Among the breakthroughs linked to atomic research that Creager highlights in “Life Atomic”: * treatments for cancer, especially using cobalt-60; * diagnostic tests still used widely in medicine; * an understanding of metabolic pathways, such as that for photosynthesis; * a clearer picture of how the human body absorbs and uses substances such as iron; * the modern understanding of ecosystems as environments in which matter and energy flow through living and nonliving components. These advances were made possible by the availability of radioisotopes, which are radioactive isotopes, or variants, of stable atoms
