32. Chemical and Biological Effects of Radiation, Smelling Nuclear Bullshit

MIT 22.01 Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation, Fall 2016
Instructor: Michael Short

Radiation damage to organisms is explained, starting from single electron excitations all the way to DNA/cellular damage, cell division effects, organ and organism-level damage, and radiation-induced mutations. Radiolysis of water is linked between damage to cells and damage to reactor materials. The students then embark on debunking internet articles and poorly-conceived, published scientific studies about whether cell phones cause cancer (they don't!) by identifying incorrect physics, misinterpreted data, conflicting abstracts/conclusions, biased studies, and insufficient sample sizes/statistics. One particular internet blogger is lambasted for his apparently willful manipulation of the truth to push an erroneous message.

License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA

[npxmnpxm]

Does Prof. Short have his own social media channel? Regular postings to expose junk science would be pure gold.

[roxybot]

This professor has great methods in group mentoring for the class, I am so glad I get to view this course.

[Taithmhionna]

Absolutely loved this! As a physicist with no background in biology it's exactly what I needed. Great topic to connect the 3 sciences.

[Paraselene_Tao]

I really feel this last bit of the lecture. I have a coworker who is very much a neo-environmentalist. My coworker has even stated that she would leave our workplace if we installed PV cells on the roof because of what she calls "dirty electricity".

Last year I gave her a short lecture on how radio and microwave EMR can not ionize human bodies. I quickly described to her the EMR spectrum with its relative energies and wavelengths, and I explained the bond disassociation energies for common chemical compounds. I drew the EMR Spectrum, gave her a few important formulas, drew chemical compounds, and brought up images on google. I finished by telling her that radio and microwave EMR don't reach high enough energy to break bonds in her DNA or other important, biological compounds.

I'm glad you taught me a little about radiolysis. I didn't know that was the main way that ionizing radiation causes damage to health. Maybe I'll bring that up in my next conversation with her about cell phones "killing people". I already told her that the human body keeps a buffer solution ready to combat free-radicals.

She's in her 50's and she's basically a Luddite. I don't expect to ever change her mind about cell phones, PV cells, the moon landing and so on. I work in a small business right now and she's probably my favorite coworker.

[TheBods]

I am a RADAR technician. I work with RF in a variety of contexts every day. I had an ex-colleague (ie he worked in a different department in the same organisation) try to tell me that 5G is government-weaponised RF.

[jakkuwolfinsomnia]

As a Biochemist with a relatively basic physics background, this is very interesting to know. It complies with what I would expect but the actual damage to the many equilibria happening at once really indicates a far greater complexity than described here. Useful to understand which types of particles have the greater damaging impact

[happyhome]

Absolutely LOVE the INTEGRITY of the speaker - so refreshing in this world of the approach of equating volume to credibility.

[miloraddjuric]

I have no school knowledge of this, but I find it really interesting. Somehow it feels like I understand it. Great instructor also.

[NuncNuncNuncNunc]

@50:20 Number of reported cancers also goes up with increased screening. The actual rate in the population hasn't changed, they just become known.

[kcgunesq]

I couldn't pass the prerequisite for this class' prerequisite, so I understood very little of this. That said, the professor is a great lecturer.

[svict]

"You, a giant sack of water" hits hard

[BronxGrrlX]

I'm part of the cryonics community and i have posed this question of how much radiation-induced damage could accumulate over time at several meetings over the past several years.

You must consider that DNA repair had been shut down and damaged DNA will definitely accumulate.

So i can assure that this is on the table as a question, and that it will be considered.

The easiest solution will be to place sheilding around the storage capsules. Certain pharmaceuticals enhance dna repair systems and those should also be used.

[TheJames]

Have been watching this course for a few days now, love this professor!

[zoozolplexOne]

i am delighted to watch this course. what a good presentation !!!

[ronaldgarrison]

No doubt about it, frequent cell phone use can be a serious threat to your health. Just not because of the radiation.

[JustMe]

What's quite amazing is that the answers given by the students to the questions asked are typically correct. Bright people.

[Anonymousduck]

This professor is incredibly based. He’s extremely competent and a fabulous speaker but he calls bullshit where he sees it.

[SafetyLucas]

2:58 "We've been approximating humans as water" lol

[paxdriver]

Michael Short is most welcome to guest star on the Frivolous Gravitas podcast any time

[redactedbananas]

Question for the professor: What would be the increased risk of cancer if somebody pretended a banana was a phone all the time as a joke?