Word: retina
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...sure, Last Things is technically about death. Snow's alter ego, Sir Lewis Eliot, reaches his 60s. A number of old friends die, as old friends will. And on Nov. 28, 1965, Eliot's heart stops for 3½ minutes during an operation for floating retina. Many medical details and a hint of geriatrics, though, do not add up to a philosophical treatment of death. In the end, Last Things is less an ode to mortality than a lip reading through the obituary column...
...have proposed a more plausible explanation: cosmic rays. Though only some of these high-speed particles-mostly protons-manage to break through the shield of the earth's magnetic field, they can easily penetrate the eyelids of a space traveler, pass through the eye fluid and strike the retina. At times, they may even hit the brain's optic nerve. Such bombardment causes no serious damage during a short lunar mission. But since the effect of cosmic rays on the body is cumulative-like that of X rays-they could present a greater peril on prolonged space voyages...