Word: bacterias
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...diseases which are not practical for bacterial warfare. Among these are leprosy (too long an incubation period); smallpox (too many people are vaccinated); tuberculosis (too hard to spread and it kills too slowly); bubonic plague (among other reasons, the flea which carries it is too perishable). Gas gangrene bacteria are ruled out: too hard to get them into wounds (Rosebury & Kabat muse that they might be put in the fuses of fragmentation bombs...
Handy Package. Much more suitable for warfare,, the bacteriologists think, are the bacteria of various relatively obscure diseases: botulism, Weil's disease, anthrax, pneumonic plague. Botulinus toxin, for example, is by far the most potent of gastrointestinal poisons: it kills, within a few days, 60 to 70% of the people it infects. Rosebury & Kabat think that by aerial dissemination to enemy water supplies, whole populations could be infected before protective measures could be taken...
White believes that ultrasonics has a brilliant future. Some possible uses: killing bacteria; breaking up suspensions of solid particles; precipitating smoke and dust; speeding up chemical reactions. The sound waves can also pull large molecules apart, turning heavy oils into gasoline. Last week, from Britain, came a report that the little waves may soon be used in laundering, to knock dirt from soap-starved British clothes...
...streptomycin, the antibiotic which has shown most promise in the fight against tuberculosis. Early this year he persuaded his favorite mold (Actinomyces griseus) to produce another antibiotic (TIME, Feb. 10). The new one, "grisein," teams up efficiently with streptomycin (in the test tube) to fight a variety of stubborn bacteria...
...gadgets which were finally being produced in quantity. The fanciest was a four-wheeled, gasoline-driven lawn mower with a unique rotary blade-it worked something like a floor-waxer. Price: $179.50. Runners-up were an electric hedge clipper ($44.50) and a flamethrower for killing weeds and soil bacteria ($23.50). Much postwar equipment was made of light-weight metals; there were a rubber-tired magnesium wheelbarrow (16 Ibs., $34.50), and an aluminum rake ($5). Neater still, there was a garden hose made of amber-colored, semi-transparent plastic ($13-35 for 50 feet). In the routine descriptive words of garden...