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The Body Electric
high rate of osteogenic sarcoma—bone cancer—because beryllium some-
how removed normal controls from the osteocytes' growth potential. Ra-
dioactive strontium 90 worked its harm by bonding to bone, then
bombarding the cells with ionizing radiation. Perhaps some trace
element normally found in bone changed its electrical properties by
PHOTOELECTRICITY: ELECTRICITY GOES IN; LIGHT COMES OUT
To find out, Charlie and I used a very complex device called an elec-
tron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer on our bone samples.
There's no easy way to explain just how this instrument works, but
basically it measures the number of free electrons in a material by sens-
ing a resonance produced in the electrons' vibrations by in applied mag-
netic field. We used it to measure the fre electrons in collagen and
apatite, and we found the same kind of discrepancy as in our flourescence