Tag

Radiation

All articles tagged with #radiation

science1 day ago•9 min saved

Benchtop Neutron Generator Demonstrates Amateur Nuclear Experiments at Home

Hackaday profiles a benchtop neutron generator by Rapp Instruments that ionizes deuterium and accelerates the ions into a titanium target inside a vacuum to produce neutrons (with occasional helium). Neutrons are detected by activating silver or indium foils around a Geiger counter, showing activity decay over time. The device uses a two-stage high-voltage setup (about 20 kV for ionization and 100 kV for acceleration) inside an evacuated glass tube with an oil diffusion pump. The piece notes the results (e.g., Ag-110/Ag-108 signals) and frames the project as an accessible entry point for amateur nuclear experimentation, linking to broader neutron-generator theory.

via Hackaday|

#high-voltage #neutron #neutron-generator

space12 days ago•10 min saved

Mars Will Take Its Toll—and We're Going Anyway

The Space Daily piece argues that even the most experienced planetary scientists warn that a crewed Mars mission will impose serious, partly irreversible costs—radiation exposure with mortality estimates in the several percent range, significant bone and muscle loss due to microgravity, and substantial psychological strain during a multi-year round trip—yet missions are proceeding into the 2030s (including SpaceX plans) because the strategic drive to explore and expand capability overrides unresolved risks, shaping a framework where volunteers accept sizable, not fully calculable risks for the chance to reach another planet.

via Space Daily|

#boneloss #mars #psychology

science1 month ago•16 min saved

Chernobyl’s wildlife: thriving in a changed landscape with unresolved radiation effects

Forty years after the disaster, wildlife around the Chernobyl exclusion zone shows a mix of thriving populations and unusual traits. Some species have benefited from reduced human activity and habitat changes, while others exhibit notable features (e.g., darker tree frogs, altered forests, more wolves and bears). Scientists debate whether these changes are direct radiation adaptations or the result of environmental shifts and other factors, including transgenerational mutations and climate stress.

via BBC|

#adaptation #chernobyl #ecology

environment1 month ago•6 min saved

Chernobyl’s wild sanctuary reshapes the nuclear debate

Forty years after the Chernobyl disaster, the exclusion zone remains heavily contaminated, but wildlife populations—from wolves and elk to roe and deer—flourish in the absence of humans, prompting a debate over nuclear power’s environmental trade-offs. While some scientists argue the area shows how ecosystems rebound when human pressure fades, others caution about potential genetic damage in certain species and warn against reviving nuclear energy amid safety and geopolitical risks. The discussion echoes debates sparked by Fukushima and the Korean DMZ, with broad implications for climate goals and energy security.

via The Guardian|

#chernobyl #environment #nogozone

environment-energy1 month ago•11 min saved

In Chernobyl, absence of humans reshapes wildlife more than radiation

The Conversation piece argues that headlines about radiation driving dramatic wildlife changes at Chernobyl are overstated; while some dog populations show genetic differences, these are more likely due to breed history, habitat, and disease than radiation. The broader point is that the exclusion zone’s ecosystems are shaped far more by the absence of humans, effectively turning parts of it into a nature reserve, than by radiation exposure. Long‑term health effects on people from the accident remain socio‑economic and mental health concerns, underscoring the need for careful science communication to curb misinformation.

via The Conversation|

#chernobyl #dogs #ecology

environment1 month ago•3 min saved

Chernobyl's Exclusion Zone Becomes a Refuge for Wildlife

Decades after the 1986 disaster, wildlife has repopulated the Chernobyl exclusion zone, including Przewalski’s horses introduced in 1998, with wolves, bears and other species thriving in a landscape that remains dangerous for humans; the area is now a monitored nature reserve and military corridor, but war, fires and damaged infrastructure continue to threaten its ecosystem.

via PBS|

#chernobyl #conservation #environment

technology1 month ago•2 min saved

FTRFS Emerges as Radiation-Resistant Linux File System for Space Environments

Phoronix reports on an RFC patch series introducing FTRFS, the Fault-Tolerant Radiation-Robust Filesystem, designed for radiation-prone environments like space. Not related to Btrfs, FTRFS adds per-block and per-inode CRC32, Reed-Solomon forward error correction, and EDAC-compatible error tracking; FSCK, extended attributes, SELinux support, and large-file indirect blocks are planned features, with the patch series posted to the Linux kernel mailing list.

via Phoronix|

#fec #filesystems #ftrfs

science1 month ago•179 min saved

Artemis II’s Avatar organs aim to map cosmic health risks before astronauts reach deep space

NASA’s Artemis II carries USB-sized “avatar” organ chips made from astronauts’ bone marrow to simulate organs and study how space radiation and microgravity affect health. The AVATAR study seeks early, personalized health data from blood, saliva, sleep and immune biomarkers to tailor medical kits for long missions, while researchers track the RIDGE hazards of space travel to better prepare for future lunar and Mars exploration.

via CNN|

#artemis-ii #avatar #nasa

space1 month ago•15 min saved

Chips carrying Artemis II astronauts’ cells map spaceflight’s effect on human biology

During Artemis II’s lunar flyby, four tiny chips seeded with the astronauts’ bone marrow cells circled the Moon to study how deep-space conditions—like radiation and microgravity—affect human biology, part of NASA’s Avatar program using organ-on-a-chip devices to inform future space medicine.

via The Washington Post|

#artemis-ii #bone-marrow #organ-on-a-chip

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Moon Living: The Biology Challenge of a Sustained Lunar Outpost

NASA's Artemis program plans a sustainable lunar outpost, with Artemis II validating life-support and deep-space operations ahead of longer stays. Living on the Moon will challenge every body system due to one-sixth gravity, intense space radiation, lunar dust, extreme temperature shifts, isolation, and confinement, so countermeasures—such as exercise, personalized nutrition, artificial gravity trials, radiation shielding, habitat design using lunar soil, lunar agriculture, and continuous health monitoring—will be critical to keep crews healthy and to inform future missions to Mars.

via ScienceAlert|

#artemis #lunarbase #moon

space2 months ago•94 min saved

Moon base ambitions collide with radiation, dust and unknowns

NASA and its partners aim to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon within the next decade, including a permanent lunar base tied to the Artemis program and private-sector plans. But scientists warn the Moon’s harsh environment—razor-sharp dust, relentless cosmic radiation, and low gravity—presents significant health and engineering risks, with unresolved questions about habitat design, life support, water and ice resources, and construction methods. A data-driven, cautious approach is needed before rushing into a lunar colony, as much depends on learning more about the Moon itself.

via Live Science|

#artemis #lunar-base #moon

entertainment2 months ago•16 min saved

Peet Opens Up About Early-Stage Breast Cancer in Personal Essay

Actress Amanda Peet reveals in a New Yorker essay that she was diagnosed with hormone-receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (Stage I); after routine checkups and an ultrasound biopsy, an MRI confirmed a mass, with a second, benign lesion later discovered. She underwent a lumpectomy followed by radiation and describes the emotional toll while her parents were in hospice care on opposite coasts.

via Deadline|

#amanda-peet #breast-cancer #entertainment

science2 months ago•6 min saved

Radiation-Eating Fungus Could Grow Into a Living Shield for Spacecraft

Researchers studying Cladosporium sphaerospermum—an often-black fungus—found it not only tolerates radiation but may grow toward it and form biomass that, in tests aboard the ISS, accumulated faster (about 21% more quickly than Earth controls) under space conditions. Melanin-rich fungi could help absorb radiation, suggesting a potential “living shield” concept for future spacecraft, possibly combined with local materials in ISRU. The work, conducted in a CubeLab on the ISS, is a proof-of-principle with limitations (small payload, controlled Petri dish setup) and does not demonstrate radiosynthesis; further experiments are needed to assess reliability across conditions and particle types.

via Earth.com|

#fungi #melanin #radiation

science2 months ago•5 min saved

Chernobyl Fungus Thrives on Radiation, Sparking Radiosynthesis Debate

In the radioactive ruins of Chernobyl’s Reactor 4, the black fungus Cladosporium sphaerospermum appears to grow better in ionizing radiation, a finding that rekindles interest in melanin’s role in radiation interactions and the radiosynthesis hypothesis, though a proven energy-conversion pathway has not yet been demonstrated.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#chernobyl #fungus #melanin

space3 months ago•59 min saved

Mars Living Isn’t Front-Page Frontier: Sci-Fi’s Survival Myths Debunked

Space.com debunks five common sci-fi myths about living on Mars: that colonies can easily thrive on the surface, that humanity could just terraform the planet, that low gravity is harmless, that Martian soil can support easy farming, and that the main challenge is simply getting there. In reality, viable settlements would likely be buried underground or in lava tubes with hermetically sealed habitats, requiring thick radiation shielding, closed-loop life support, and abundant energy. The Martian atmosphere is extremely thin and lethal without a suit, oxygen must be generated, and surface conditions are brutal (cold, radiation, low pressure). Growing food faces toxic perchlorates in soil, so hydroponics or bioengineered solutions are needed. Psychological stresses from isolation and long travel times add equal weight to physical survival. Overall, any real Mars settlement would demand centuries of Earth-provided resources and massively engineered habitats, making true “colonization” far more complex than sci-fi suggests.

via Space|

#habitats #mars #perchlorates