Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1948-08-01

now can look forward to an album
dant and cheap substitute expected
to be quite as effective in helping
cancer patients as soon as the prop
er dosages are figured out. Mean
while. working with other radioi-
sotopes, scientists are filled with
new hope in seeking ways to conquer
the disease altogether.
Another example of the atoms
extraordinary potentialities bears
upon the worlds food supply. The
population of the earth has in
creased from 1000, 100000 to more
than 1000, 100000 in the past CEN
fury. and the indications are that
it will multiply to at least 1000, 000,-'
900 In another 100 years. But man
kind, as of today, does not have
enough arabic land to feed itself
adequately. Unless there is a great
increase in agricultural productivity,
therefore, Nautilus prediction Is
likely to come true. That is to say,
peoples everywhere. by becoming
far too numerous for their agricul-
ture to support, will eventually find
themselves caught up in a night
mare of global starvation in which
they might welcome the idea Of an
annihilating atomic war.
Progress Being Made
Happily, however-and this is
perhaps the most significant aspect
of the atoms good-and-eyil nature
the thing that can destroy every
body is also the thing that prom
Uses to give all enough to eat, no
matter how numerous we may grow
in the coming century. The posi-
bilities-even the probabilities-in
this respect are many and varied.
They include the use of radioisotopes
to increase the fertility and yield
of soil already in production and
the eventual use of atomic energy
itself to make the Saharas of the
earth bloom again as they did in
the Ice Age. Above everything,
they include the use Of carbon IA
to search out the secret Of photo
synthesis, the mysterious process in
nature by which green plants store
the suns energy and convert 1t into
DEMONSTRATING food.
That secret Is still a secret, but
progress is being made in cracking
it open. Thus, working with carbon
IA, scientists at the University Of
California have already been credit
ed With learning how to train"
one-celled plants-algae-to pro-
duce edible foods. If the recent
reports on this development are
accurate, then there is good reason
to believe that the world will have
new type of agriculture in the
not-distant future-a kind Of ma
rine farming in which plants will
be cultivated inexpensively in fresh
water or sea water to raise almost
limitless amounts of fats, proteins,
sugar and other essential foodstuffs.
Quite obviously, If something like
this Is realized, the world will be
able to stop worrying about Mall
thusian catastrophe or the war,
breeding unrest that can build up
in overpopulated lands with too lit
tie to, eat. This probably is the
brightest of all the atoms promises.
Another Prospect
But hardly less bright-and GER
tainly as spectacular-is the pros.
pect of utilizing atomic energy for
industrial power and as fuel for the
larger means of transportation. The
experts are in general agreement
that another 20 years may have to
pass before anything like this can
be realized on large scale. But 20
years, as time goes, are fleeing
enough, and meanwhile we can be
fairly sure that when they have
come and gone-assuming that war
with A-weapons does not intervene
the world will be in the first
stages of a revolution which, If
properly managed, can transform
and vastly improve the economy and
society of man everywhere.
The implications here go far be-
yond the somewhat oversimplified
idea of employing spoonfuls Of ifs
sionable material to drive submarines
and great surface ships back and
forth across the seas or send rockets
on round-trips to the moon. Al
though eventual developments along
that line are altogether possible,
leaving aside automobiles, airplanes
and other of the smaller means OF
transportation, they are potentially
less important than atomic energy
for industry. Men like Dr.. Julian
Huxley, for example, foresee the day
when a uranium pile about the
size of a double bed might generate
as much power as the Grand Coulee
Dam for several centuries" If this
is only half true, and conceivably 1t
may prove in time to be altogether
true, little imagination is needed to
envision what It's effect will be on
the life and destiny Of the world.
Other Possibilities
For il such power becomes readily
available, and If men and their gov
ernments have the wit and wisdom
to use it well, the deserts and dead
areas of the earth can be brought
back to life. Regions now lacking
in coal, oil and falling water can be
remade into great new productive
centers, agriculturally and industri-
ally. In odr own country, with atomic
energy harnessed to our gigantic
machine civilization, we can cease
worrying about the danger Of ex-
hausting our petroleum resources.
and slowly but surely, as our popu-
lation continues to climb, socially
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