Surviving Radiation with Evolution The Why Files

[727Sky]

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Radiation and Rapid Evolution | The Wolves of Chernobyl Reveal Human Potential Scientists discovered something impossible in Chernobyl's radioactive ruins - life is thriving where nothing should survive. Animals aren't just living in lethal radiation zones, they're evolving faster than nature should allow. From Chernobyl to Bikini Atoll, creatures are activating ancient genetic sequences designed to process radiation. These same genes appear in human DNA, raising profound questions about our own origins. The implications stretch from Earth's ancient past to humanity's future among the stars. What we're learning about life in Earth's most radioactive places is changing our understanding of human potential.

[Ninurta]

Oh great! Commies weren't enough to worry about - now we gotta contend with radioactive mutant wolves!

I live in one of those high-radiation areas he spoke of. We have natural, untapped uranium deposits here, and also in Eastern Kentucky I think. Background radiation levels here are 11 times the US normal. There are places that are "hot" enough that snow won't stick on the ground. My yard has one such spot, although I'm not sure it's down to radiation. Might just be an underground stream heating the spot up more than the surrounding area.

Somehow, we manage, and we manage without growing spare heads and the like.

So much for the notion that nuclear war will end all life on Earth. It might kill a bunch, but life WILL go on.

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