What would you think about a simple genetic test that could tell you exactly how sensitive you are to radiation? Something, say, as simple as a cholesterol test that could tell you whether you are extraordinarily sensitive to radiation, exceptionally resistant to radiation damage, or pretty much normal – how great would that be?
How clean is clean? Does something have to be spotless to be considered “clean” or is it good enough to be “clean enough?” And, if the latter, how good is clean enough? Bringing the matter home – should I insist that my sons’ room be spotless continually, or can I tolerate a little bit of [...]
How much contamination would you find acceptable on your daughter’s teddy bear? Would you let her snuggle up at night with a bear that had been decontaminated to the industry standard – with low, but detectable counts? Does the bear mean so much to her that you’d want to get it back even with higher [...]
Earlier this week I was lucky enough to be asked to join a 1-day workshop on some legal aspects of responding to a radiological emergency, hosted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO – pronounced “natch-o” in case you’re wondering). There were a number of questions we discussed but much of [...]
Radiation is ubiquitous; an inescapable part of life on Earth. Background radiation reaches us from outer space, from the rocks and soils we walk on, and from naturally radioactive potassium in our own bodies. Through its entire history, organisms on Earth have been bombarded by radiation, and this will continue for as long as the [...]
A couple of weeks ago the Associated Press ran a story that seemed to confirm the world’s fears about Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. Central to the story was a plot (shown here) that showed, over a period of a few microseconds, energy and power output from a nuclear weapon. While everyone seems to agree [...]
According to Thomas Jefferson “The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.” In a nutshell, government exists to serve and to protect the public. This view of government (not surprisingly) echoes the Preamble [...]
Radioactive waste disposal is not cheap. When I was a radiation safety officer we spent $10,000 each year to dispose of a fairly small amount of waste, and a few years our disposal bill was closer to $50,000. At another university I worked at we spent over a half million dollars to get rid of [...]
Consider the impact of a single nuclear explosion – temperatures higher than the surface of the Sun vaporize everything within tens to hundreds of meters; pressure and shock waves rippling outward at the speed of sound shred buildings; and fissioning uranium or plutonium atoms produce huge amounts of radioactivity. There have been over 2000 nuclear [...]
Humans are great at recognizing patterns and one of the patterns we do really well with is that of cause-and-effect. We like to know what causes what – and particularly what causes bad things to happen. So when something bad – like cancer – happens we want to find a cause; and we also want [...]