An X-ray for knee pain. A CT scan for a head injury. Mammograms every other year, starting at age 50. Over a typical lifetime of radiation exposure from medical tests, a person can start to wonder: How much is too much? There’s no formula for answering that, experts say, in part because the health effects

Throughout the 1950s, the US, the Soviet Union, and others tested thermonuclear weapons in the Earth’s atmosphere. Those tests released vast quantities of radioactive material into the air and triggered fears that the nuclear reactions could ignite deuterium in the oceans, thereby destroying the planet in a catastrophic accidental fireball. Atmospheric tests ended in 1980,

Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix are attempting to create a better diagnostic test for radiation exposure that potentially could save thousands of lives. Jerome Lacombe, PhD, an assistant professor and researcher at the UA Center for Applied NanoBioscience and Medicine, recently published a peer-reviewed study in the Public Library

Everyone knows that workers in the active areas of a nuclear power reactor may be exposed to radiation. A group of professionals called health physicists monitors and measures the radiation levels at the workplace. They estimate the radiation doses to members of the public at the fence post of the reactors. They provide special radiation

In the past, there was not much that could be done to mitigate the X-ray radiation exposure of interventional cardiologists or cath lab staff. Also years ago, the subspecialty of interventional cardiology was new and few people had experience with what happens to cath lab staff exposed to X-rays for 25-30 years over their career.

The biggest workplace concern for interventional cardiologists and cath lab staff is their daily exposure to ionizing radiation from the angiographic X-ray systems that are central to their procedures. In addition to increased cancer risks and developing cataracts, they are also worried about orthopedic issues caused by wearing heavy radiation protection aprons, which takes a

Pop culture and the media often turn radiation into a scarecrow for technology that humanity can’t or shouldn’t control. In reality, radiation is not to be feared. This is because it is an umbrella term, with radiation constantly around us in one form or another and most of it safe. So let’s take a critical

When tasked with redesigning a medical device, four biomedical engineering majors focused their attention on scalpels. Specifically, the blade packaging for the tool. Their blade packaging was designed to protect health care workers from accidental injuries that can occur when handling exposed scalpel blades. Now their invention, Scal-Pal, is one of six competing for Georgia

Washington D.C.- Today Congressman Roger Marshall’s bill, H.R. 4675 the Low Dose Radiation Research Act of 2017, passed through the Science, Space, and Technology Committee. The Low Dose Radiation Research Act of 2017 will provide doctors and government agencies with concrete evidence-based research on the effects that low-dose radiation exposure has on our population. Full