Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

"Dark Lightning" Could Expose Airline Passengers To Radiation

Posted by Unknown on from the amtrak-doesn't-cause-cancer dept.

mbstone writes "Lightning researcher Joseph Dwyer of the Florida Institute of Technology claims that thunderstorms unleash sprays of X-rays and even intense bursts of gamma rays which could cause airline passengers to receive in an instant the maximum safe lifetime dose of ionizing radiation — the kind that wreaks the most havoc on the human body. Dwyer hopes his sensor aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, will provide more data."

6 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Hrmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I smell a boost in tinfoil hat sales skyrocketing ....

    1. Re:Hrmmm by telchine · · Score: 4, Funny

      I propose that we should legislate to ensure that all the passengers are wrapped inside one metal enclosure before take-off!

    2. Re:Hrmmm by myowntrueself · · Score: 4, Funny

      Tinfoil does not set off metal detectors.

      Yes, I have first-hand knowledge of this.

      That can't be right, I saw a tinfoil covered cucumber set off a metal detector in the Spinal Tap documentary!

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  2. regulations by ssam · · Score: 4, Funny

    Airlines should be subject to the same regulations as nuclear power. All planes should have a few meters of lean and concrete shielding to protect the passengers. Anything that saves one childs life should be done.

  3. Re:s/aluminum/aluminium/g by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    FTFY

    You crazy Americans insist on misspelling everything

    That's exactly how we spell 'everything', what are you talking about?

  4. Intense bursts of gamma rays? by QilessQi · · Score: 4, Funny

    Then don't get those flight attendants angry. You wouldn't like them when they're angry.

    --
    Koans and fables for the software engineer