Word: atomical
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Your article on the medical effects of atom-bomb fallout [SCIENCE, June 23] stated that "the 120,000 people who survived Hiroshima and Nagasaki are not being cut down in large numbers by cancer and other radiation diseases. In fact, by some measures they seem to be outliving contemporaries who were not exposed." This statement incorrectly implies that radiation exposure has increased the life-span of atom-bomb survivors. The survey referred to is the U.S.-Japan Radiation Effects Research Foundation study. It includes 93,000 survivors who were in Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the time of the bombings...
...studies demonstrate that radiation-associated excess risk from cancer or other diseases persists for at least 50 years, and strongly suggest that this elevated risk continues throughout life. Our data do not show that atom-bomb survivors are living longer than comparable, unexposed groups. DALE PRESTON, Chief, Statistics Kiyohiko Mabuchi, Chief, Epidemiology Radiation Effects Research Foundation Hiroshima...
Could fallout be good for you? Most scientists won't go that far. One possible explanation for the unexpected longevity of some atom-blast victims is that whatever enabled them to survive the blast in the first place--a natural resistance to disease, perhaps--continues to protect them. It is more likely, says the National Academy of Sciences' Evan Douple, a leading expert in the field, that radiation is not quite as harmful as was supposed. "Radiation in general is a very ineffective carcinogen," he says. Below certain very low levels, it may cause no harm...
DIED. MANFRED VON ARDENNE, 90, Germany's scientific jack-of-all-trades; in Dresden. The "Red Baron" vowed to switch fields each decade to keep his intellect sharp. As a physicist, he helped the Soviets build the atom bomb...
DIED. ALTON BLAKESLEE, 83, acclaimed science writer whose unpretentious prose for the Associated Press made even the atom bomb seem comprehensible; on Long Island...