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Authorities at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the state of Washington have captured a rabbit that sipped water contaminated by radioactivity:
A radioactive rabbit was trapped on the Hanford nuclear reservation, but there is no sign any people were exposed to the animal.
Washington state Health Department workers with the Office of Radiation Protection have been searching for contaminated rabbit droppings.[...]
The rabbit trapped at the 300 Area caught the Health Department’s attention because it was close enough to the site’s boundaries to potentially come in contact with people – if it had been caught by a dog or if its droppings were deposited in an area open to the public.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Image: MGM
Popular Mechanics has assembled a list of five popular toys that were eventually banned in the US. Among the toys on the list is the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, marketed between 1950-51, which contained actual radioactive materials:
Called “the most elaborate Atomic Energy educational set ever produced” by the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, this sophisticated science kit contained four types of uranium ore, its very own Geiger counter and a comic book called Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom. A form on the back of the instruction manual allowed a burgeoning Ernest Rutherford to send a note to New Haven, Conn., bearing the message, “Gentlemen: I need replacements for the following radioactive sources, (check which): ALPHA____, BETA _____, GAMMA ______ or CLOUD CHAMBER SOURCE____.”
Mechanical engineer and inveterate tinkerer Bill Gurstelle fondly recalls the Atomic Energy Lab, saying, “everybody wanted that kit.” Nowadays, he adds, “science kits are just sugar and salt.” This kit appeared 21 years too soon—the as-yet-nonexistent CPSC never got a chance to ban it. In the meantime, here are the results of our recent experiments with eight new, and decidedly less radioactive, science kits.
Link via Glenn Reynolds | Photo: Oak Ridge Associated Universities
Biochemistry professor Judy Walls of the University of Missouri is working on ways to use sulfate-reducing bacteria to render radioactive metals harmless. This, she hopes, would provide a cheaper alternative to conventional cleanup:
The bacteria Wall is studying are bio-corrosives and can change the solubility of heavy metals. They can take uranium and convert it to uraninite, a nearly insoluble substance that will sink to the bottom of a lake or stream. Wall is looking into the bacteria’s water cleansing ability and how long the changed material would remain inert.
Wall’s research could also be beneficial to heavy metal pollution from storage tanks and industrial waste. The bacteria are already present in more than 7,000 heavy metal contaminated sites, but they live in a specific range of oxygen and temperature, making them difficult to control.
Link via Popular Science
(Image: Science Daily)
