Biology deals with the structure and behavior of plants and animals:
the botanist studies plants, the zoologist studies animals, and they
both can use radioactivity widely in their research.
Radiation changes the pattern of plant behavior, and many botanists
are vitally interested in the effect of various types of radiation on
seeds and plant growth. Radiation can produce mutations, or basic
changes, in growing things; thus, by selective breeding of desirable
changes, it is possible to improve crops. Progress here is slow. Many
millions of possibilities exist in the relations among the variety of
plants, type and intensity of radiation, random chance, and other
growing conditions, but already several new plant breeds have emerged,
and other crops are bound to follow.
In addition to altering plants directly by radiation, the botanist can
improve plants indirectly by using radiation: he can add radioactivity
to fertilizer and evaluate the efficiency of its uptake by the plant
to determine the most effective fertilizer for a particular soil or
crop. The many, and sometimes seemingly strange, effects of
radioactivity on plants and growing conditions provide a wide and
fascinating field for the botanist.
As most people know, radiation also affects animal tissue. The
zoologist wants to know how and why this is true and how varying
conditions alter animal reactions to radiation. The research of the
animal physiologist is basic to later medical applications of
radiation to human beings. The veterinary scientist has the grave
responsibility of testing radioisotopes, radiation drugs, chemicals,
surgical procedures, and various combinations of these in animals to
determine which can be used to diagnose or cure disease in man. He
passes his findings on to the physician for further research only
after he has made every possible test and evaluation. Sometimes he
works with chemists, nutritionists, bacteriologists, and other
scientists. What happens to animals could happen to human beings, and
that is why physiologists watch carefully the animals that eat
radioactive foods and study the offspring of animals that have been
exposed to radioactivity.
[Illustration: Animal studies using radioactive materials give
important information concerning physiology, both animal and human.]