Hey there! Welcome to Life Noggin!
Wow that's a lot of bees!? Well this is good we need to save the bees! Okay!
Radiation can be pretty terrifying.
We’ve all heard the stories of what happened in places like Chernobyl and the dangers of
nuclear fallout.
But what if you weren’t just /in/ a place like that, but actually /ate/ something that
was radioactive?
Well, this may sound a bit surprising, but you probably already have… at least to some extent
That’s because many of the foods that you eat are actually radioactive.
This can happen in a bunch of different ways -- radioactive materials in the soil can get
into your crops, and fish and shellfish can pick it up from the water they’re swimming
in or the seafloor.
Radioactive materials can even get into your /water/.
Radiation can also sometimes show up in your food after you humans perform nuclear tests
and discharge radioactive materials into the environment.
And you can find some of the more radioactive foods as you're strolling around your local
grocery store.
These may include bananas, which can contain a radioactive isotope
called potassium-40, and brazil nuts, which can have radium levels over 1000 times what
you might see in other foods.
And it’s not just food and water.
Some amounts of radiation can be found all around you.
It can even be in the air that you breathe.
But before you get all worried and start walking around in a Hazmat suit, this isn’t as bad
as it sounds.
The radiation we’re talking about here isn’t on the same level of what comes along with
atomic bombs and nuclear fallout.
So then what if you were to take a bite of food that was way more radioactive?
Something with more dangerous levels than what we just talked about.
Maybe some food that was affected by nuclear fallout.
While it can be hard to tell for certain what it would do to you, we can get an idea of
what might happen by looking at the effects that consuming radioactive material like that
has on other animals.
Let’s look at a 2014 study done on the biological impacts of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear
Power Plant accident in Japan.
In this study, researchers wanted to know what would happen if larvae of the pale blue
grass butterfly consumed leaves that were tainted by radioactive materials, in this
case radioactive cesium, that they collected from the polluted localities.
When the larvae were fed the leaves, mortality and abnormality rates sharply went up at low
doses in response to the cesium that they were ingesting.
So basically, it wasn’t good.
The researchers also concluded that, at least for the pale blue grass butterfly, it was
realistic for them to have a polluted diet after something like a nuclear power plant
accident, and that the same could likely be said for other organisms living in the polluted
area.
Again, not that great of news.
So like these butterflies, your mortality and abnormality rates could go up after eating
highly radioactive food.
And according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, one way radium can enter
your body is if it is swallowed.
If this happens, some of it can enter the blood stream and be carried to other parts
of your body, like your /bones/!
And if you are exposed to high levels of radium over a long period of time, it can result
in things like anemia, cataracts, fractured teeth, or even cancer.
So all in all, you’re probably fine to keep munching on those brazil nuts and bananas
Or if you're like Triangle Bob I guess eat a giant thing of radioactive waste? Don't do that.
He shouldn't be doing that. You guys don't do that either.
Where you surprised to hear any of this? Let me know in the comment section below,
or tell us, what should we talk about next?
Have you seen our new series Dear Blocko
I answer a bunch of your questions about the world around you and my world!
Check it out!
Vince asks What happens if you get rabies﻿?
If a person gets rabies, it can be pretty serious. That’s because it’s a viral infection
that can affect your nervous system
As always, my name is Blocko, this has been Life Noggin, don't forget to keep on thinking!