RUSSIA BACK TO SIBERIA, COMRADES SOVIET SCIENTISTS HAVE NOT YET TAUGHT SHRIMPS 
TO WHISTLE, BUT RADIO MOSCOW LAST WEEK REPORTED AN EVEN MORE 
FANTASTIC FEAT . GEOLOGISTS IN NORTHERN SIBERIA, IT RECOUNTED BREATHLESSLY, DUG 
UP A PAIR OF SALAMANDERS THAT HAD BEEN FROZEN FOR 5,000 
YEARS, THAWED THEM OUT AND FED THEM BERRIES AND MOSQUITOES FROM 
THEIR HANDS . ONE OF THE PREHISTORIC NEWTS (TRITONS) SCAMPERED HAPPILY 
ABOUT FOR THREE WEEKS BEFORE IT DIED ; IT WAS THEN 
BOTTLED AND SENT TO A MOSCOW UNIVERSITY LABORATORY . ITS COMRADE 
LIVED FOR SEVERAL MONTHS IN A MUSEUM . RADIO MOSCOW, WHICH 
SAID THE TALE OF TWO TRITONS WAS BASED ON AN ACCOUNT 
IN A SOVIET LITERARY MAGAZINE, EVEN SUGGESTED THAT THE DISCOVERY MIGHT 
HAVE MOMENTOUS IMPLICATIONS FOR SPACE FLIGHT . IF NEWTS COULD SURVIVE 
ALL THAT TIME, WHY NOT DEEPFREEZE SOVIET COSMONAUTS AND THUS ELIMINATE 
THE NEED FOR FOOD DURING THEIR LONG VOYAGES THROUGH THE UNIVERSE 
? RADIO MOSCOW'S STORY BLEW UP A STORM OF CABLES AND 
TELEPHONE CALLS FROM WESTERN NEWSMEN PANTING AFTER ALL THE NEWTY DETAILS 
. AND, THOUGH U.S . SCIENTISTS SOON POOH-POOHED THE SALAMANDER SAGA, 
IT MADE THE FRONT PAGES OF MOST U.S . NEWSPAPERS, WHICH 
SINCE SPUTNIK I HAVE TENDED TO OVERPLAY FAR-OUT SOVIET SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS 
. THEN A RUSSIAN SCIENTIST DEBUNKED THE STORY . PROFESSOR GLEB 
LOZINO-LOZINSKY, HEAD OF THE SPACE BIOLOGY LABORATORY AT THE LENINGRAD INSTITUTE 
OF CYTOLOGY, DISCLOSED THAT IT HAD BEEN LIFTED FROM A CHILDREN'S 
BOOK, AND " HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SCIENCE . " 
SNAPPED HE : / THE AUTHOR OF THIS TALE SHOULD BE 
PUNISHED . " FROM RADIO MOSCOW : SIBERIAN SILENCE . 