Comments on: Fear of Flying

By: tech geek

tech geek — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:23:20 +0000

You could tell me that the radiation can increase cancer risks by a factor of 10 and that would still be the least of my worries when flying.

By: Ellie

Ellie — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:59:54 +0000

Has anyone done a study with commercial airline pilots? I’d think that they’d be exposed to more of this than the general public.

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:55:15 +0000

Via email from friend of Sciencebase Semiochemica

I thought you’d be interested in this story from Science@NASA: The Phantom Torso is back on Earth and he has quite a story to tell about the perils of space radiation:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/27may_phantomtorso.htm

(It’s interesting that the article refers to the test dummy as a “he” and yet it’s known as “Matroshka”, which usually refers to those nesting Russian dolls symbolic of female fertility. db)

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Thu, 28 May 2009 07:08:50 +0000

You’re right, we’re in a patch of solar quiet, but there are times when the sun is very active and this is the biggest worry fro astronauts on long missions, to Mars say. Astronauts would have as little as 15 minutes to get behind some kind of magnetic protection if there were a known solar flare.

By: Jenny Oliver

Jenny Oliver — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:52:49 +0000

I believe solar flares can give rise to bursts of ‘on-board radiation exposure’. See http://phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/parting_shots.html. This occurs when our sun is busy producing sunspots. A series of astounding X-ray flares at the end of 2003 woke some up to this possibility. Thankfully, we are currently in a long-lasting solar quiet patch!

By: New ScienceNews

New ScienceNews — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:43:26 +0000

Sciencebase: Fear of Flying http://tinyurl.com/o7gfv3 Full http://tinyurl.com/p9tenw

By: Mila

Mila — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:27:45 +0000

Fear of Flying – http://tinyurl.com/p9tenw ~RT @sciencebase (space radiation danger!)

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Fear of Flying – http://tinyurl.com/p9tenw