senescent a ON . II - BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE ‘Weapons Test Activities gi?-27OUNRinkiaay Neutron dosimetry program Operation CASTLE. Arrangements fre being made to incorporate neutron measuring techniques developed by tHe Oak Ridge National Laboratory into the program of neutron radiation fmeasurements being undertaken by the Naval Research Laboratory during Qperation CASTLE. The program will be of benefit to both groups and will finvolve . ) little expense and effort. _ “ The Oak Ridge research group has made use of neptunium, uganiun, and plutonium fission detectors in studies to determine total n@utron flux. Neutron measurements made during previous field tests have not fovered the wide range of neutron energies of interest to the ‘biophysicists Such data derived from these fission detector measurements would be of] considerable importance in interpreting the total neutron dose. (End—oF _- Research Activities (UNCLASSIFIED) Cell-freephotosynthesis. Photosynthesis, the process by which the energy of the sun is converted to food stuff, has always been dtudied in the intact cell. Recent experiments at Oak Ridge National Labdratory have involved use of the alga Chara which has very large cells from which the cytoplasm may be squeezed out, free of cell wall and cell qdep. It was found that this preparation when placed in an atomosphere of carbon 14 synthesized carbohydrate. This discovery indicated that an esgentially cell-free medium is capable of carrying out photosynthesis. Effect of thermal] neutrons on seeds. , The number of mutafions pro- duced in barley seeds by doses of KX rays and thermal neutrons fas been compared with the amount of damage indicated by growth inhibitfion and the amount of visible chromosomal damage. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, it was found that the mutation frequency was closely cornelatefi with the chromosomal damage but not correlated with growth inhibition. Phis fact means that with thermal neutrons many more mutations will be produced for 4 ARCHIVES.