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Before the hydrogen bomb indelibly associated radioactivity with death, many chemists, physicians, botanists, and geneticists believed that radium might hold the secret to life. Physicists and chemists early on described the wondrous new element in lifelike terms such as "decay" and "half-life," and made frequent references to the "natural selection" and "evolution" of the elements. Meanwhile, biologists of the period used radium in experiments aimed at elucidating some of the most basic phenomena of life, including metabolism and mutation. From the creation of half-living microbes in the test tube to charting the earliest histories of genetic engineering, Radium and the Secret of Life highlights previously unknown interconnections between the history of the early radioactive sciences and the sciences of heredity. Equating the transmutation of radium with the biological transmutation of living species, biologists saw in metabolism and mutation properties that reminded them of the new element. These initially provocative metaphoric links between radium and life proved remarkably productive and ultimately led to key biological insights into the origin of life, the nature of heredity, and the structure of the gene. Radium and the Secret of Life recovers a forgotten history of the connections between radioactivity and the life sciences that existed long before the dawn of molecular biology.

Radium. --- Genetics. --- technology, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, science history, radioactivity, hydrogen bomb, chemists, physicians, botanists, geneticists, radium, secret to life, physicists, new element, decay, half-life, natural selection, evolution, biologists, metabolism, mutation, half-living microbes, scientific experiments, genetic engineering, radioactive sciences, heredity, living species, biological transmutation, structure of the gene, molecular biology.

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Shrader-Frechette looks at current U.S. government policy regarding the nation's high-level radioactive waste both scientifically and ethically. What should be done with our nation's high-level radioactive waste, which will remain hazardous for thousands of years? This is one of the most pressing problems faced by the nuclear power industry, and current U.S. government policy is to bury "radwastes" in specially designed deep repositories. K. S. Shrader-Frechette argues that this policy is profoundly misguided on both scientific and ethical grounds. Scientifically-because we cannot trust the precision of 10,000-year predictions that promise containment of the waste. Ethically-because geological disposal ignores the rights of present and future generations to equal treatment, due process, and free informed consent. Shrader-Frechette focuses her argument on the world's first proposed high-level radioactive waste facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Analyzing a mass of technical literature, she demonstrates the weaknesses in the professional risk-assessors' arguments that claim the site is sufficiently safe for such a plan. We should postpone the question of geological disposal for at least a century and use monitored, retrievable, above-ground storage of the waste until then. Her message regarding radwaste is clear: what you can't see can hurt you.

Radioactive waste disposal in the ground-- Environmental aspects. --- Radioactive waste disposal in the ground --- Civil & Environmental Engineering --- Environmental Engineering --- Engineering & Applied Sciences --- Environmental aspects --- Risk assessment --- Environmental aspects. --- Risk assessment. --- Burial of radioactive wastes --- Ground radioactive waste disposal --- Underground radioactive waste disposal --- Hazardous waste sites --- Waste disposal in the ground --- Radioactive waste repositories --- Déchets radioactifs --- Elimination dans le sol --- Aspect de l'environnement --- Evaluation du risque --- Radioactive waste disposal --- american history. --- consent. --- due process. --- ethics. --- geology. --- government. --- half life. --- health and safety. --- legal issues. --- liability. --- morals. --- natural history. --- natural world. --- nevada. --- nuclear power. --- nuclear waste. --- political. --- politics. --- pollution. --- public health. --- radioactive waste. --- radwaste. --- respiratory illness. --- science. --- scientific. --- united states history. --- us government. --- us history. --- yucca mountain.