Questions tagged [radiation]

A process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space.

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Are WiFi waves harmful?

Has it been proven that being exposed to WiFi waves is harmful?
Rabskatran
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Do coal plants release more radiation than nuclear power plants?

As a response to the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant I've heard the claim that fossil-fuel power plants using coal release more radiation than a nuclear power plant. I searched for some information and found an article supporting this…
Mad Scientist
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Are personal electronics a risk to commercial aviation?

Are personal electronics (of present or recent past; e.g. cell phones, mp3 players, iPads) a risk to commercial air travel? Is the typical request to "turn off all personal electronic devices" based on any reasonable data?
DuckMaestro
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Have several hundreds of thousands of people died because of the Chernobyl disaster?

The Wikipedia article on this is littered with [citation needed] and a commenter on hacker news linked to it while stating: Chernobyl cost several hundred thousand lives. Let's hope and pray Fukushima will not exact a similar cost. However I read…
Kit Sunde
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Does this video of electromagnetic radiation from energy efficient bulbs indicate any danger?

This video on Facebook shows someone using an "electromagnetic radiation detector" to show that the new energy-efficient light bulbs give off alarmingly dangerous amounts of radiation. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=802884819723892 Isn't…
user1008646
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Is Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster "on par" with Chernobyl?

Many news organizations (e.g. CNN, Huffington Post, etc) are referring to the Japan incident as something as severe as Chernobyl, i.e. a nuclear event with International Atomic Energy Agency rating "7". I'm skeptical of this equivalence because the…
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Is potassium iodide useful in preventing the harmful effects of radiation?

The Los Angeles Times reports sales of Geiger counters and potassium iodide in the United States are skyrocketing: Sales of Geiger counters and potassium iodide supplements that can block some radiation have surged nationwide since Friday, fueled…
Patches
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Does 5G pose health risks?

Among others, the website RadiationHealthRisks claims: Second, according to experts, because of the shorter length of millimeter waves (MMV) required by 5G to support the bandwidth, these shorter waves do not travel as far or through objects. This…
Christian
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Does radiation from sleeping next to your smartphone affect your brain patterns negatively?

Vivian Giang writes in Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain: In fact, as part of Swart’s Neuroscience For Leadership class at MIT in April, she discussed the serious health consequences that come from neglecting shut-eye. Swart,…
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Is some level of radiation "good for you"?

"With the terrible earthquake and resulting tsunami that have devastated Japan, the only good news is that anyone exposed to excess radiation from the nuclear power plants is now probably much less likely to get cancer." This is a…
Monkey Tuesday
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Do cacti absorb harmful radiation emitted by computers?

It is a common belief that cacti absorb radiation; consequently, a lot of people put potted cacti by their computer as a safety means. Do cacti actually absorb radiation? Even if so, will a small cactus (or several of them) by one's computer make…
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Does the radioactivity on Hiroshima's soil affect radiometric dating?

I heard several times from creationists that now, if scientists would examine the land in Hiroshima, it will tell them it is millions of years old all because of the atom bomb. And because of that now we can't trust Scientific datings of the…
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Did hundreds of birds die in a park the Netherlands? What caused it?

About a week ago at The Hague, many birds died spontaneously, falling dead in a park. You likely haven’t heard a lot about this because it seems keeping it quiet was the plan all along. However, when about 150 more suddenly died- bringing the…
Saturnix
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Do tinfoil hats protect against any sort of radiation?

Delusional conspiracy theorists are commonly portrayed as wearing tin-foil hats to protect against mind-control rays from sinister organisations such as [goverments/aliens/NSA/CIA/FBI/liberals/conservatives/devil/god]. Are there any…
terdon
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Is x% noise on TV due to Big Bang's background radiation?

I've heard quite a few times that a certain percentage (usually claimed 1%) of the noise you see on TV comes from the background radiation of the Big Bang. Is this a myth? If not, I seems like a reasonably complicated claim to substantiate…
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