Chernobyl, My Primeval, Teeming, Irradiated Eden

[Marcus Bryant]

http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-pf-201103-chernobyl-wildlife-refuge-sidwcmdev_154483.html


One of the workers tells me he doesn't drink, not even beer. "I do sports, so I cannot drink," he says, lighting up another cigarette.

"But what about the radiation?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Life itself is dangerous, my friend."

[RandomGuy]

First hand pictures from a semi-fictional trip into the zone:
http://www.kiddofspeed.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Filatova
(semi fictional in that she was there, just not alone on a motorcycle, "poetic license" she called it)

A 2005 account of a tour:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/russia/a-day-in-the-halflife-of-chernobyl/2005/08/24/1124562907092.html

Interesting tidbit.

[RandomGuy]

He explains that they're studying the effect on the mice of the radioactive spectrum here in the Chernobyl Zone. They took probes from the Red Forest and re-created the conditions here at the lab, then started giving the mice food laced with cesium and strontium.

Why here? I ask.

"This is already a contaminated area. So we don't risk spreading radiation elsewhere." In other words, the zone has become a kind of refuge for radiation research.

He and his team are studying the mice to understand their resistance to radioactivity. They've found sensitivity to ionization, which results in certain tumors, and some of this passes down through the genes. But they're also finding heritable radiation resistance—which could perhaps be beneficial to humans someday.

Nifty.

[RandomGuy]

There are canals threading through the giant buildings, which provided water for the old coolant system, and in one of them the catfish have grown to prodigious sizes. We stop on a metal bridge and gaze down into the brown water. Suddenly the monsters rise to the surface, some of them a good ten feet long, black, whiskered, curling around as they hunt for the bread people feed them.

They're not big because of radiation, Sergey insists. It's just that they haven't been fished for a quarter of a century.

Ten feet long! Yikes. That would be some good eating... if you don't mind the fact that they live in an old intake pond at Chernobyl...

[boutons_deux]

"heritable radiation resistance"

wait! Permanent genetic modification and transmission in one generation? What about New Earth Creationism and no biological evolution EVER? How can this be?

btw, epigenetics and genetic modifications (bad ones) are Hot Topics. Overweight and obese pregnant ladies are so screwed up they pass permanently damaged genes to their kids. Same with men with damaged sperm.

[Agloco]

http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-pf-201103-chernobyl-wildlife-refuge-sidwcmdev_154483.html

This is related to a controversial topic in my field known as hormesis:

http://radiationhormesis.com/

http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/1998/Suppl-1/357-362calabrese/full.html

Calabrese and Baldwin have been cited numerous times in other works, and unless it's my imagination, they are popping up with more frequency in radiation treatment planning papers as well.

The underlying mechanisms relating to radiation induced resistance and damage are quite complex. As I've stated a few times, it not solely a product of the cellular response either. Rather, it's a mosaic of the environmental factors ( type of radiation exposure, length, etc) and a species specific response to those insults.

I know various biologists posting here will find this topic fascinating in light of the events in Japan. Thanks to MarcusBryant for posting this article and special thanks to RandomGuy for digging it up again.

On a side note, I have read KiddofSpeed a few times. It's a fascinating journey, and accurate from a radiobiologic standpoint. RG posted the link above. :toast