402 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE 



viduals prepared properly to prosecute researches of the kind 

 needed. (5) To provide additional agencies for the study of 

 problems of sedimentation and thereby make possible investiga- 

 tions for which there are either no provisions or only inadequate 

 provisions at present. 



It is easy to see how an investigator choosing to deal with 

 some aspects of this large general problem would be assisted 

 by information regarding related work planned or in progress, 

 and how readily, as a member of the group, he could render 

 his own researches more widely useful and significant. 



Another interesting piece of cooperative research, which 

 involves the joint activities of geographers, physicists, zoolo- 

 gists, and practical fishermen, is centered largely at the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory at La Jolla, California. Systematic 

 measurements of the temperature of the Pacific near the coast 

 show occasional upwelling of cold water. Simultaneous bio- 

 logical studies reveal a change in the distribution of microscopic 

 organisms with the temperature of the water. This has an 

 immediate practical bearing, because the distribution of the 

 organisms is a dominant factor in the distribution of certain 

 food fishes. The source of the temperature changes, and their 

 influence on meteorological phenomena, are other interesting 

 aspects of this work. 



In the field of engineering, the possibilities of cooperative 

 research are unlimited. The fatigue phenomena of metals have 

 been chosen by the Engineering Division of the National Re- 

 search Council, acting in conjunction with the Engineering 

 Foundation, as the subject of one of many cooperative investi- 

 gations. Metals and alloys which are subjected to long- 

 repeated stresses frequently break down, especially in aircraft, 

 where the weight of the parts must be reduced to a minimum. 

 The elastic limit and, to a lesser degree, the ultimate strength of 

 steel can be raised by working it cold, provided that a period of 

 rest ensues after cold-working. The tests indicate, however, 

 that increased static strength due to cold-working does not 

 necessarily indicate increased resistance to fatigue under re- 



