radiation

How To Create Random Numbers Using Radioactive Material

Think of a random number between one and 10. Most likely you chose seven — so exactly how random was your choice? Turns out that generating a truly random number is more difficult than you might think — but this video should help you get to grips with the problem.


Invisible Lightning Strikes Could Be Bombarding Planes With Radiation

Lightning is a terrifying yet majestic force of nature, especially when you see it from an aeroplane. But scientists have recently discovered that lightning can sometimes be invisible — and it could be bombarding planes with radiation as they fly.


US Government Wanted To Make The Perfect Artificial Heart — With Radioactive Decay

The idea of putting a decaying radioactive isotope inside your chest might make you a little uneasy — and rightly so. But, in 1967, the National Heart Institute and the Atomic Energy Agency set out to make it happen in the form of an plutonium-238-powered atomic heart. Think Tony Stark with nuclear waste in his chest.


Monster Machines: UAVs Know Who Launched The Nuke

During the Cold War, it wasn’t hard to determine who could have been behind an airborne nuclear strike — just check behind the Iron Curtain. But in the modern era of nuclear proliferation, figuring out who set off a bomb would be more akin to crime scene investigation.



NASA Is Turning Astronaut Trash Into Radiation-Shielding Frisbees

The Death Star’s trash compactor may have been implausible, but it was on the right path towards solving a very real problem: space junk.


NASA: Radiation So Far Not A Problem If Humans Decide To Visit Mars

During the Curiosity rover’s nine-month trip to Mars, it copped its fair share of radiation-producing solar flare and particle events. This, in turn, provided NASA with a fair chunk of information to help it figure out the protective requirements for humans to make the trip. Until now, the organisation didn’t have radiation numbers from the perspective of being on the surface itself, but Curiosity has again delivered and the prospects look good, at least for now.


Super-Fast Space Travel Would Kill You In Minutes

Everyone thinks it would be cool to travel at the speed of light, which is why scientists devote their lives to working out if it would be possible and NASA is trying to develop its own warp drive. But easy, tiger: turns out super-fast space travel would be fatal.


Monster Machines: The Probes That Will Hopefully Demystify Radiation Around Earth

Concentric rings of highly charged radiation encircle our planet, and we know surprisingly little about them. But once NASA completes a $US686 million mission to launch a twin pair of space probes into the eye of this solar storm, the Van Allen belts should be much less of a mystery.


Fukushima Fish Soaked In Record Levels Of Radiation

During last year’s nuclear disaster, the deadly radiation inside Fukushima 1, became one with the surrounding environment, contaminating everything. Things aren’t getting any better. Record quantities of the deadly radioactive isotope caesium-137 have just been discovered in the fisheries around Fukushima.