From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for April 8, 1974:

“The scientific spirit is alive and well in Douglas County,” proclaimed today’s front-page article lauding the varied projects on display at the Douglas County Science Fair. Displays showing the results of more than 175 experiments by the county’s young people were exhibited at the fair, held in the Army Reserve Building, 21st and Iowa. A pair of 11-year-olds showed the effects of airplane glue on rats, showing that “the rats became confused and disoriented and unsteady…. Based on the way they moved through the maze, and their death the next day, we can infer that airplane glue is harmful and can be fatal.” The experimenters added this warning: “It can also be fatal to boys and girls and damage their brains. THINK ABOUT IT.” A 12-year-old showed that “vodka slows down the rate at which a fish breathes. It made the fish swim in circles.” A young scientist, showing concern for the energy crisis, wrote, “Because of the severe energy shortage it is my obligation to construct a working model of a steam converter capable of producing an efficient source of mechanical energy.” Some experiments revealed the barriers that fall in the path of all researchers at one time or another. Babies tested by an eight-year-old showed a preference for a yellow-colored block when offered a choice, but “two of the babies did not want to give up their favorite color at the end of the test.” Another student, showing compassion for the subjects, attached a note to the display reading “Dear People, I took my hamsters to the Cordley School science fair and they got scared. So I am not taking them to this fair and I really would like to take them but I can’t. Your Friend, the exhibitor.” A curious seven-year-old who had tested a hypothesis involving soap-bubbles blown from odd wire shapes concluded, “I can’t blow a square bubble, they come out round.” A small group of young scientists, attempting to record a philodendron’s reactions with a polygraph, reported a lack of observable anguish on the part of the plant: “We tore one of the leaves from the plant and growled at it. Nothing happened.” And in a cry from the heart sometimes heard from older scientists, one young researcher lamented, “I neither proved nor disproved my hypothesis because my project didn’t work. I will however, keep trying.”