Evening star., 1950-06-09
Vitomin BIZ Produced
In q Radioactive Form
Scientists Now Moy Trocs
Its Progress Through Body
By Thomos (. Henry

Production Of radioactive yitamin b
IL. most potent srowth promoter IN
nature, which Is effective In doses a
small as q billionth OF an ounce, has
just been announced to the American
Association for the Advancement OF
Science here.
ago. this elusive vitamin since has been
recognized as essentially q cure for GER
tain forms Of pernicious anemia. Ex-
periments with q syntheSized form OF
the substance. which occurs naturally in
liver. have shown that II increases
enormously the growth rate Of hogs, In
spite of its cost it may prove Of great
economic value to farmers.
Its mode Of action. however. has re-
mained unknown. Once In the blood
stream 1t apparently acts as q catalySt
for many physiological processes upon
which growth depends.
Essential 10 Animal Life.
One element IN the chemical structure
OF this vitamin In cobalt. II has long
been recognized that this metal. In
almost indistinguishably minute amounts,
Is essential to animal life. Apparently
all Of 10 is used in the structure Of this
vitarnin within the body.
Now, according to a communication
to the association from Dr. Louis Chalet
and his associates of the Merck a. Co.
laboratories Of Railway. N. j., IL has
been possible to incorporate in the syn-
thetic molecule radioactive cobalt, pro-
duced in piles Of the Atomic Energy
Commission. of the same type which has
been proposed as substitute for radium
1t Will thus become possible to follow
the entire physiological progress of the
Vltamin through the bodies of expert
mental animals and determine its precise
effects.
All tests indicate that the B-l2 made
with the synthetic radioactive cobalt Is
precisely the same chemically as that
which is extracted from the liver.
tenth OF a trillionth Of a second
has been measured by Atomic Energy
Commission scientists.
1t is the lifetime of the newly DEM
onstrated neutral meson, one Of the
particles which constitute the glue"
which holds together the nucleus OF
the atom.
1t is the time required for light,
which moves at q speed Of approximately
10000 miles q second, to travel q
thousandth Of an inch.
The neutral meSon thus becomes a
clock for the mysterious realm of atom
dom where all speeds and dimensions are
OF far different order than those Of
the visible universe.
The method of measuring this mi
mute time interval was developed by DR..
Herbert York of the commissions radia-
ton laboratory at the University OF
California
Produced in CyclOtron.
The mesons were produced by bonn
harding a suitable target with high
energy protons in q cyclotron. Almost
as soon as a neutral rneson comes into
existence 1t splits into two particles
a negatively and positively charged
electron. Both can be detected in a
Geiger counter. the instrument COM
monty used to detect radioactivity.
Two Of these counters are used, one
set OF by the negative electron and
the other by the positive. The speed
Of these particles is known. The counters
were arranged so that they we're set of
simultaneously.
BY delicate arrangement DR.. York
was able to determine the lifetime OF
the meson from which the particles
came by dividing the distance trav-
ersed by the speed. The time interval
turns out to be far briefer than It
hitherto has been imagined anything
could happen on earth