{"id":23116,"date":"2016-05-14T18:12:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-14T12:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yaabot.com\/?p=23116"},"modified":"2024-01-23T19:44:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T14:14:04","slug":"radiation-damage-dna-how-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entropymag.co\/radiation-damage-dna-how-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Radiation Damage To DNA: The How & Why"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
It’s the 3rd decade of this century. We’re living at the pinnacle of human technology, with every year touching a new high in terms of our scientific and technological prowess. We’re using physics to manipulate electrons and atoms – which give us electricity and internet – the very foundation of modern life as we know it. Today, we’re surrounded by multiple products manipulating high energy particles – from cellphones to microwaves. The last time you went to a medical clinic to get an X-ray or MRI, you experienced radiation treatment, to put it simply, encountering the delicate balance between medical progress and potential radiation damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although of course, all this is making our life easier. At the same time though, we’re facing new problems we’re largely unaware of. Radiation damage to DNA is real. It is known to produce harmful effects to our body as well as our internal organs, and we’re surrounded by it almost every moment of our lives.
Before delving deeper into this, it’s important to better understand radiation, and our DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When energy is transmitted\u00a0in the form of particles or waves through space or material medium such as aluminum, plastic, paper or lead, we term it radiation. Radiation can be either the ionizing or non-ionizing type. Ionizing radiation has the capability to interfere with the human body and break the chemical bonds of our\u00a0DNA. Materials emitting \u03b1, \u03b2, or\u00a0\u03b3 radiation<\/a> are considered to be ionizing radiation – they tend to have much higher energy than visible light. UV rays too are another form of ionizing radiation.\u00a0Ionizing radiation has\u00a0high energy and shorter wavelength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n