and manufacturedby New England DigitalCorp., the minicomputerizedsynthesizer is one of themost sophisticated digitalinstruments on the market(for $13,000). Bell Labs andStanford have more complexpolyphonic devices, but theycost around a quarter-million

    dollars, and they're not forsale.

    In addition to simulatingan orchestra, the Synclaviercan transpose any piece ofmusic from one key toanother instantly It canspeed up or slow down apiece without distorting thepitch. It can transpose amelody to a non-Western orentirely new scale.According to its inventors,

    the Synclavier is important tocomposers as a means bywhich they can orchestratetheir compositionsimmediately as they createthem, and it is being usedthat way at a number ofcolleges and conservatories.And it can be used to createmusic never heard before.Kathleen Stein"Science means simply theaggregate of the recipes thatare always successful. Allthe rest is literature."Paul Valery

    Jon Appieton at his Synclavier: The machine can duplicate thesounds of 25 musical instruments ...lor a price of only $13,000.3B OMNI

    MOTHER'S MILKStepping gingerly

    between alarm andassurance, federal officialsthis year are telephoning1 ,400 women across thecountry to ask whether theirbreast-fed infants arehealthy.The women, from 46

    states, participated in a 1975study that found cancer-causing pesticides, such asdieldrin and DDT, in breastmilk. And in about 300 casespolychlorinated bi phenyls(PCBs) , widely used as anelectrical insulating fluid,were found in levels thatwere higher than the stan-dards proposed as safe bythe Food and Drug Adminis-tration. Elevated levels werefound in all U.S. regions.

    "It was considered seriousthat the levels in mother'smilk were not that muchdifferent from levels thatcaused problems in rats andprimates," says JeromeBlondelloftheU.S.Env i ronmenta I ProtectionAgency's human-effectsmonitoring branch.

    But the situation iscomplicated. On the onehand, breast milk givesnursing infants valuablenatural antibodies for whichthere is no substitute Andthe PCB amounts were athousand times lower thanlevels that caused skinlesions and discolorationduring a Japanesepoisoning accident in 1968.On the other hand, officialsconsider any level of PCB inmother's milk to be unsafe.

    "There are no easysolutions," says theEnvironmental Defense

    Fund, a Washington, D.C.,consumer group. For onething, there are not enoughchemists to test breast milkfor the 4 million babies bornin the United States each

    year. The group suggeststhat women who plan tobreast-feed their babies noteat fatty fish and meat (inwhich the chemicalsconcentrate) and wash fruitsand vegetables thoroughlyto remove any traces ofpesticides.

    Stuart DiamondClarke's First Law: "When adistinguished but elderlyscientist states thatsomething is possible, he isalmost cerlainly right. Whenhe states that something isimpossible, he is veryprobably wrong."

    Arthur C. Clarke

    "A hen is only an egg's wayof making another egg.Samuel Butler

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    THE ULTIMATE MAPAmid the pomp surround-

    ing the centennials of AlbertEinstein's birth and ThomasEdison's invention oi the lightbulb, a less publicized butequally significant centen-nial is also being marked thisyear: that of the U.S. Geolog-ical Survey (USGS), whose13,000 scientists, engineers,technicians, and genera!staff are still mapping andremapping the country.Since it began on March

    3, 1879, the USGS hascompiled millions of pageof data on surface andsubsurface geology It h

    EEmBmI ^toj^^lFalse JfCJDf

    While the signatures above are similar, IBM's compute; detected theforgery through patterns of pen acceleration and pressure.signature and get away withit Unlike the methods used

    writing'A sysfem

    e work whileactually

    being written. Smallacceleration meters ihatdetect changes in speed

    " i.clion, along with ae sensor inside fheII connected fo a

    -are used tospol/een thereference

    is io revealmpostor's

    signature,a familiartheiimings

    of the hand muscles arevirtually beyond consciouscontrol. Because of this,38 OMNI

    extremely unlikely.Such a system will have

    enormous practicalapplications. Herbst thinksthat it could be used tocontrol access to creditinformation, Social Securityrecords, and automatic tellermachines at banks.

    Kenneth Jon Rose"Stand iirrn in your refusal toremain conscious duringalgebra. In real life, I assureyou, there is no such thing asalgebra. "Fran Lebowitz, "Tips

    for Teens." Newsweek.January 1,1979

    "All that glitters may not begold, but at least it containsfree electrons." ..JohnD. Bernal

    FALLOUTA shocking report from

    Utah indicates that atomic-bomb testing may haveresulted in a significantincrease of leukemia deathsamong children in that state.From January 1951 to

    October 1958, 97above-ground atomic testswere conducted in deserfareas in southern Nevada, atFrenchman Fiat and YuccaFlat. At least 26 of theseblasts, according to recordsobtained from fhe AtomicEnergy Commission,resulted in radioactive falloutover Utah, primarily in thesouthern half of the sfafe.Now fhis fallout is beingblamed for a 40-percent risein leukemia deaths amongUtah children born duringthe 1951-58 testing period.

    Dr. Joseph L Lyon,assistant professor of familyand community medicine atihe University of Utah andcodirector of the UtahCancer Registry, reportedthese findings in a recentissue of the New EnglandJournal of Medicine

    .

    "We can't say from thissiudy that fallout causescancer," Dr. Lyon noted, "butI think we can say wiihoutquestion there is an associ-ation between fallout and theincreased incidence ofchildhood deaths in Utah."

    Lyon's report reveals Ihatin the period 1944 to 1950southern Utah's normally lowaverage yearly leukemiadeath rate was 2.12 per100,000 people. But in theperiod1959to1967,following the atomic tesling,the rate climbed to astartling 6.02. From 1968 to

    the present the death ratedropped to preatomictesting levels, around 1.97.The increased death rateswere most dramatic insouthern Utah, the area mosfexposed to the fallout.The study covered all

    childhood malignancies butspecifically concentrated onleukemia, the type of cancermosf easily attributable toradiation exposure.

    Dr. Lyon cautioned againstmisinterpreting his findings."No matter what someresidents may believe, thereis no 'cancer epidemic' inUlah now."

    Public health recordsshow that one other studyinvestigating leukemiadeaths in the fallout areawas prepared in 1965. Thereport was never publishedor made public until a copywas accidentally found inthe Utah Public Health fileslast December. Richard Levitt

    Nevada nuclear test cloud: Ulahchildren have felt the impact.

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    CHICKEN LITTLE"NASA's been remarkably

    sanguine about the whole-thing When ihey say thatthere is nofhing to worry-

    provided io il by the NORADcomplex in Colorado, Inaddition, when Ihe day finallyarrives that Skylab actuallystarts its descent, C, L. willtelephone its subscribers

    about, you have to ask,'What don't they know?'

    Alex Frazier, a member ofChicken Little Associates,thus describes his reasonsfor instituting a newwatchdog group, one set upto do what NASA refuses to:predict when and whereSkylab will fait. The 84-tonspace station has beenslowly but surely deorbjtingand soon is expected toreenter the atmosphere,scattering wreckage in a5,000-kilometer "footprint"across the surface of theearth.

    For $100 a month ChickenLittle will providesubscribers with computerinformation that givesup-to-date, localizedsightings of Skylab-,

    when io duck.and warn them to take covNASA spokesmen havepointed out that Skylab's fallwill be comparable to thetotal weight of meteoritesthat fall on the earth in asingle year. What theyneglect to mention, Fraziersays, isthatit will take only15 minutes for Skylab tocome down. Eric Rosen"Itis a profoundly erroneoustruism - . . that we.shouldcultivate the habit of thinkingof what wa are doing. The

    oosite is the case.Civilization advances byextending the number ofimportant operations whichwe can perform withoutthinking about them. "

    Alfred North Whitehead

    PET PERKSHaving and caring for a

    pet can help you survive aheart attack That's theconclusion of Dr ErikaFriedmann, a biologist atChestnut Hill (Pennsylvania)College. She and herassociates found thatpeople with pets dogs,cats, birds, gerbils,whatever were more likelyto survive the first year alterbeing hospitalized forserious heart diseases lhannon-pet ownersThe correlation seems

    Strong. Dr. Friedmann toldthe American HeartAssociation Ittumedupaspart of a larger study ofsocial and psychologicaldata on heart-diseasepatients A3.What we need is not the will

    tobeneve. but the wish fc>iincjour " Berirand Russell

    WALLET PAINNot only does carrying a

    heavy wallet in your hippocket provide pickpocketswith a tempting target, bul.itmay also give you a pain inthe. back.Thanks to shrewd Obser-

    vations d\' Dr E^mar G. Lutzoi St Mary's Hospital inPassaic. New Jersey, we now'have "credit card-walteisciatica," a painiul conditioncaused when an extra-thickwallet full ot credn cardspresses on your sciaticnerve as you sit at your deskor in your car

    This pressure can result inmild to moderate pain in thelower back and thigh Thereis no need for sufferers to be-jnciijiv alarmed, however. Dr.Lulz, writing in the Journalof the American MedicalAssociation, prescribes asimple remedy: a "walletec-tomy" Erika Nargolwala

    Man's (or woman's) best tfierrf

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    CDRJTIRJUUR/1THE KILLINGMECHANISM

    If medical scientists couldunderstand how the body'sdefense system recognizesand destroys foreign cellsand tissues, they couldmanipulate the system to killoff cancer cells. Now, thanksto a new discovery, thatdream may be moving closerto reality.

    Gale Granger and hiscolleagues at the Universityof California at Irvine haverecently unraveled part ofthe mystery surrounding thisprocess, known ascell-mediated immunity.

    This refers to the way inwhich white blood cells, orlymphocytes, defend usagainst foreign cells. Itinvolves two steps:recognition and killing.Once cells are recognized

    as foreign, populations oflymphocytes are formed thatpossess surface receptors^V'.'

    :rog rfiP ' i s fi a a'S iyrrp hn - y ;e(fop left) attacking tumor.40 OMNI

    matching those of theforeign cells. In the reactionbetween their surfaces thatensues, the foreign invadersare destroyed.

    Several years agoGranger and his associatesdiscovered a group ofmolecules known aslymphotoxins, which arereleased by the lymphocytesduring the destructionprocess. However, thebehavior of the lymphotoxinswas puzzling because theyseemed too weak to kill offcells by themselves and alsohad nonspecific killingproperties, despite the factthat only specific cells aredestroyed in the process.A major breakthrough

    came when it was learnedthat lymphotoxin moleculesform an association withboth the lymphocytes andthe foreign invaders,enabling the lymphocytes toorganize into a high-molecular-weight complexthat is a very powerful killingsystem. In the absence ofthis association, the complexbreaks b