Radiation in the News:  Readings for Next Week

This week's readings are a smattering of news articles about different sources of radiation around us.  We'll be talking about some of the issues these articles raise, but the homework assignment (handed out in class) also asks you to try to navigate the new vocabulary that shows up in these articles and make sense of the types of radiation being discussed.  This can be tricky!  Feel free to email me if you get stuck trying to understand something from the articles or the homework.

Articles:

1) New York Times article on granite counter tops

2) AP/Yahoo News article on contaminated fish

3) Two articles on cell phone radiation:
Chicago Tribune article on recent calls for review of cell phone radiation rules.
PCWorld article on the state of our understanding of cell phone radiation risks.

4) Two articles on airport x-ray body scanners:
Wired article on lingering questions about the safety of the scanners.
Time Magazine blog piece on whether doctors are willing to go through these scanners themselves.

5) ABC News article on radioactive polonium in cigarettes.


If you have any trouble accessing these articles, please email me.  Technical difficulties are not an excuse for skipping any of them!