Yes; this has been hypothesized for some time.
And what if you discover that NATURAL radioactivity, such as that studied involving Carbon-14 decaying to Nitrogen-14
Are you going to somehow ban Carbon-14? Good luck with that; because Mother Nature makes OODLES of it all the time due to the solar radiation interacting with the atmosphere.
Additionally, the radiation given off in Carbon-14 decay is beta-minus particles; which are simply electrons!.
You going to ban electrons?
This is very interesting work; because it increases our understanding of such mechanisms.
However, there is NOTHING here of a sinister nature that we found out here that radiation or radioactivity is even more dangerous than we thought.
Quite the contrary; these mutations were with NATURAL radioactivity; so much for the anti-nuke's excuse that natural radiation is OK, because it is "natural".
"Natural" radiation is every bit as "bad" as the man-made stuff; but there's a LOT more of it.
For example, when we compare the amount of natural radiation to how much is man-made:
http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/radrus.htm
We see that radiation from nuclear power ( "nuclear fuel cycle" in table ) is 3000 TIMES LESS than natural radiation.
We see that radiation from nuclear weapons testing ( "fallout" in table ) is 3000 TIMES LESS than natural radiation.
As much as the typical anti-nuke goes around screaming about Fukushima; we see from the following article by Professor Richard Muller of the University of California at Berkeley Physic Department, that the NATURAL radiation in Denver is THREE TIMES the contamination of Fukushima:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444772404577589270444059332
The real lesson should be that people should QUIT being so PHOBIC about radiation.
It is all around us; just like germs. Germs are all around us, and can give us debilitating and deadly diseases if not for our immune systems. It's these every day germs that actually kill the AIDS victim; not the HIV virus itself. HIV just destroys the immune system. The everyday germs do the rest.
The phobia that some have over radiation resembles the phobia that some people have about germs. It's called "OCD" and Howard Hughes was probably the most famous person afflicted with it. However, there is treatment.
So if someone finds themselves very radiation phobic; the best course of action is not to protest nuclear power; but go see a psychiatrist, because you may have a mental illness.
The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe in it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson
PamW
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