Radiation: More Harm Or Good?

By Daniel Dominguez on February 3rd, 2010

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The birth of the radiation age brought with it incredible insights and innovations, but it often brought them at a terrible price. Upon witnessing the explosion of the first nuclear weapon, one of its creators, J. Robert Oppenheimer, was heard to utter, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

But radiation has also been used to treat illness, and make it easier and faster to check groceries at the supermarket. Wherever we look in our modern world the effect of radiation can be seen. But does it do more harm or good? Here below is a short list of several good and not so great things that radiation has done, so that you can decide for yourself.

1. BAD: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many historians have now postulated that Japan had been willing to surrender even before the atomic bombs were dropped, and that the move was mainly made as a show of force for the Soviets. Regardless, the bombs left thousands dead, two cities in ruins, and haunted the memories and bodies of its survivors even to this day.

2. GOOD: The Incredible Hulk. Before radiation David Banner was a mild mannered scientist. He was an OK guy, but no one special. After radiation David Banner became the Incredible Hulk, an invincible giant able to affect great change. Without radiation there would be no Incredible Hulk, which would mean that Loki and Dr. Doom would have long ago destroyed America, taken us over, and used us as slaves for their evil plans. I know what you might be saying, but couldn’t the Fantastic Four take care of Dr. Doom? No, because the Fantastic Four are not real.

3.BAD: Chernobyl. On April 26, 1986, one of the Chernobyl nuclear facility’s reactors exploded. The explosion caused the largest nuclear accident in recorded history, killing 56 people and forcing the evacuation of over 336,000 more. The contamination spread as far as Ireland, causing nuclear rain to fall even at that great distance.

4.GOOD: Chernobyl, The Movie. Chernobyl was a terrible disaster, but “PU-239,” the HBO movie based on the events that took place during the disaster was anything but. A thought provoking tale of what lengths a father must go through to provide for his family, the actual nuclear accident may have earned four stars for devastation, but the movie “PU-239″ earns four stars for its stellar cast and haunting performances.

5.BAD: Cell phone brain cancer. So far there is a positive correlation between cell phones and brain cancer, and having brain cancer is generally looked upon as, “far worse than not having brain cancer,” thus it makes its way to our bad list. Cell phone brain cancer leads to severe infirmity, early onset alzheimer’s, and potentially even death.

6.GOOD: Cell phone Tetris. Almost nobody likes brain cancer, but pretty much anybody can get behind cell phone Tetris. Yes it has a steeper learning curve than regular Tetris, but it more than makes up for that with its addictive game play and wealth of new options such as “two player,” “attack” and “if you get past level 20 we will give you Juliette Lewis’s phone number” modes.