Radiation may not be as harmful as previously believed by the masses

[Eeezee]

Chernobyl didn't cause tens of thousands of deaths, but only a few hundred in the immediate area

I've always known that the public fear of radiation was downright irrational, but this really makes some supposedly horrible events sound over exaggerated.

 

[pyonir]

Sweet...i'm going to go get a ton of x-rays. Take that!

 

[gururu2]

i can see us exaggerating the catastrophe on account of cold-war grudges, but the damage to cellular tissue by radiation (alpha, beta, gamma) is pretty well documented.

 

[Tylanner]

ACUTE = BAD

 

[0roo0roo]

there was a bbc horizon documentary called nuclear nightmares on this a while back.
apparently the torrents still up if you feel like finding it http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5173310.stm

 

[Throckmorton]

Since when is the only danger from radiation death?

 

[NuclearNed]

Radiation hormesis

Naturally, this theory is controversial and not accepted by all.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
there was a bbc horizon documentary called nuclear nightmares on this a while back.

I watched it a while ago, it was a good programme.

 

[clamum]

Wow, pretty interesting read. Those Hiroshima and Nagasaki figures are really surprising. And Wikipedia still says over 100k? Weird.

 

[paulxcook]

Originally posted by: clamum
Wow, pretty interesting read. Those Hiroshima and Nagasaki figures are really surprising. And Wikipedia still says over 100k? Weird.

Wikipedia contains false information? This is madness!

Interesting article. I'm very surprised at those figures. I doubt they'll do anything to quell the wide-spread fear of nuclear power plants though. Which is too bad.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: paulxcook
Wikipedia contains false information? This is madness!

Interesting article. I'm very surprised at those figures. I doubt they'll do anything to quell the wide-spread fear of nuclear power plants though. Which is too bad.

Especially the notion that meltdown = atomic fireball. Pop culture doesn't help any. Hell, Simcity 4's nuclear power plants explode violently when they have a "meltdown." Still, it's fun to play with that little feature.

Or the stupid scare over food irradiation. Popular response: "OMG it'll make our food radioactive!!!!"
No, it won't. You're just responding to the term "irradiation" with a healthy sense of ignorance. Step outside. Congratulations, you're now being irradiated with stuff that's been proven to cause cancer - ultraviolet radiation.

Edumacation is learning our childrens good things.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: paulxcook
Wikipedia contains false information? This is madness!

Interesting article. I'm very surprised at those figures. I doubt they'll do anything to quell the wide-spread fear of nuclear power plants though. Which is too bad.

Especially the notion that meltdown = atomic fireball. Pop culture doesn't help any. Hell, Simcity 4's nuclear power plants explode violently when they have a "meltdown." Still, it's fun to play with that little feature.

Or the stupid scare over food irradiation. Popular response: "OMG it'll make our food radioactive!!!!"
No, it won't. You're just responding to the term "irradiation" with a healthy sense of ignorance. Step outside. Congratulations, you're now being irradiated with stuff that's been proven to cause cancer - ultraviolet radiation.

Edumacation is learning our childrens good things.

Your post is really ironic. You're criticizing other people for being uneducated, but you don't understand the difference between gamma rays and UV, and think you're smart because you know that "irradiation" is a term that applies to all EM radiation.