FAGE SMt
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11,
ACTIVITIES INCLUDE MEDICAL RADIATION, LEGAL ASPECTS:
Phoenix Memorial Project Studies Peaceful Uses of Atomic
Energy
(Continued from Page 1) T
the hopes for the peaceful Use of
the atom when they return to
their homelands.
Broad Influence-
The project has attained a
broad interdisciplinary influence,
as well as its international effects,
for research has been conducted in
fields including anatomy, arch-
aeology, bacteriology, b'o t a n y,
chemistry, ,engineerir, geology,
law, medicine and zoology, not to
mention physics.
Perhaps the greatest strides have
been made in medicine. The avail-
ability of tracers, such as radio-
active iodine, make possible the
investigation of numerous biologi-
cal, chemical and physical phe-
nomena associated with the human
body.
Carbon-14, for instance, has
been used to trace sugar as it
proceeds through various pathways
in a living cell. From these and
other studies of metabolic change
of an often-used drug, levor-
phanol, injected into brain tissue
of rats, dogs and monkeys, the
scientists have been able to save
the lives of many patients over-
dosed with the drug. ,
Medical Diagnosis
Much other work has been done
on controlling parasitic diseases
through irradiation, diagnosing
tumors of the abdomen, thyroid,
eye and brain by means of radio-
isotopic studies, maintaining a
bone bank, in which bone and soft
tissues are stored to be used for
surgical transplantation, and per-
fecting a method of sterilizing liv-
ing bone tissue.
Studies have also been done
here on mental illness. One study
attempt, the first recorded in med-
ical literature, was made of in-
dividuals inflicted with the mental
disease cretinism, which is a re-
sult of thyroid underactivity. It
was found that adequate treat-
ment with thyroid pills will pre-
vent irreversible mental and phy-
sical retardation. -
Tracer Techniques
Closely allied to the medical
research are investigations in the
biological sciences, in which tracer
techniques also are used to analyze
chemical processes and structures.
One of these studies centers on
the long-range effects of low-
dosage radiation. Wing and vein
construction of the fruit fly, which
has a generation span of from
nine to 10 days, is being analyzed
in hopes of discovering the gen-
etic mutations which varying
amounts of radiation might cause.
High-level gamma radiation has
been used experimentally to dis-
infect river water and sewage, and
other studies include the probing
of the tissue surrounding egg yolk,
inorder to determine whether a
protoplasmic bridge exists to
transport nutrients.
The Phoenix Project is also serv-
ing public and scientific interests
with its radiocarbon dating tech-
niques. This laboratory work fixes
through carbon-14 disintegration
the dates of various prehistoric
materials and objects. Skulls from
the Himalyas, tusk fragements
from New Mexico and agricultural
tools from Mexico have all been
dated at the University facilities.
Engineering Research
The engineering field has also
been enhanced by project activi-
ties. One study resulted in a more
long-lasting type of automobile
paint through a process leading
to better polymerization with ir-
radiation. Another project is
studying the direct conversion of
heat to electricity, especially since
reactors give off heat as a by-
product.
Legal problems involved in the
use of the atom have their place
in the Phoenix scope. The Atomic
Energy Research Program of the
University's Legal Research In-
stitute serves as a clearing house
for national and international
complications in law.
These are only a- few of the
Phoenix Project's activities through
the years. When it was founded in
1948 by the then Student Legisla-
ture, the project was intended to
symbolize the Phoenix itself: the
bird which every 500 years con-
sumed itself in flames, then
emerged revitalized for another
cycle.
And so out of the ashes of de-
struction and despair arise the
hopes for a better future. Men
working on the Phoenix Project
have pledged themselves to this
ideal and to this goal.
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