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We might actually benefit from some amount of radiation, rather than assuming that increased amount of radiation equals higher cancer risk. It's called radiati
by kiba 10y ago
We might actually benefit from some amount of radiation, rather than assuming that increased amount of radiation equals higher cancer risk.
It's called radiation hormesis. Though I don't think there's a scientific consensus on this issue.
- sjg007 10y agoUnlikely, we've evolved with ever present background radiation and have a dna repair mechanism to counter act it but that does not mean radiation makes us stronger.
- cperciva 10y agoIIRC genes related to DNA replication are highly conserved; thus our DNA repair mechanism was probably evolutionarily "optimized" for conditions a long time ago. Have background radiation levels remained constant on timescales of hundreds of millions of years? I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if it varied significantly considering that cosmic radiation is a significant source and the strength of the Earth's magnetic field fluctuates significantly.
- throwwit 10y agoIt's probably more beneficial for evolutionary 'creativity' than the complex pathways in biology you depend on; and that's gotta be the only reason a quirk like that is still around.