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ScienceHealthThree Alzheimer’s Patients Were Able to Communicate Again After Experimental Radiation Treatment
A small new study found remarkable improvements in communication and behavior in three patients with severe Alzheimer’s disease after they received a low-dose radiation treatment. More research will have to be done to confirm these results and to test whether similar benefits could be achieved in people with milder dementia. In 2016, researchers described the … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealthChernobyl Survivors Didn’t Pass on Harmful Mutations to Their Children, Study Finds
Two new papers out Thursday highlight the aftereffects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident that occurred over 30 years ago. One study might help explain why survivors are more likely to develop thyroid cancer, while another found evidence that these survivors don’t seem to have passed on potentially harmful mutations to their children. The 1986 accident … Continued
By Ed Cara -
EartherEarth ScienceRadioactive Fallout From Cold War Nuclear Tests Is Still Creeping Into U.S. Honey
A spring break assignment for geology students has resulted in the discovery of radioactive isotopes in honey produced along the U.S. East Coast, and at levels higher than expected. The amount of radiation isn’t considered dangerous, but the finding points to the drawn-out legacy of nuclear tests done during the Cold War. Back in 2017, … Continued
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EartherEnergyJapan’s New Fukushima Plan: Dumping Radioactive Wastewater Into the Sea
The Japanese government said Tuesday that it would start releasing contaminated water from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster into the Pacific Ocean, outlining a long-expected plan that is, understandably, upsetting a whole lot of people. Around 1.25 million tons of water accumulated at a nuclear site in Fukushima Prefecture in the wake of the 2011 … Continued
By Molly Taft -
SciencePhysics & ChemistryMini Nuclear Reactor at Government Lab Shut Down After Radiation Leak
A small-scale nuclear reactor at a government neutron research facility was shut down last week after it began to spew elevated amounts of ionizing radiation. No employees received dangerous doses of radiation, according to officials, who are now devising a plan to determine the cause of the leak. The incident happened on February 3 at … Continued
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EartherTwo Japanese Towns Want to Host an Underground Nuclear Waste Dump
No matter how you feel about nuclear energy, nuclear waste is generally something you want to stay as far away from as possible—unless you’re two villages on the Hokkaido, Japan’s second-largest island. The two small fishing towns, Suttsu and Kamoenai, are competing to become the site for a high-level radioactive waste storage site as a … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherFracking Is Elevating Levels of Radioactivity Downwind
Hydraulic fracturing has been a big topic of the upcoming presidential election. Biden has refused to ban it, Trump has said he’ll expand it hugely. Well, a new Harvard study suggests that the drilling practice is even more dangerous than we previously thought. The new research, published in Nature Communications on Tuesday, shows that radiation … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherFukushima’s Contaminated Wastewater Could Be Too Risky to Dump in the Ocean
Almost a decade ago, the Tohoku-oki earthquake and tsunami triggered an explosion at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, causing the most severe nuclear accident since Chernobyl and releasing an unprecedented amount of radioactive contamination in the ocean. In the years since, there’s been a drawn out cleanup process, and water radiation levels around the … Continued
By Dharna Noor -
EartherSci-Fi Fanatics Suspected of Arson as Wildfires Near Chernobyl Create World’s Worst Air Pollution
Wildfires are burning yet again in the area outside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. The latest round of blazes has sent smoke traveling to the capital of Kyiv, creating some of the worst air pollution in the world. The Chernobyl area has been on fire off and on since last week, and in … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryThis Bottle of Vodka Was Made From Grain Grown Inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Grains and water from Chernobyl’s dreaded exclusion zone have been used to produce a single bottle of vodka. Called ATOMIK, the vodka could revolutionize the way land is reclaimed in the radioactive region surrounding the beleaguered nuclear power plant. A collaboration involving scientists from the UK and Ukraine has produced radioactive-free vodka from crops grown … Continued
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SciencePhysics & ChemistryRadiation Levels at the Marshall Islands Remain Disturbingly High
An analysis of soil samples, ocean sediment, and fruits from the Marshall Islands—the site of nearly 70 nuclear weapons tests during the 1940s and 1950s—has revealed alarmingly high levels of radiation, with some regions at levels exceeding areas affected by the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters. From 1946 to 1958, the United States conducted 67 nuclear … Continued
