Word: strehler
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Dates: during 1950-1950
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...kids of atomic Oak Ridge, Tenn. (which swarms with children) were busy this week on a new enterprise: collecting fireflies for Dr. Bernard L. Strehler of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Strehler wants 100,000 lightning bugs and will pay 25? a 100 for living, healthy specimens...
...When Dr. Strehler finally gets his fireflies collected, they will not be allowed to sparkle for long. He intends to detach their luminous posteriors and extract from them luciferin-a substance which fascinates many scientists...
Luciferin (an enzyme or organic catalyst) is responsible for the firefly's strange cold, yellow-green light. Not much is known about its complex chemistry but Dr. Strehler points out an extraordinary fact. The light that comes from luciferin has been analyzed spectroscopically and turns out to be very similar to the fluorescent glow given off by riboflavin (vitamin B2) when it is irradiated with invisible ultraviolet...
...rear ends of Dr. Strehler's martyred fireflies may serve another purpose too. One of the chief concerns of the Oak Ridge laboratory is radiation sickness, the damage that atomic-age radiation (mostly gamma rays) does to living tissues. This damage is not mere "burning"; it is chiefly due to subtle chemical changes produced within the cells. When chemists have a better understanding of the relation of light to life, they stand a better chance of protecting atomic-age humans against gamma rays, which are "ultra-high-frequency light...