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1. BAD WEEK: WE MUST FOCUS ON HELPING THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.In yesterday's New York Times, science reporter Bill Broad covered the projected movement of the radiation plume by the UN's Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. "The forecast is based on patterns of Pacific winds and, the predicted path is likely to change as weather patterns shift." Weather patterns always shift, but for the US any radiation from the plume will be down to a safe level. What is a "safe" level? It's time to repeat my "radiation-hormesis" rant.
2. HORMESIS: THE LINEAR NO-THRESHOLD MODEL MUST BE WRONG.
Airline crews experience a high total-radiation exposure. But the exposure of airline crews is spread over many years, while Chernobyl survivors got a concentrated dose. Statistically they are not distinguished. Do the derivatives matter? According to a story in the news this week, Chernobyl survivors today suffer cancer at about the same rate as others their age. The same is true of Hiroshima survivors. If true, it would seem to support the radiation-hormesis thesis. "Hormesis" refers to things that are toxic in large doses, but harmless or even beneficial in small doses. Trace amounts of selenium, for example, are essential for cell function of animals. But selenium salts in larger doses, are highly toxic. Airline pilots or not, we are all exposed to background levels of ionizing radiation every day of our lives. We do not all succumb to cancer. It seems there is a repair mechanism that compares neighboring strands of DNA and patches up damage. The comparison can work only if damaged strands are isolated. If the damage rate is very high, the same repair mechanism could multiply the damage.
3. MAXWELL: THE SESQUICENTENNIAL OF MAXWELLS EQUATIONS.
Maxwell's equations were published 150 years ago this month in Philosophical Magazine. This week they are honored in a Nature editorial as a "bold unifying leap." When first exposed to Maxwell's equations as a student, I considered giving up physics. Not because I couldn't understand Maxwell's equations, but because I realized that I could never compete on that level. But I soon realized that there was only one Maxwell.
4. DEFORESTATION: WOODSMAN, SPARE THAT TREE, BUT AXE THE ACRONYMS.
Andy White of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), says we need, Growing Restoration, Employment and Energy Now (GREEN), which is crucial for the success of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).
5. MESSENGER: NASA SPACECRAFT IS IN MERCURY ORBIT.
Congratulations! It took six years of looping around solar planets, including Earth, to enter Mercury orbit perfectly. NASA does planets really well. Acronyms are another matter. The spacecraft's poetic sounding name turns out to be a labored acronym: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging.
6. DALLAS: THE APS MARCH MEETING NEXT WEEK.
I'll be there to give an invited talk about what's new in Voodoo Science, Thursday, March 24 at 8:36AM, in C1.
Image Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (via Flickr)
