Chernobyl Misc Mutation Articles

Misc | 7 May 04 | Misc

[RussianConservative]

Any one have other mutation picutre? Please post.

[Brett66]

Holy cow! I only thought things grew big from radiation in B-movie sci-fi flicks.

[proust]

"Any one have other mutation picutre? Please post."

[Charles Henrickson]

I didn't know radiation could shrink cigarettes.

[Migraine]

Three abnormally large dandelion plants were found in September 1984, within five feet of each other, in an area that was untouched since the days of the accident. It is not known if this plant had ever produced flowers.

None of that matters, since the Chernobyl accident would not take place for another two years. Things don't mutate and grow to disproportionate sizes in anticipation of a nuclear event.

[Charles Henrickson]

This Ukrainian man is now 8'4":

[Jaysun]

Radiation is a fertilizer? This is good news. We need to crank up a bunch of nuclear plants and give the waste to farmers.

[GOPJ]

There's a common prickly yard weed, about 6 inches in diameter, that grows in the US. The same weed in Russia grows 5 feet tall. That said, the first part of the article keeps referring to TMI. Three Mile Island? When they started quoting Greenpeace, it read like a hit piece. Selling something...

Three abnormally large dandelion plants were found in September 1984, within five feet of each other, in an area that was untouched since the days of the accident. It is not known if this plant had ever produced flowers.

[Don W]

I also noticed the discrepancy in dates, then saw that the writer was referring to "TMI", or Three Mile Island.

Considering that there was very little (if any) radioactive leakage from TMI, well, draw your own conclusions.

While the tragedy of Chernobyl must not be forgotten, this article seems to be yet another "Nukes are BAD" alarmist piece.

[opinionator]

What do you think caused this?

[Captainpaintball]

I was JUST thinking about this kind of stuff this morning, over a bowl of "Quaker Oat Bran" cereal. Strange.

[mfulstone]

When I was in High School, I sent a pack of Zinnia seeds to work with my dad so they could be exposed to powerful gamma rays in an industrial X-ray machine.

I then grew the zinnias to maturity, harvested the seed and grew them the following year. Both generations appeared perfectly normal - maybe too normal. The only mutation I found was in one of the control plants. It was very pale green - almost white-leaved.

Zinnias are compositae and related to dandelions.

Somehow, I'm not impressed with giant dandelions and four-legged daddy long-legs.

[Calvin Locke]

I sent a pack of Zinnia seeds to ...be exposed to powerful gamma rays...

Don't know if you checked out that biker chick's ride through the Chernobyl region...but she gave readings
from her dosimeter on the road, x feet off the road, and y feet from the road.

Anyway, the points being that the radiation is still quite high in the dirt, and any vegetation is not just exposed to
one dose, but continually exposed as the plant cells divide.

JMO, from my observations and from what I remember from a 1 credit physics module 20+ years ago.

[RussianConservative]

That picture from Three Mile Island (TMI).

[BenLurkin]

[KneelBeforeZod]

[uglybiker]

[KOZ.]

these dandelions are as big as moose

[Jimmy Valentine]

If you go to a site run by "Angelfire", she has pictures of Chernobyl and all of the abandoned trucks and aircraft that fought the reactor fire.

She is from Kiev. This is quite informative and more than a little frightening.

Priviet!

[martin_fierro]

This Ukrainian man is now 8'4"

LOL -- good catch.

Then there's this motorcycle tour and photo essay of Chernobyl.