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Nuked Coral Reef Bounces Back
sm62704 writes "I found this New Scientist article interesting, as I was actually alive (albeit very small) when Bikini Atoll was H-bombed. The article says that the reason the reefs are now flourishing is because they are mostly undisturbed by humans, who are afraid of the radiation. Background levels there are now 'similar to that at any Australian city,' while nearby islands haven't been so lucky.'When I put the Geiger counter near a coconut, which accumulates radioactive material from the soil, it went berserk,' says Maria Beger of the University of Queensland in Australia."
The full story is that although some of the corals have bounced back remarkably, the nuking has also resulted in the localised extinction of some more sensitive sensitive species However the research has also revealed a disturbingly high level of loss of coral species from the atoll. Compared with a famous study made before the atomic tests were carried out, the team established that 42 species were missing compared to the early 1950s. At least 28 of these species losses appear to be genuine local extinctions probably due to the 23 bombs that were exploded there from 1946-58, or the resulting radioactivity, increased nutrient levels and smothering from fine sediments. Article also has some good stats on the nuking itself: One of the most interesting aspects is that the team dived into the vast Bravo Crater left in 1954 by the most powerful American atom bomb ever exploded (15 megatonnes - a thousand times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb). The Bravo bomb vapourised three islands, raised water temperatures to 55,000 degrees, shook islands 200 kilometers away and left a crater 2km wide and 73m deep.
I don't think you'll find any coral at all resisted that, but that the area was re-colonised by corals from a little further afield.
What the other poster said about topping off, and salts.
You can irrigate, but you also need rainfall once in a while (or you need really cheap energy and good desalination and demineralization such that you're not just watering plants, but spraying the soil slowly and without saturating the soil). If you constantly flood using irrigation, you cause salts to rise to the surface and ruin the soil.
The Soviet Union destroyed entire nations through bad irrigation policy, turning semi-arid soil into desert. You can find it in Wikipedia under man made disasters.
and the increased cancer risk that comes with eating it is minor, and irrelevant.
This. One of the fun things back in HS was to take the radiation detector to various common items. Heck, Brazil Nuts, Lima Beans, and Bananas are radioactive. So aren't carrots and potatoes. Potassium, an essential nutrient is radioactive.
An extra dose of radiation doesn't mean that somebody is going to die from cancer. It all depends on the dose.
rather than lengthening the life expectancy of a few unlucky individuals by a matter of days on average.
Unless the individual is making said radioactive coconuts a staple of their diet; I'd say minutes is more likely.
I don't read AC A human right
These species display no visible deformations, and continue to breed and live undisturbed by humans.
Well, to be fair, I'll mention that one study involving birds found that the chicks of birds nesting in the sarcophagus had double the expected deformity rate over birds nesting outside of Chernobyl.
Given that a number of the bird species are the ones where the chicks gradually push out the others such that only one survives out of a laying of 2-6 eggs, the effect of the extra deformities was essentially noise, statistically insignificant to the species.
I don't read AC A human right
Since 2000 the annual numbers of AIDS diagnoses have been relatively constant, with an estimated 37,852 in 2006. That's people DIAGNOSED, not deaths.
Some 43,443 people were killed on the highways in 2005.
Meanwhile, 559,312 people who died from cancer. Cancer is only the second biggest killer, heart disease kills more people of ALL races. More black people die of cancer than all races combined die of AIDS.
HIV is comparitively a very minor threat, even to minorities, compared to other dangers. If you're talking about dangers to minorities you should be talking about incarceration, as a disproportionate number of our prisoners (more per capita than any other country) are minorities.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest