50, 100 and 150 Years Ago; October 2000; Scientific American Magazine; by Staff Editor; 1 Page(s)

MICROSURGERY-"To work in the Lilliputian world of the cell, one obviously needs Lilliputian instruments. In recent years such high-precision instruments have been developed, and microsurgery on cells, known as micrurgy, has become an important part of the study of protoplasm. With a micromanipulator one can cut a cell into tiny fragments, remove the cell's nucleus or even its chromosomes, and inject fluids into either the nucleus or the cytoplasm."

PREJUDICE-"Of the many tension areas within our society the one we investigated was ethnic hostility-a polite term for racial prejudice. Our research supports the hypothesis that the individual's stereotypes are not only vitally needed defense mechanisms but are persistent, even under the impact of such immediate and realistic experiences as service with Jews and Negroes under conditions of war. Once a stereotype is formed, it is not easily changed. One can assume that as long as anxiety and insecurity persist as a root of intolerance, efforts to dispel stereotyped thinking or feelings of ethnic hostility by rational propaganda is at best a halfmeasure.-Bruno Bettelheim and Morris Janowitz"