The shocking thing found in the nuclear craters of Bikini atoll

[AuskaDezjArdamaath]

What they found was Bikini Bottom with Sponge Bob.

[fabvy]

Hi, nuclear physicist here!
There is a big difference between the radiation of a nuclear detonation and the radiation of unstable isotopes.

Nuclear detonation produces, in a short amount of time, really high amounts of "ionizing radiation" (really fast neutrons) that can "burn" you or poison you, but has a relatively low possibility of causing cancer and mutations.

Unstable isotopes, on the other hand, produce for a long time a low quantity of different radiations (alpha, beta, gamma) that cannot "burn" you, but can (in time) cause mutations.

Cancer and mutations arise (with a really small probability) respectively from a "wrong" repair that your body does on its cells or from damaged DNA.

You simply cannot survive the amount of radiation needed to develop mutations if you don't spread it over a long time.
That cannot be done from a nuclear explosion, but rather from a small quantity of unstable atoms.

[amandarusson]

Plus, humans have stayed away from those areas because of fear of radiation so, they weren't being harmed from human activity.

[ross]

Also, since everybody was evacuated from there, the corals were left in peace for decades without people to damage them. That must count for something

[cconnon]

Hydrogen bombs do not produce fallout in the same way that other nuclear bombs do. Please include this.

[DoesNotSniffTurtleFarts]

Water is also really good at blocking radiation too.

[theunlverse]

it's almost like Hydrogen Bombs don't have the same radiation issues that fission bombs have

[_endrguy_]

They also found a surprisingly fresh looking pineapple right next to stone moyai carving

[EarthenDam]

They also are some of the least disturbed corals I imagine.

[WarmongerSmurfOnXbox]

Not surprising at all. The land is still heavily contaminated, but the ocean is not. The theory is tides and currents have removed most of the contamination. Plus water really limits the effects of radioactivity.

[krystal_vector]

Hydrogen bombs generally produce a lot less radioactive fallout than fission bombs, so even the initial concentration of radioactivity that these corals had to withstand was less that what ordinary people would’ve imagined

[josephbrandenburg]

Coral: survives nuclear annhilation without a scratch
Also coral:
*temperature changes by 0.00001°*
"Guess I'll die"

[francinekoski]

I’m so glad that there’s no lasting damage or harmful effects. Thank goodness 😊

[madkiller]

Blocks nuclear radiation but dies from hot water.

[TheSinisterPRO]

Cockroaches: "Finally! A Worthy Opponent! Our Battle Will Be Legendary!"

[kinggizandthelizwiz]

We’re talking about organisms that have survived every major extinction event

[VyvienneEaux]

Who would have thunk it? Living in a giant pool of solvent that washes away radioactive salts would be generally salutiferous?

[RRonco]

Plus, everything that makes corals sick, stayed out of the Bikini Atoll blast zone for the entirety of their regrowth.

[owloko]

Funny thing about damage to DNA is that the more complex it is, the more the damage will be catastrophic, but if you have a simple strain, your body can deal with it pretty well. So the fact that mammals are so complex is what make us so vunerable to radiation

[willgund]

Organisms that can do this often have backup systems to repair damaged DNA within their cells.