In Other Animals
Thousands of scientific experiments have been performed to study acute radiation syndrome in animals.
An episode of MythBusters exposed several types of insects to a cobalt-60 source at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory facility, to test the myth that cockroaches would be the sole survivors of a nuclear blast. At 100 Gy, 70% of the cockroaches were dead after 30 days, as were 40% of the flour beetles. At 1000 Gy, all of the cockroaches were dead after 30 days, whereas 10% of the flour beetles survived (thus "busting" the myth). There is a simple guide for predicting survival/death in mammals, including humans, following the acute effects of inhaling radioactive particles.
Read more about this topic: Acute Radiation Syndrome
Famous quotes containing the word animals:
“There is no instant of time when one creature is not being devoured by another. Over all these numerous races of animals man is placed, and his destructive hand spares nothing that lives. He kills to obtain food and he kills to clothe himself; he kills to adorn himself; he kills in order to attack and he kills to defend himself; he kills to instruct himself and he kills to amuse himself; he kills to kill. Proud and terrible king, he wants everything and nothing resists him.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)