Abstract
THE December issue of Fact (No. 21. 6d.) contains a study “Science and World Resources” by Richard Palmer, which gives a comprehensive but readable survey of the way in which the world economy is changing under the impact of scientific advance. Mr. Palmer gives a dynamic picture of the way in which scientific discoveries and their technical development from synthetic dyes such as indigo and alizarin to synthetic rubber, the new textile fibres such as rayon and more recently ‘Lanital’ and ‘Nylon’ and the numerous synthetic resins or plastics, are influencing not merely the development of new industries or the displacement of old industries but also the distribution and availability of materials in the world, the location of industry, etc. Mr. Palmer's survey ranges over the whole field of materials, including beet sugar, alcohol, petroleum, coal, fertilizers, and light metals, and indicates admirably even to the non-technical reader the new freedom which the organic chemist is giving us and some of the possibilities if the new powers and opportunities are wisely used. Other chapters range over the possibilities in the way of power production which we owe to science and their significance in world economy, as well as the possibilities in agriculture and the way in which science has made it possible to improve working conditions and thus both industrial efficiency and the climatic or geographical zones within which effective production by human beings is possible. The essay provides an excellent background against which to discuss such current problems as those of raw materials and their bearing on the colonial question, the limits of self-sufficiency policies, sanctions, economic nationalism and the like. The realistic picture he gives enforces the necessity for strengthening, while there is yet time, our efforts to create a social and international order in which knowledge will be used to the full in the service of all mankind.
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Science and World Resources. Nature 143, 234 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/143234a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/143234a0