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Wild monkeys to measure Fukushima radiation
Published: 10 December, 2011, 14:30
Wild monkeys to measure Fukushima radiation (AFP Photo / Kazuhiro Nogi)
TAGS: Animals, Nuclear, Accident, Japan
Scientists in Japan are struggling to assess the consequences of the Fukushima nuclear plant disaster amid continuing concerns over high levels of radiation. Now help is at hand in the form of the area’s wild monkey population.
Radiation levels in the woods near the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster is now going to be measured with the help of the primates.
Researchers from Fukushima University have designed special collars for the monkeys which will feed information to scientists.
Each of the collars contains a small radiation survey meter and a GPS transmitter and can be unclipped by remote control, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported on Saturday.
This will enable the research team, led by robotics professor Takayuki Takahashi, to recover them and collect data one to two months after releasing the monkeys back into the wild.
Currently, radiation is measured using helicopters – a method which has proved incapable of obtaining the most accurate estimates.
The project has also been designed to check radiation exposure in wild animals. The monkeys will allow the scientists to compare radiation levels on the ground and in the air, as they spend much of their time sitting high up in trees.
The two-month project is to kick off in spring 2012.
10.12.2011, 12:10
13 comments
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10.12.2011, 18:00
30 comments
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Dear Hmmm December 12, 2011, 12:07
When Chernobyl happened, the prevailing winds blew to the west and Belarus was the most affected country by far and so was most of Europe. The Ukraine escaped most of the radiation because of this, No wonder your mother feels sick when she goes to other countries. I wish you had stated which countries these were. Sorry, but this is true. I'm not saying the Ukraine completely escaped the radiation, but there are books that state the facts I have presented. Thank you.
Hmmm wrote in#13
As far as I know radiation doesn't have to be negative, most cases are but many can in fact alter the genome in a good way. Otherwise I will be damned because I was born after the Chernobyl disaster in Kiev.... All I know is that my brother (Also born after Chernobyl) was born with a slight hearing deficiency but has been tested and claimed a genius in Germany (by IQ). And also my mother always feels physically sick almost in all other countries she visited, however not in Ukraine, could this be a side effect?? Anyway, Japan has a huge misfortune geographically to be honest with extreme winds and earthquakes being a common thing. Unfortunately they also had to build a nuclear reactor in exactly this area....!! If I was the president I would try to trade some land...
Richard Bramhall#12: "...as usual, they are doing it in the wrong way."
It's unlikely that the Japanese science doesn't know about the most significant effect of catastrophes like Daiichi: internal exposure to inhaled and ingested radioactive fine particles.
It's hard to believe that some methods could not be developed to clarify the basic questions of risk to humans from such an exposure, that is so vehemently ignored and denied by the nuclear establishment and their "science".
We have seen ducking the real scientific issues in the official "investigations" in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East after the use of radioactive uranium weapons: wrong methods and equipment, hiding incriminatory data, lying, persecution of truth-seekers, manipulation of research and media reports...
Read just about the uranium weapon effects cover-ups:
http://piotrbein.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/dirty-uranium-weapons-cover-ups/
Imagine how the same deception strategy applies to the totality of nuclear contamination exposure. Since the beginnings of the nuclear era, the establishment has a blueprint for fooling us and escaping responsibility.
The myth of radiation causing positive effects that could lead to the creation of a race of superhumans only works in comic books.
When a nuclear particle blasts through someone's DNA, it is invariably destructive. It would be like trying to fix a crack in a crystal vase by hitting it as hard as you can with a hammer. I suppose a quantum physicist might say that theoretically all the atoms could sometimes recombine in a way that would fix the crack, but in the real world, that doesn't happen.
To see the actual effects of nuclear power plant radiation on the human genome, watch the movie Chernobyl Heart. Have a lot of tissues ready because it's heartbreaking.