I/EC
Forecast
POINTING
Caution: Watched
THE E D I T O R I A L
FINGER
Wonder Metals Need to Be
While the wonder metals such as boron, niobium, a n d cesium make talk about a flight to the moon seem like everyday chatter, a word of caution is necessary. Not enough study has been given to evaluating the potential health hazards of these metals and their compounds (page 87 A). Until more work on the industrial hygiene of some of these less common metals is done, a potential danger to· the health of handlers exists.
AT T O M O R R O W ' S
PROGRESS
Opportunities Unbounded Chemical companies with venture capital would do well to look into possibilities in Latin America. General population is increasing at about 2l/2 times with the population near cities—the "economic" population, growing even faster (page 47 A). Another indicator of burgeoning activity is Latin America's gross national product, increasing at the average rate of 4 x / 2 % compared to the U . S.'s 3 % . Estimates of Latin America's gross national product for 1975 shows a 100-billion figure, compared to last year's 44 billion.
Top Echelon Interviewing It's getting so the m a n isn't enough in the j o b . Large chemical companies interviewing men for top m a n a g e m e n t or research jobs are going a step further—they want to see his wife too. O n e large eastern chemical company in the market for talent brings the m a n and his wife in for three or four days to look them over. Odiers however, think it's an invasion of privacy. W h a t do you think?
Only the Beginning? T h e team-up of Grace & Co. with Pechiney to make high purity silicon which m a d e headlines a few weeks ago is a sign of bigger things to come. Pechiney is doing a lot more research and development in semiconductors and Grace is anxious to p u t more ideas of die French chemicals a n d metals company to good use in this country.
Battle Shapes Up A fight is shaping u p in the chemical industry between the "brainstormers" and individual "creative" types. M I T ' s Shepard, spokesman for the individuals, thinks that if less organization pressure is used in research labs, scientists will be more productive and companies won't have to resort to brainstorming (page 109 A). But a recently organized venture in New York City offers to brainstorm any industrial problem —at a nominal cost, using part-time chemists and chemical engineers. Says the brain contractor: no one will sit on a brainstorming panel for a client in competition with his employer.
Higher Learning Red China's technology may be a long way behind the U . S.'s, but it is improving. Observers in a position to know say that the latest teaching methods are used in Red Chinese universities and the best of equipment is being brought in from Russia. O t h e r evidence of the broadening trend in education inside R e d China is the greater number of students coming from that country to study in other Asiatic countries—for example, India
Overrated? Investors in stock of boron processors saw their holdings take a reflexive j u m p when the word leaked out that boron was a vital ingredient of high energy fuels. But the ball may bounce the other way. O n e of the Government's key scientific advisers was heard to remark that the boom in boron is overrated because the amount of boron compared to carbon and hydrogen in high energy fuels is small.
The Worm Turns O n e of the most startling reverse trends in the chemical industry is just rising above the horizon. Acetic acid, first m a d e from wood, then from petrochemicals via synthetic chemistry, looks like it will hit the big time again from wood. Donald O t h m e r of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn will disclose steps being taken by several large companies which may change the entire production source for acetic acid on September 12 at the ACS meeting in New York. VOL. 49, NO. 9
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SEPTEMBER 1957
23 A
