Samplings

>> Recurring reports that a monster dwells in the dark waters of Scotland's Loch Ness have long tantalized Western science buffs. Now the Japanese have moved into the act. In hopes of succeeding where the Westerners have failed, an expedition headed by Japanese Novelist-Politician Ishihara Shintaro has set out to track down, photograph and perhaps even trap the legendary beast. The Japanese are not stinting in their efforts. The vanguard of the $500,000 expedition has already arrived on the scene; soon the hunters will begin using such formidable weaponry as a sonar-equipped minisubmarine and tranquilizing guns.

>> As chunks of debris dating back to the earliest days of the solar system, meteorites are intently studied by scientists for any clues they may offer to the primordial past. But even the highest expectations did not prepare University of Chicago Scientists Robert Clayton, Lawrence Grossman and Toshiko K. Mayeda for what they discovered while studying fragments of the Allende meteorite, found near Pueblito de Allende in Mexico in 1969. Tiny grains of dust imbedded in the chips contained an isotope of oxygen (oxygen 16) in virtually pure form. Ordinary oxygen in the earth's atmosphere -and presumably that on the sun and other members of the solar system -also consists mostly of O16. But it also contains small amounts of other isotopes -oxygen 17 and 18, which were apparently formed later in the sun's history. To the Chicago researchers, the implications are very exciting: the grains may well predate the formation of the solar system and trace back to interstellar dust out of which stars and planets are born.

>> Newspaper editors like to think that their product provides food for thought. Now agricultural engineers at the University of Missouri report that it may be time to take them literally. Using ground-up newspapers to filter water containing algae, Richard Spray, Neil Meador and Donald Brooker found that the newsprint effectively trapped the single-celled plants, which are rich in protein. After a while, such a thick layer of algae built up on the newsprint that it had a higher content of crude protein than dried beef, soybean meal or skimmed-milk powder. Though the Missouri scientists do not suggest that their old-newsprint disposal scheme could ever fill human food needs, it could provide a useful high-protein feed for livestock. In fact, some University of Missouri cows are already munching on algae-laden newsprint.

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