This story is from October 22, 2020

CARER seeks to commercialise use of state-of-the-art C-14 dating facility at MU

CARER seeks to commercialise use of state-of-the-art C-14 dating facility at MU
MANGALURU: The Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity (CARER), Mangalore University has established a facility for carbon-14 dating of archaeological artefacts or material of biogenic origin based on liquid scintillation counting technique. Carbon-14 dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
CARER has established this facility through financial support from the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), department of Atomic Energy (DAE), government of India.
Through a research project sanctioned by BRNS, DAE and with collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, the CARER had undertaken a study for standardising methods for Carbon-14 measurements in the vicinity of nuclear power plants.
Scientists led by Karunakara, coordinator, CARER with BARC has standardised a batch method for the thermal combustion of the samples by tube furnace system for C-14 measurements. The spin-off application of this method is its application for determining the age of the material up to 30,000 years old. CARER is a state-of-the-art national facility and an advanced centre for radio ecological and radiation protection research in India.
Willard Libby, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work in 1960 developed the method in the late 1940s at the University of Chicago. Measuring the amount of Carbon-14 in a sample from a dead plant or animal, such as a piece of wood or a fragment of bone, provides information that can be used to calculate when the animal or plant died, Professor Karunakara said.
Karunakara said CARER has collaborations with many advanced laboratories of the world. The centre is serving the research needs of various research groups from national laboratories, institutions and universities in India. Those interested in using this facility may contact Professor Karunakara, coordinator, CARER, Mangalore University on email: carermu@gmail.com or drkarunkara@gmail.com; 0824-2888754.
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