1. Radiation contamination has been on my mind since reading articles and talking about the potential fall out from the Fukushima meltdown, bringing up such questions as: When will they stop the leak? What if something similar happened closer to home? and, of course: Do I really NEED this banana? (eek!). All of these questions are unanswerable and stressful, and highlight something that, in my opinion, is even more worrying than the questions themselves. What really worries me is that, even if I did know the timeline for clean up at Fukushima, or the potential for nuclear contamination on the West coast, would I really understand what it meant? Acknowledging that I'm no expert, it seems to me that not a whole lot of people really understand the implications of what is going on, or even fully understand the long term effects of living with radiation on the human body and its surroundings. A man posting a video of a Geiger counter going off in Half Moon Bay causes a stir that is just as easily quelled by the release of statements that there is nothing to worry about. Even learning more about the units of radiation measurement does not make me feel confident in determining danger from acceptable, and I can't imagine I'm the only one. The inability to understand is very disempowering, and could be preventing necessary action from being taken on this issue.
2. Wow, cells! How cool and beautiful. I've always found the structure of viruses especially fascinating when compared to its cellular counterparts, their geometry and single-"minded"ness in function. In fact, when you look at an animal cell and a virus together, the virus seems much more relatable, cleaner, like something you'd find in a kitchen. Isn't it surprising that we, living in boxes (houses) on grids (streets) within well defined lines (cities), are made up of these amorphous, cluttered blobs instead of nice polyhedrons?
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