OCR Text |
Show in. Jar above contains a near mila in the synthetic of lusive vital chlorophyll i A ITU ATI in if fin ii AS I ENTERED the cork insulated, constant temperature room hewn out of solid rock I could see the mall, cotton stoppered bottles arranged in rows. In some bottles the nutrient solution was clear. In others there was a tiny spot of green, and in a few the surface was covered with a solid mass that resembled the scum on stagnant pools. This simple form of plant life called algae showed the same variation in growth as the corn and tomato plants in the greenhouse upstairs. At first, nothing seemed dramatic here at Yellow Springs, Ohio just plants, tome thriving and some dying. Yet in this room and in the greenhouse and laboratories labora-tories of the Kettering Foundation for the investigation of chlorophyll and photosynthesis, photosyn-thesis, work is going on which may uncover the answer to one of the greatest riddles of 11 time: how do plants use sunlight to make chlorophyll, the characteristic green pigment which converts inert chemicals into living cells? If we can find the answer, scientists believe, be-lieve, we can bring about a hundredfold increase in the world's production of food, make unlimited quantities of fuel, lubricants, lubri-cants, and fats directly from the rays of the sun and the abundant chemicals of the earth, and perhaps find a way to utilize a major part of the sunlight, now wasted, which falls on the earth's surface. The solution may be only months away. The catalyst which makes the formation of chlorophyll possible has been identified as the element iron, and Dr. Harry V. Knorr and his associates at the Kettering Foundation, together with 1,000 other chemists and plant physiologists throughout the country, are working hard to unravel th basic process of photosynthesis by which light gives life to plants. With X-rays, radioactive elements, and carefully controlled growing solutions, they are charting the growth cycle and the effect of various elements upon it. In experiments now under way, even the light that falls A small group of scientists is working on a secret; the answer can bring mankind freedom from all want By ROBERT WEST HOWARD mmm flj, wi It cl on the plants is being torn apart and rearranged rear-ranged to determine which frequencies stimulate growth. Little by little science is finding the clues that will enable chemists chem-ists to build up an accurate picture of the chlorophyll molecule, and to duplicate the mysterious process that brings it into being. be-ing. Once this it done, probably we will be able to tap for the first time a substantial portion of the riches which pour down on us daily from the son. And the key teems to be small amounts of iron in compound form, for cholophyll cannot form in a plant unless particles of iron are drawn up from the roots to create "contact" between the sunlight and the plant chemicals. "There is little question but that iron is the catalyst for the reaction of plant cells to light energy," Dr. John Arthur, Secretary of the Boyce Thompson Institute of Yonk-ers, Yonk-ers, New York, said recently. "When no iron solutes are present in the plant, leaves are albino, other photosynthetic processes are cut off ar.d the plant dies." Proof of this statement is simple. Test plants from which iron has been withheld produce silky white or yellow leaves and survive only a few days. Experiments on grapefruit have shewn that iron compounds sprayed directly on the leaf will increase the sizes of the leaf and will produce larger fruit at harvest time. It is standard practice on some Hawaiian plantations to use this spray to obtain large, Grade A pineapples. The dramatic sequence of Nature's manufacturing man-ufacturing process, with iron in the starring star-ring role, begins each sunrise of our growing season. The sun is an explosive body showering show-ering the earth with energy rays. As it comes into sight on the horizon every leaf and grass blade pulses into action. Atoms of iron lying at the base of the plant are drawn up through the stalk and into the leaf canals, and at the same time on the underside of each leaf microscopic perforations called stomata begin breathing in carbon dioxide and water vapor. These chemicals are drawn in by the stomata, and filtered up to the chlorophyll cells where, with the help of iron, the carbon car-bon atoms are broken away from the oxygen oxy-gen to begin their processing to carbohydrates carbohy-drates and fats. The released oxygen is exhaled back through the stomata, and more carbon dioxide and water vapor are drawn in. Laboratory processes for breaking break-ing carbon away from oxygen require intricate intri-cate equipment and temperatures of 1,300 degrees Centigrade. Iron, chlorophyll and sunlight , accomplish the task with "cold" heat. Gi f RADUALLY, AS this life process with in the leaf was revealed, scientists tended toward use of green algae as their guinea pigs. In 1948, Dr. H. A. Spoehr and H. W. Milner of Carnegie Institution of Washington Washing-ton found that they could cause Chlorella, a fresh water alga, to produce extraordinarily extraordin-arily high yields of either fat or protein by feeding it increased supplies of iron and other mineral salts. Crops containing 1,350 pounds of fat, or 1,000 pounds of pure protein, pro-tein, could be produced per acre, they believed, be-lieved, in contrast with the maximum farm yield of 360 pounds of peanut oil per acre. Meanwhile, British scientists operating in Jamaica had proven that one ton of food per month, with an average 40 per cent protein content, could be produced from Chlorella grown in a fresh water pond ten or twelve inches deep to which iron sulphate, sul-phate, Manganese, and ammonium phosphates phos-phates were added. Gentle agitation of the pond water exposed more of the Chlorella's surface to sunlight and produced greater growth. Subsequent experiments have upped this figure, and it is now considered quite possible pos-sible that the maximum yield of algae could be increased to 200 tons per acre, and that the fat content could be raised to 85 per cent. Considering that the cost of the iron and otner raw materials usea in tne 'O'y'oth less than one cent per pound of alj a) process compares favorably with i most duction of high protein or high ffjgj crP- kejrab cow l .. .bu. WNCE THE FULL process of p! r0 thesis is know and short cuts are ve huge supplies of fuel and Oils, as k fy 1 fiber crops and foods will be produ 'r nually from raw chemicals and "sun f u "It is not necessary," Dr. Knorr ei? y "to carry out the same reaction that men does in order to store solar energy J'f n ' form of chemical compounds. The ot . quirement is that we have a enemies'"8 8 tion which absorbs radiant energ? . j forms a compound that will give up e i . l .i nst th in combustion. , m pf Thus, with synthetic reproduction ta photosynthesis, the earth could easil; port a population of 15 billion people limitless fuel reserves, thereby endn old nationalist war-growl of "Enoucj to live on." This will mean a new type of ft! in the fields at well as in artificial and along the seacoastt. It will meal new industries in rural areas where m er can exert its full force without the j ference of soot and dust. Finally, if mean a new public understanding c i processes of growth. rT V. This year at Yellow Springs, as M 1 at the Carnegie Foundation laboratory c the Universities of Illinois and Ca!i'?ice at the Marine Biological Station at Pr ' Hole, Massachusetts, and in scores IT-ien I dustrial research centers, 'a small rein' 4 b of scientists will work steadily on toffs t the Case of the Greening Leaves, t f of solution can bring freedom from w& Su all mankind. form "th """ 1 " CO pset fmt hat jtrei ' I !)uir F&x-f , liiiISiMSIiiSt x hhe - V ""' vT pul llJ"" 4 x j " '-i "f "j. vf? .if1- " ;f " ". . : tect L.:. v : mW' " ' ' Mtun f . . 5t tM i iMiiiiii .urnn rrMH' -4re " Experts ready radioactire fertilizer to dust coru. "Cub" ia aafety |