Evening star., 1939-12-15
Exploding Corbon-D Dioxide
Produced at Laboratory Here
Carnegie Institution Scientists
Make Rure Discovery on Life

an accidental combination of the
appropriate chemical substances, or
by design. But up to the present
the fine details Of the process have
eluded physicists and chemists. The
making Of eatable sugars and
starches by nature has been undu-
plcable by man and life has re-
manned with It's feet chained to the
few billions of tons Of chloropyll in
the world
Especially during the present gen.
Grafton there has been intensive re-
search all over the world to probe
the secrets of photosynthesis, but
always the scientists have been on
the outside looking in, with only the
tiniest OF peepholes through which
to see into q dark cellar, where the
coal is being stored.
The accomplishment at the ter
restrial magnetism laboratory is
like suddenly Illuminating this cellar
with thousand candles, although
there are still many murky corners.
The carbon atom in carbon -dioxide
is made radioactive. Like radium,
it is constantly shooting of inf1ni-
tesimably tiny particles. Yet it acts
chemically in the process of photo
synthesis precisely like any other
carbon atom.
Its presence anywhere in incredi-
bly, minute amounts can be detected
by delicate electrical apparatus, In
the same way that a pinhead of lost
radium can be found in trash pile.
Consequently 1t can be followed in
every step 1t takes from the instant
it is breathed in by the leaves to
its final inclusion in a carbohydrate
molecule.
The same method with other ele-
ments, either tagged with radio
active atoms or with atoms heavier
or lighter than normal, has proved
of revolutionary value in medical
research during the past few years
enabling biologists to follow step by
step the progress and disposition of
different fractions of food In the
animal body.
1HCCTcStlHk LXHlDltS.
Among the exhibits arranged for
the trustees today was one consist
ing Of two mice-one fed ordinary
table salt and one salt containing
one 10, 900 000, 900 000th part of radio
active sodium. Caught by an am
plif1er, the atomic explosions in the
body Of the animal could be heard
across the room.
In his report to the trustees DR..
Bush stressed the need of continuing
scientific research unabated in
world at war, especially in antici-
patton of the reconstruction which
will be necessary with the restora-
ton of peace. At the same time, he
said, discoveries of priceless value
to national defense are likely to
come out of the laboratories.
Regardless of the great material
accomplishments of scientific re-
search, he stressed, its greatest value
may rest in the greater freedom it
is bringing to the human mind
especially in the exploration Of the
heavens.
A vast cloud of celestial dust in
the Arctic skies. the tiniest star yet
known with brightness only one
fifty -thousandth that of the sun,
and new data on the vacuum like
emptiness of space in this region Of
the Milky Way galaxy were among
the astronomical discoveries of the
past few months reported by as
stronomers of the Mount Wilson OBJ
servatory to the trustees.
Gigantic Proportions.
The dust cloud is Of titanic pro-
portions. It was described as be-
tween 300 and 400 parsecs thick
and about 1000 parsecs in length.
A parsec is approximately the dis
tance traversed by light, with a
speed of 10000 miles second, in
three years The frontier Of the
cloud is between so and 100 parsecs
north Of the sun. It obscures and
changes the color of all the heav-
emily bodies in the neighborhood Of
the pole star.
For some years DR.. Frederick H.
Seares, assistant director of the
Mount Wilson Observatory, has OBJ
served that when the light from
northern stars was split into its
component colors by the prism of
spectroscope the result did not
follow the average color distribu-
ton. The amount of red light was
out of proportion to the blue and
invisible ultraviolet.
This can be accounted for in the
same way as the redness of a SUM-
set. When light enters a region