Saturday, March 04, 2023

A SILVER LINING, SMALL AND THIN THOUGH IT MAY BE

By Bob Walsh

 

 Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986.


In April of 1986 there was a catastrophic failure at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the old USSR.  Had it not been for the work of a modest number of people, many of who lost their lives as a result, instead of a disaster it was it would have been a mega-disaster for much of central Europe.

It did lead to a pretty decent song by MegaDeath.  And a very interesting genetic study just released. 

A pack of scientists got the idea to study the significant feral dog population now inhabiting the area.  This dogs have now lived for almost 40 years, roughly 20 generations, with very little help from humans in a physically harsh environment with significant radiation exposure.  They though it would be valuable to study what sort of mutations had arisen from this situation.  

There is still a lot of work to be done and it turned out there were two fairly distinct population groups to sample.  

In any event the link below will connect to a NY TIMES piece on the study.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/03/science/chernobyl-dogs-dna.html

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