The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples • Hacker News Board

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#21

Post by scoates » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 5:36 AM UTC

swamp40 wrote: post #10

fennecfoxen wrote: post #3

As long we're talking about atomic fruits again, I'll leave this here in case anyone missed it... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350 Atomic Gardens: Breeding Plants with Gamma Radiation (pruned.blogspot.com) 51 points by thret 1 day ago | 6 comments

Someone should combine that with the upcoming marijuana legalization and make their fortune selling irradiated seeds that might create a completely new high.

One of the higher-end base malts often used in British/Scottish style beers (and Scotch Whisky), Golden Promise, was bred in this way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation_breeding

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#22

Post by grecy » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 5:48 AM UTC

ehmmm wrote: post #14

grecy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question from someone that doesn't understand. Is she exposing herself to more radiation than is safe? Is there a very high likelihood she's going to make herself sick? I watched this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kg4vVYKc90 and she seems to be pretty callous with that hot particle.

One her comments: well, if its over 100 mSv/h, then acute radiation sickness begins after ~2 hours (noticable reduced blood cell count from 200 mSv acute dose onward, though you'd only FEEL sick after another 3 or 4 hours). but yeah, as the inverse square law applies, there's nothing to fear with this particle. and yep, the spectrum was done by a HPGe, as usual. :)

...and it was maxing out her meeter, which I think was showing 100 mSv/h, wasn't it?

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#23

Post by tdicola » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 6:03 AM UTC

grecy wrote: post #13

tdicola wrote: post #4

Awesome! I've been following bionerd23's youtube channel for a while and really enjoy the videos she's done. Glad to see more folks being introduced to her too!

Genuine question from someone that doesn't understand. Is she exposing herself to more radiation than is safe? Is there a very high likelihood she's going to make herself sick? I watched this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kg4vVYKc90 and she seems to be pretty callous with that hot particle.

No, from all the videos I've seen in the last few years she takes safety seriously. In the really serious urban exploration videos of Chernobyl, Pripyat, etc. you can see everyone in suits and masks to keep out radioactive dust, and many different detectors for gamma, alpha, etc. radiation in use. The areas being explored have radiation levels that are hundred and thousands of times higher than normal background levels, but they're still safe enough to be around for a few hours without lasting harm.

edit: Here's a good video that shows some of the gear and safety equipment for more serious explorations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdhdCbDch6A

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#24

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 6:04 AM UTC

grecy wrote: post #22

ehmmm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One her comments: well, if its over 100 mSv/h, then acute radiation sickness begins after ~2 hours (noticable reduced blood cell count from 200 mSv acute dose onward, though you'd only FEEL sick after another 3 or 4 hours). but yeah, as the inverse square law applies, there's nothing to fear with this particle. and yep, the spectrum was done by a HPGe, as usual. :)

...and it was maxing out her meeter, which I think was showing 100 mSv/h, wasn't it?

[deleted]

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#25

Post by joshvm » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 6:13 AM UTC

grecy wrote: post #22

ehmmm wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One her comments: well, if its over 100 mSv/h, then acute radiation sickness begins after ~2 hours (noticable reduced blood cell count from 200 mSv acute dose onward, though you'd only FEEL sick after another 3 or 4 hours). but yeah, as the inverse square law applies, there's nothing to fear with this particle. and yep, the spectrum was done by a HPGe, as usual. :)

...and it was maxing out her meeter, which I think was showing 100 mSv/h, wasn't it?

Yes, but radiation sickness is caused by prolonged exposure - that is, 100mSv/h for two hours (dimensions are important here, dosage is in Sv). Additionally that's for a full body dose and she was mostly irradiating her fingers.

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#26

Post by chokolad » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 6:25 AM UTC

seriously, 6 foot long catfish is a radioactive freak now?

I lived in Uzbekistan from the time I was born (1976) till about 1990 and six foot catfish was really big but not uncommon. I have a photo of my dad holding 5 feet one by the gills somewhere in my albums (dated before 1976 for sure).

I remember my dad buying smoked catfish slices about 5-7 inches across, those definitely came from pretty damn big specimens. At the time there were no nuclear power stations near Syr Darya or Amu Darya rivers.

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#27

Post by joshvm » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 6:53 AM UTC

anigbrowl wrote: post #2

This lady reminds me of Tarkovsky's Stalker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalker_(1979_film) There was a very interesting documentary on PBS a month or two back about the 'Radioactive Wolves' of Chernobyl. Bottom line: they don't seem any more or less healthy than other wolf populations in the region, but do well because nobody hunts them.

Or better yet, Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers which the film was based on.

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#28

Post by jsprogrammer » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 6:57 AM UTC

chokolad wrote: post #26

seriously, 6 foot long catfish is a radioactive freak now? I lived in Uzbekistan from the time I was born (1976) till about 1990 and six foot catfish was really big but not uncommon. I have a photo of my dad holding 5 feet one by the gills somewhere in my albums (dated before 1976 for sure). I remember my dad buying smoked catfish slices about 5-7 inches across, those definitely came from pretty damn big specimens. A…

If you watch the video, she says the size of the catfish is most likely due to them having no predators.

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#29

Post by anonymfus » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 7:11 AM UTC

My grandmother was 1957 Mayak disaster liquidator (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster). She said that some people in Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute ate and ever brought home for their families fruits cultivated on contaminated soil just because they were in deficit.

Re: The Woman Who Ate Chernobyl's Apples

#30

Post by VilleSalonen » Wed, Apr 22, 2015, 7:21 AM UTC

69_years_and wrote: post #15

grecy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuine question from someone that doesn't understand. Is she exposing herself to more radiation than is safe? Is there a very high likelihood she's going to make herself sick? I watched this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kg4vVYKc90 and she seems to be pretty callous with that hot particle.

Seems like everyone and their dog has a radiation detector in Russia esp. around Chernobyl, not something ones sees in the west.

Don't know about radiation detectors in Russia but Chernobyl is located in Ukraine, not Russia.