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NEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCENEWSCIENCE hill-and-dale method and using a permanent needle in the form of a sapphire point, our engineers have attained practically perfect reproduction. The reproducing mechanism itself is a marvel of lightness, weighing so little that the playing life of records is extended indefinitely. We have records which have been played a thousand times without appreciable diameters, has been able to explain many obscure things about why metals harden under heat treatment and why they crack in service. Applying his technique in the field of biology, he has been able to take pictures of living cells without the use of stains, which might damage or change their structure. He is able to take photographs of successive layers right through the cell, at intervals of one one-hundred thousandth of an inch. In other words, if the cell is one-thousandth of an inch thick, he can get one hundred photographs showing its structure at as many layers. Pictures taken of the surface of brain tissue have shown such startling things that plans are being considered for improved apparatus by which a "map" of a section of brain may be made, just as aerial photographic maps are made by assembling large numbers of photographs taken at appropriate intervals. If the full power of Dr Lucas's equipment were utilized, a map of a section of brain only one- fourth of an inch square could be made with an enlargement to more than 104 fee SEND OVT square. Of course, FOR A a larger area would CARPEMTER.. first be I WEED A photographed in ae smaller detail and then specia FLBOR. sections selected for urther magnification and study. There is no toward one of the major improvements. in telephonic communication, an improvement which is saving at least $10,000,000 worth of lead per year in making telephone cables. Lead hardened with antimony has been used for cable sheaths, but they had an annoying habit of breaking down after a few years of use. Dr Lucas discovered by micro-photographs that the antimony after a certain period disassociated itself from the lead. As a result of that discovery a new mixture was found, one so much stronger that a thinner, lighter lead covering could be used, and the result was an enormous saving in lead. His studies of all the metals and alloys which go into telephone equipment manufacture also have contributed to general improvements in many lines. one weal. Advances in biology and metallurgy Besides contributing to such widely separate fields as better hearing and the talking pictures, our staff also is assisting in the research designed to isolate the cause of cancer, and in other biological fields. This is an offshoot of our investigation into the crystalline structure of metals and alloys, a subject of great importance in the manufacture of telephone apparatus. Francis F. Lucas, with his photo-micrographic equipment which utilizes ultra-violet light and magnifies as much as 5,000 Broadcasting breakthroughs Another field to which the telephone industry has contributed is the development of radio broadcasting. Crystals to control the frequency of a broadcasting station and keep it on its exact wave-length have been developed, and so successfully that two stations in lowa, under the same management, are broadcasting all the time on the same wave-length instead of giving only half-time service as would be necessary if they shared the wave. 00 SEND OVT FOR A an in (Source: Edited from the origina uly 1931 article in Modern Mechanics and Inventions, reproduced a ttp://tinyurl.com/q5dq9h. See also "The Architecture of Living Cells — Recent Advances in Methods o Biological Research - Optica Sectioning with the Ultra-Viole Microscope" by Francis F. Lucas, Bel felephone Laboratories, Inc., New York City, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1930 Sept 15; 16(9):599-607, a ttp://tinyurl.com/owffwa) is no apparent connection between our work and [the] study of cells, but the photomicrographic equipment has already contributed at 54 ¢ NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com