Gamma
Radiation- As Innocuous as A, B, C
by
Stewart Dent, Nats-101
On
casual inspection, most people might be concerned about the consequences of nuclear explosions on the surface of
our planet. Indeed, there may be
some minor adversities associated with such events, but these can be exploited to strengthen our moral fiber as we overcome
them. The positive aspects of such events, and the subsequent release of
gamma radiation, are simply not
being widely publicized, perhaps even shrouded in a conspiracy to prevent inquiring minds from knowing.
Gamma
radiation is emitted from the nuclei of radioactive elements in the Earth and is present in the cosmic ray background
in which our universe is bathed. Those radioactive elements occur in rocks,
water, food and air, and in the
tissues of our bodies as well. This
means gamma radiation is simply part of the natural environmental background that we experience
from the day we are born to the
day we die. Furthermore, as humans
evolved over tens of thousands of
years, they have likely done so under this natural flux of gamma radiation.
Fluxes
of gamma radiation above background levels have been demonstrated to produce beneficial consequences. For example, the viability of seeds and the drought resistance of seedlings have
been found to increase after
gamma irradiation (Roberts and
Weese, 1965)……2-double-space pages..