August 13, 1985

The board of directors of Trans World Airlines, after a prolonged takeover struggle, will hold what is expected to be a decisive meeting today on the future of the airline, sources involved in the negotiations said yesterday. The board must make a decision on two offers for the carrier: a $26-a-share bid by the Texas Air Corporation or an offer of $24 a share by Carl C. Icahn, who has also won major concessions from two of the carrier's unions. T.W.A. stock was the fifth most-active stock in trading on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, closing at $22.125, down 37.5 cents.

The Union Carbide Corporation said today that operating and design problems in a new chemical process had caused a toxic gas leak that injured at least 135 people here Sunday. The gas, aldicarb oxime, began leaking at 9:24 A.M., 20 minutes before the local authorities were notified and 36 minutes before a public warning siren was sounded, company spokesmen said today. They said a computer had predicted the cloud would remain within the plant's boundaries, thus contributing to the delay. Most of those affected were treated for eye, throat or lung irritation and were released; of the 28 people admitted to hospitals, 15 were released today. The company said the rest were in satisfactory condition.

THE world of animal vision, long a gray area for scientists, is beginning to come alive with color. While research in the field is in its infancy, recent findings indicate that some species see brightly hued landscapes in colors invisible to human eyes, whereas others see only drab colors or none at all. What does the world look like to a bird, a bee, a goldfish or a cat? What color does a bull see when confronted with a red flag? Does the ''colorblindness'' of some monkeys explain the origin of such defects in human beings? For centuries there was no way to answer many of these questions because it was so hard to determine whether an animal could see a particular color. But new testing methods are making it possible to find the answers.

KATHLEEN KASAY grew up wanting to become a schoolteacher, but the job outlook in education was so dismal when she was graduated from St. Joseph's Hill Academy on Staten Island in 1976 that she abandoned her goal even before she entered college. Instead, she majored in biology at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and went into industrial research. Next month, however, Mrs. Kasay, now 27 years old, will switch careers and become a schoolteacher in Montclair, N.J.. She is in the first group of two to three dozen teachers being hired by school districts throughout New Jersey under a new law that will allow them to gain regular certification without taking courses in education.

''We're going to go over this plant with a fine-tooth comb, to find if other systems have problems.'' - Carl G. Beard, director of the West Virginia Air Pollution Control Commission. [B8:4.]