PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Libby, W. F.
AU  - Berger, Rainer
AU  - Mead, J. F.
AU  - Alexander, G. V.
AU  - Ross, J. F.
TI  - Replacement Rates for Human Tissue from Atmospheric Radiocarbon
AID  - 10.1126/science.146.3648.1170
DP  - 1964 Nov 27
TA  - Science
PG  - 1170--1172
VI  - 146
IP  - 3648
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/146/3648/1170.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/146/3648/1170.full
SO  - Science1964 Nov 27; 146
AB  - Carbon-14, derived from the testing of thermonuclear weapons in the atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere during 1961-62, has been found in human tissues including the brain in amounts which reflect the atmospheric concentration of carbon-14 as of several months earlier. In collagen of cartilage, the rate of uptake of carbon-14 is much slower than in other tissues; essentially no radioactive carbon was found in the collagen of 70-year-old adults that had been exposed to the comparatively high concentrations of carbon-14 in the atmosphere during the years 1954 to 1964. Individuals from the Southern Hemisphere show little increase in the carbon-14 content of their tissues at present, and detailed tests with individuals traveling to the Northern Hemisphere from the Southern allow closer scrutiny of the tissue replacement rates.