Science

Hollywood has been taking its whacks recently from religious, ethnic and political critics. Lined up next, paddles in hand, are scientists and self-described skeptics. Astronomer Carl Sagan, scientist-author Stephen Jay Gould, editors of scientific magazines and secular humanist leaders are dismayed by what they call pseudoscientific programs on television with little or no input from establishment science.

A group of students learned the fishy facts of marine biology this week at a summer science program sponsored by the Orange County Marine Institute. The weeklong Marine Institute for Youths is a new program that provided 24 budding marine biologists age 12 to 15 intensive hands-on activities in marine science.

Three Californians, including two from Los Angeles, were among the eight Americans nominated for the National Medal of Science by President Clinton. The medals recognize important scientific achievements. The Southern Californians were biologist Norman Davidson of Caltech and physicist C. Kumar N. Patel, vice chancellor for research at UCLA. Davidson's research was crucial in understanding the nature of DNA, and Patel invented the carbon dioxide laser.

Five students from San Fernando Valley elementary schools will compete in the final round of an upcoming science fair to win a trip to the U.S. Parent/Child Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. The students are among 22 finalists in the citywide Celebrate Science Fair competition sponsored annually by LA's BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow).

Two San Fernando Valley elementary school students have won trips to the U.S. Parent/Child Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. Of the 22 entrants in the annual LA's BEST Celebrate Science Fair held last weekend, only three were selected for the top honor: a trip to NASA's space camp. The 19 runners-up will get free trips to the Woodcraft Rangers Science Camp at Stanley Ranch near Castaic Lake.

Two San Fernando Valley science teachers received special awards from USC and the Greater Los Angeles Teachers of Science Assn. Anna M. Gaiter, a first-grade science teacher at Harding Street Elementary School in Sylmar, and Margie Weitkamp, a science teacher at Chaminade College Preparatory in West Hills, were among the three teachers who received the awards, presented for the first time. Santa Monica resident Michael A.

How much acid rain does it take to kill a radish? What is the best fertilizer to use to grow a prize-winning carrot? Why do some fish seem to thrive in polluted waters? Those are just a few of the questions that seventh- and eighth-graders at the private Viewpoint School in Calabasas will try to answer in a new science program at the school. They are currently constructing their laboratory--two geodesic domes that will contain a fish pond and a greenhouse.

Van Nuys High School appears to be the favorite at Saturday's regional competition of the National Science Bowl--an eight-hour brain boggler of computer science, physics, biology, earth science, chemistry, space travel, robotics and mathematics to be held at the Department of Water and Power's headquarters downtown. The Van Nuys team won the Los Angeles-area regionals last year and went on to win the national championship.

Scientists at a German research institute have added a new element to the periodic table--No. 112, a heavier, still unnamed relative of zinc, cadmium and mercury. A team of German, Russian, Slovakian and Finnish physicists detected a single atom of the new metal Feb. 9, the Society for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt, near Frankfurt, announced Wednesday. They made it by bombarding lead, element No. 82, with zinc, element No. 30, until a pair of atoms fused to form the new element.

Van Nuys High School appears to be the odds-on favorite at Saturday's regional competition of the National Science Bowl--an eight-hour brain boggler of computer science, physics, biology, earth science, chemistry, space travel, robotics and mathematics to be held at the Department of Water and Power's headquarters downtown. The Van Nuys team won the Los Angeles-area regionals last year and went on to win the national championship.