Evening star., 1950-09-04
PIutonium Is Produced
Constantly in Nature
Minute Amounts Muy Help
In Synthesis of Elements
By Thomas R. Henry

CHICAGO, Sept. 4.-Plutonium, the
synthetic element which is the major
ingredient Of the atomic bomb, is being
created in nature. possibly by the
breakdown of some higher element.
The amounts being produced are
extremely minute, but they may have
considerable importance in making pos
sible the synthesis of still heavier
elements.
This was reported to the American
Chemical Society here today by DR..
Donald F. Peppard and his associates
Of the Argonne National Laboratory Of
the Atomic Energy Commission.
There doubtless was some of the ex-
ploding element In the original material
which made up the earth. This, how
ever, long since would have disappeared.
The element has half-life Of approx
mately 2.400 years. This means that
half the number Of atoms present ex-
plode in this period. The amount left
after at least billion years since the
earth's formation would be so extremely
minute that 1t could not be detected.
There is no alternative. according to
DR.. Peppard's report, to the theory that
the element is actually being created all
the time. In some of the richest ura-
MUM ore it exists in about the ratio Of
one ounce per 3 billion tons.
One theory advanced is that . large
uranium deposit acts as a great "pile,"
of essentially the same sort as the piles
used to produce synthetic plutonium.
However. the report says. "this does
not exclude the possibility of the exist
ence in nature of other hitherto un-
known isotopes of plutonium with half
lives sufficiently long to have endured
throughout geological time. There is
also the possibility that part of the plu-
tonium Is present as daughter Of
hitherto undiscovered, naturally occur
ring series of radioactive elements which
would contain elements well beyond
plutonium itself. A search for such nat
urally- y-occurring elements would seem
to be worthwhile.
"It is interesting to note that the
quantity of plutonium 239 found in ma,
ture is less than the quantity of radium
by factor of approximately 10000. One
should not wonder that previous investi-
gators failed to discover it."
A race Of crawling cows, a new quirk
in evolution, has been reported to the
American Genetic Association.
It has developed in registered Jersey
herd in California. according to the find
ings of Drs. S. w. Mead, p w. Gregory
and w. M. Regan of the University Of
California.
Put to pasture when few months old.
the calves soon begin crawling on their
front knees as they Craze.
The condition is due, it was found, to
a congenital condition of the leg bones
which makes it painful for the animals
to stand while the creeping posture is
natural. 1t was thought at first that the
cause was some deficiency in the diet.
but this possibility was eliminated. All
the animals appeared in one family and
the evidence that creeping is hereditary
now is considered fairly conclusive. The
variation has arisen suddenly from a
mutation Of some sort in the germ plasma
Of the family, which presumably Is the
cause of most species origins.
In this case the geneticistS believe the
condition is due to recesSive gene. Pre-
sumably varieties of this sort are more
frequent among animals in nature than
commonly is supposed. They generally
end with one generation, however, be-
cause they are Instantaneous to the
race and the victims soon are killed in
the struggle for existence.
In the wildS, it is pointed out in the
report, these creeping cows would have
little chance of surviving and thus per.
petuating the species.