Friday, August 29, 2014
Readings for homework 1!
The first homework assignment is posted to the Canvas page for our class and involves answering some factual and opinion-based questions on a set of articles. The articles all deal with radiation around us, and they are typical of how the media discusses radiation - which is to say, it can be hard to understand the science from what is written. The homework questions are intended to help sort through some of the information as well as highlight a few important issues related to how news articles convince us (or fail to convince us) about risks.
Articles:
1) New York Times article on granite counter tops
2) Huffington Post 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.
Scientific American article on Europe banning x-ray body scanners
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!
Welcome Fall 2014 Unstable Nucleus Class!
This is our class blog, and I hope you use it as a place to post interesting, weird, disturbing, controversial, and confusing things related to nuclear energy, nuclear waste, nuclear weapons, and radiation.
We'll devote time at the start of every class to talking about what has been posted to the blog and what's been going on in the "nuclear news." To get us started, here are a few of the news stories I'm personally interested in following this semester:
1. "It's best not to mess with us" - so says Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing out that "Russia is one of the leading nuclear powers" during a recent conversation with a student group. Russia is involved in a messy and tense conflict with Ukraine right now. What does it mean for a major nuclear power to be involved in a conflict of this kind these days?
2. Iran... are we making progress? Talks and agreements are ongoing between Iran and the major powers of the world about its nuclear activities. Last year, for the first time, it looked like this might be getting somewhere, and that Iran would make some compromises in exchange for relief from some of the sanctions that have been applied in response to its nuclear activities. Will this continue? Meanwhile, last week Iran reportedly shot down an Israeli drone that neared an Iranian nuclear site. Will Israel take independent action against Iran's nuclear activities?
3. Fukushima - it's not over! The 2011 nuclear catastrophe is far from old news. The Fukushima reactors are still in a dangerous state and it's quite difficult to resolve the situation. Meanwhile, we're starting to learn more about the environmental effects of the radiation releases, and there's ongoing debate about the role that nuclear energy should play in Japan's future.
4. Nuclear waste issues in the U.S. A few months ago, there were some alarming incidents at a nuclear waste facility in New Mexico, so we'll follow up on what happened with that. Overall, this is a time when the U.S. is starting over in rethinking how to handle nuclear waste. What do you think we should do with it?
That's just a few things to get us started - keep your eyes and ears out for interesting news and post it here!
Kathryn
We'll devote time at the start of every class to talking about what has been posted to the blog and what's been going on in the "nuclear news." To get us started, here are a few of the news stories I'm personally interested in following this semester:
1. "It's best not to mess with us" - so says Russian President Vladimir Putin, pointing out that "Russia is one of the leading nuclear powers" during a recent conversation with a student group. Russia is involved in a messy and tense conflict with Ukraine right now. What does it mean for a major nuclear power to be involved in a conflict of this kind these days?
2. Iran... are we making progress? Talks and agreements are ongoing between Iran and the major powers of the world about its nuclear activities. Last year, for the first time, it looked like this might be getting somewhere, and that Iran would make some compromises in exchange for relief from some of the sanctions that have been applied in response to its nuclear activities. Will this continue? Meanwhile, last week Iran reportedly shot down an Israeli drone that neared an Iranian nuclear site. Will Israel take independent action against Iran's nuclear activities?
3. Fukushima - it's not over! The 2011 nuclear catastrophe is far from old news. The Fukushima reactors are still in a dangerous state and it's quite difficult to resolve the situation. Meanwhile, we're starting to learn more about the environmental effects of the radiation releases, and there's ongoing debate about the role that nuclear energy should play in Japan's future.
4. Nuclear waste issues in the U.S. A few months ago, there were some alarming incidents at a nuclear waste facility in New Mexico, so we'll follow up on what happened with that. Overall, this is a time when the U.S. is starting over in rethinking how to handle nuclear waste. What do you think we should do with it?
That's just a few things to get us started - keep your eyes and ears out for interesting news and post it here!
Kathryn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)