Word: spermatozoon
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Every human being is constantly subjected to bombardment by gamma rays (X rays) from natural sources such as cosmic rays. These do no visible damage, for the body is accustomed to the low normal "level of radiation." But when a gamma ray hits the nucleus of a spermatozoon or ovum (the reproductive cells which unite to form a new individual), it may damage one of the thousands of "genes" which carry hereditary characteristics from one generation to the next. This may produce a "mutation." The child may differ slightly or radically from its parents, or the difference may lie concealed...