Atomic Bomb Research Articles

Nuclear existentialism: On the philosophical response to life and death under the bomb

Abstract In the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and under the growing threat of planetary cataclysm, an array of prominent intellectuals grappled with the significance of nuclear war for the human condition and reflected upon the possibilities of escaping its peril. Following on the early interventions of Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, the collected thoughts of Karl Jaspers, Hans Morgenthau, and Günther Anders outline a philosophical current of ‘nuclear existentialism’ preoccupied with the nihilistic ‘being-towards-species-death’ entailed by the advent of the Bomb. Faced with the apparent negation of reason in bringing about the means of its own destruction through the scientific piercing of nature’s innermost workings, the nuclear existentialists end up reaffirming, however precariously, a teleological conception of history in which the apocalyptic fear of the Bomb figures as the necessary condition for the ultimate realisation of human freedom. In the light of the contemporary resurgence of nuclear anxiety, this article surveys and critically assesses the corpus of nuclear existentialism, drawing upon the distinctive existential phenomenology of Emmanuel Levinas to trace a potential alternative for thinking life and death under the Bomb.

Internal radiation dose estimates in organs of Wistar rats exposed to sprayed neutron-activated 31SiO2 microparticles: first results of international multicenter study.

Neutron-activated 31Si is an almost pure beta emitter and is one of the short-lived radionuclides, including beta-gamma emitter 56Mn, which were created in a form of residual radioactivity in the early period after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The features of the biological effects of internal irradiation by these radionuclides are a subject of scientific discussions and research. The publication presents data on internal radiation doses in experimental Wistar rats that were exposed to sprayed neutron-activated microparticles of 31SiO2. Doses of internal radiation could be conditionally divided into three groups according to their values. It has been found that elevated values of internal radiation doses in rats' organs/tissues as a result of exposure to sprayed 31SiO2 microparticles with initial activity of 3.2 × 107Bq varied from 10 to 120mGy (eyes, lungs, skin, stomach, jejunum, large intestine). The moderate dose values were in the range from 1.9 to 3.7mGy (trachea, esophagus, ileum). The smallest doses were received by the kidney, testis, blood, cerebellum, heart, liver, cerebrum, bladder, spleen and thymus (from 0.11 to 0.94mGy). The obtained data are important for interpreting the results of ongoing and planned biological experiments with 31SiO2 microparticles-in comparison with the previously published data on features of biological effects caused by beta-gamma emitting 56MnO2 neutron-activated microparticles.

Birds of passage: Rudolf Peierls and Dick Dalitz in Oxford

Abstract This paper traces the different routes that Rudolf Peierls and Dick Dalitz travelled on their way to being the founding members of a new Department of Theoretical Physics in Oxford. Peierls had had the good fortune to meet all of the originators of modern quantum mechanics in Europe and had been able to apply the new theory to many areas of physics. At Birmingham with Otto Frisch he wrote the famous Frisch-Peierls Memorandum which showed that it was possible to develop an atomic bomb. Dalitz had a shorter route to Oxford and worked with Peierls at Birmingham and Hans Bethe at Cornell before rejoining Peierls in Oxford after seven years in Chicago. His pioneering work on both the τ-θ puzzle and on the constituent quark model are then briefly described. The efforts of both Rudolf and Genia Peierls to create a ‘Bohr extended family’ model for his department in both Birmingham and Oxford are described, along with some observations about their style of theoretical physics research as ‘phenomenologists’.

«Теология боли Господа» Китамори Кадзо: основные идеи

Kitamori Kazoh (1916–1998) is considered to be one of the most prominent Ja­panese theologists, whose ideas had a wide response from abroad. His main work, “Theology of the Pain of God” (Kami no Itami no Shingaku), became a spiritual breakthrough for the Japanese after the WWII, signifying a new way of development of Christianity in Japan in the postwar period. Kitamori’s idea that people feeling pain and suffering can get closer to understanding God and His pain of loving the unlovable, i.e. sinners deserving His wrath, not love, re­flected the sentiments characteristic of the Japanese who had experienced atomic bombings and defeat in the war. “Theology of the Pain of God” gained much at­tention in the 1970-s with the spread of the so-termed genitive theology, on one hand, and the rise of the interest of theologians in the reevaluation of suffering, on the other. The article aims at analyzing the key statements of “the theology of the pain of God” by Kitamori Kazoh, and the historical and cultural context of its emergence. The author focuses on Kitamori’s idea of the pain of God as emerging on the joint of God’s wrath and God’s love, being the essence of God and the keypoint upon which Christian theology should be built; on the idea of the suffering of the mankind as a symbol of God’s pain, and on Kitamori’s supposition that the Japanese, as a people that has experienced great suffering and sorrow, is chosen by God and is much closer to the understanding of the pain of God and, consequently, of the essence of God

Being-Time, or How Traditional Japanese Thought Collided with Western Philosophy and Modern Physics at Hiroshima

The atom bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, proved Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. Mass became energy and the classic Western dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time was displaced by the integrated concept of spacetime. On that day, modern physics also collided with the traditional Japanese understanding that space and time are interdependent phenomena. This collision speaks to conceptual parallels relating Buddhist thought, modern Japanese philosophy, phenomenology, and the physics of spacetime. The thirteenth-century Zen Buddhist monk Dōgen said that all phenomena are made possible by the universal principle of emptiness and that our existence arises with each moment in what he termed Being-Time, where past, present, and future co-exist. The Japanese philosopher Nishida Kitarō, along with Tanabe Hajime and Watsuji Tetsurō, saw reality as a multi-dimensional field of space-in-time where the individual subject no longer stood apart from the objective world but instead arose dynamically as contingent activities rather than an autonomous thing. The German philosopher Martin Heidegger rejected the rational binary of subject and object in Western thought and grounded our “being” in phenomena that came from their temporal being-in-the-world rather than representing some preexisting objective reality. The physicist Albert Einstein radically rethought the dialectic of three-dimensional space and linear time, used to schematize the physical world in the West since antiquity, and theorized the relativity of spacetime, in which all phenomena occur in space in relation to their place in time. Interwoven, these intellectual threads stripped the bombing of Hiroshima of its historical inevitability. The story of human experience lost its customary sense of going <i>somewhere</i> predetermined and was revealed instead to be an endlessly discrete accumulation of moments that could go <i>anywhere</i> at every transient and directionless moment in time.

56Fe-ion Exposure Increases the Incidence of Lung and Brain Tumors at a Similar Rate in Male and Female Mice.

The main deterrent to long-term space travel is the risk of Radiation Exposure Induced Death (REID). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has adopted Permissible Exposure Levels (PELs) to limit the probability of REID to 3% for the risk of death due to radiation-induced carcinogenesis. The most significant contributor to current REID estimates for astronauts is the risk of lung cancer. Recently updated lung cancer estimates from Japan's atomic bomb survivors showed that the excess relative risk of lung cancer by age 70 is roughly fourfold higher in females compared to males. However, whether sex differences may impact the risk of lung cancer due to exposure to high charge and energy (HZE) radiation is not well studied. Thus, to evaluate the impact of sex differences on the risk of solid cancer development after HZE radiation exposure, we irradiated Rbfl/fl, Trp53fl/+ male and female mice infected with Adeno-Cre with various doses of 320 kVp X rays or 600 MeV/n 56Fe ions and monitored them for any radiation-induced malignancies. We conducted complete necropsy and histopathology of major organs on 183 male and 157 female mice after following them for 350 days postirradiation. We observed that lung adenomas/carcinomas and esthesioneuroblastomas (ENBs) were the most common primary malignancies in mice exposed to X rays and 56Fe ions, respectively. In addition, 1 Gy 56Fe-ion exposure compared to X-ray exposure led to a significantly early incidence of lung adenomas/carcinomas (P = 0.02) and ENBs (P < 0.0001) in mice. However, we did not find a significantly higher incidence of any solid malignancies in female mice as compared to male mice, regardless of radiation quality. Furthermore, gene expression analysis of ENBs suggested a distinct gene expression pattern with similar hallmark pathways altered, such as MYC targets and MTORC1 signaling, in ENBs induced by X rays and 56Fe ions. Thus, our data revealed that 56Fe-ion exposure significantly accelerated the development of lung adenomas/carcinomas and ENBs compared to X rays, but the rate of solid malignancies was similar between male and female mice, regardless of radiation quality.

The Physics of the Carbon Cycle: About the Origin of CO2 in the Atmosphere

Aims: Examination of the correctness of some assumptions of IPCC regarding climate. Discussion of consequences. Methodology: Explanation of terms used by IPCC and clarification of consequences, identification of prerequisites for the validity/applicability of these terms and scrutiny of their fulfillment under real-world conditions, discussion of consequences. Results: Based on the laws of physics and logic, two central terms used by IPCC, i.e. the fixed "airborne fraction", and the constant "CO2-budget” cannot exist in reality. The first states that about 50 % of the CO2 emitted by humans (the “airborne fraction”) stay in the atmosphere for centuries or longer (the other about 50 % leaving it within maximum a few years), the latter is the maximum value of cumulative net global anthropogenic emissions that is allowed, if global warming should be kept below a given level, for example 2 °C. According to their definition, both values are independent of the temporal distribution of the anthropogenic emissions. But physics speaks against their existence. And also the “Bern Cabon Cycle Model”, used by IPCC as an alternative method to analyze the carbon cycle, cannot be correct, because it is based on incorrect physical boundary conditions. The inadmissibility of the two terms is also supported by observations of the fast decay of 14CO2 after the atomic bomb test stop agreement. Conclusion: If the considerations made here are correct, IPCC's assessment of the sharp increase in CO2 concentration being a consequence of anthropogenic releases implodes. Consequently, the assessment of global warming to be man-made is justified no more, and the necessity to terminate all anthropogenic releases of CO2 for climate protection reasons becomes superfluous. The considerations made here appear to be very reliable, but in view of the far-reaching consequences, a careful review by the scientific community seems to be urgently needed.

Relationship between radiation dose and markers of insulin resistance and inflammation in atomic bomb survivors.

In recent studies of childhood cancer survivors, diabetes has been considered a late effect associated with high therapeutic doses of radiation therapy. Our recent study of atomic bomb (A-bomb) survivors also suggested an association between radiation dose and diabetes incidence, with exposure city and age at exposure as radiation dose effect modifiers. Insulin resistance mediated by systemic inflammation and abnormal body composition has been suggested as a possible primary mechanism for the incidence of diabetes after total body irradiation, however, no studies have examined low-to- moderate radiation exposure (<4 Gy) and insulin resistance in A-bomb survivors. To examine the association between radiation dose and markers of inflammation and insulin resistance. This study investigated 3,152 survivors who underwent a health examination between 2008 and 2012 and who were younger than 15 years at exposure. Multivariate linear regression analyses were used to evaluate the radiation effects on levels of markers of inflammation and insulin resistance. Radiation dose was significantly and positively associated with levels of CRP, triglycerides, homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function (HOMA-β), and HOMA of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) after adjustment for relevant covariates including sex, city, and age at exposure. Adiponectin and HDL cholesterol levels were also associated significantly and negatively with radiation dose. However, city was not a dose modifier of the radiation response on these markers of inflammation and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance might be a possible factor in the radiation related diabetes incidence in the A-bomb survivors.

The New York Times on the Day After: News Coverage of the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb

ABSTRACT This paper examines how the New York Times covered the atomic bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The analysis identifies the news frames of front-page stories in the Times during the first two days after the nuclear strike and compares them to the frames promoted by the U.S. government. This study adds to the literature by offering a micro view of the way the government propaganda campaign was embedded directly into the Times’ coverage of the atomic bomb. While previous research has provided a broad assessment of how the Times and the news media in general were manipulated, this study identifies the specific news frames as they appeared in government documents and news reports.

The privileged atomic bombing and “national memory” ─ focus on Yoko Ota and Matsuji Ibuse ─

The privileged atomic bombing and “national memory” ─ focus on Yoko Ota and Matsuji Ibuse ─

Writings from Under the Mushroom Cloud: Atomic Bomb Literature as a Literature of Atrocity

Writings from Under the Mushroom Cloud: Atomic Bomb Literature as a Literature of Atrocity

Writings from Under the Mushroom Cloud: Atomic Bomb Literature as a Literature of Atrocity

Writings from Under the Mushroom Cloud: Atomic Bomb Literature as a Literature of Atrocity

Logic (or Illogic?) of Japan’s Aversion to TPNW and Charting a Path Forward

ABSTRACT Japan, the only country to have experienced atomic bombs during wartime, is the only one among the US allies to have positively evaluated the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) at the highest political level, with Prime Minister Kishida saying that as “a very important treaty that can serve an exit as we seek to realize a world without nuclear weapons”. Yet Japan has distanced itself from the TPNW, not participating even as an observer in the TPNW’s Meeting of States Parties. This paper attempts to explain Japan’s stance toward the TPNW process, before and after the formation of the treaty, based on a hypothesis that Japan’s nuclear policy is formed by a balancing act between two factors: humanitarian and security concerns. It then attempts to chart a path forward for any possible engagement between Japan and the TPNW. It argues that a substance-over-formality approach, not sticking to the TPNW formalities but in a framework separate from the TPNW, may open a window of opportunity for cooperation. Japan can also flexibly consider security benefits in engaging with the TPNW and comprehensively calculate possible security benefits and drawbacks without a predetermined conclusion. Since the NPT may not be sustainable unless there is a significant progress in nuclear disarmament, which itself is unlikely, like it or not, the TPNW cannot be ignored indefinitely and the time may come in the not-too-distant future when Japan will eventually have to consider engagement with the TPNW.

Low-dose ionizing radiation-induced RET/PTC1 rearrangement via the non-homologous end joining pathway to drive thyroid cancer.

Thyroid cancer incidence increases worldwide annually, primarily due to factors such as ionizing radiation (IR), iodine intake, and genetics. Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid (PTC) accounts for about 80% of thyroid cancer cases. RET/PTC1 (coiled-coil domain containing 6 [CCDC6]-rearranged during transfection) rearrangement is a distinctive feature in over 70% of thyroid cancers who exposed to low doses of IR in Chernobyl and Hiroshima‒Nagasaki atomic bombings. This study aims to elucidate mechanism between RET/PTC1 rearrangement and IR in PTC. N-thy-ori-3-1 cells were subjected to varying doses of IR (2/1/0.5/0.2/0.1/0.05Gy) of IR at different days, and result showed low-dose IR-induced RET/PTC1 rearrangement in a dose-dependent manner. RET/PTC1 has been observed to promote PTC both in vivo and in vitro. To delineate the role of different DNA repair pathways, SCR7, RI-1, and Olaparib were employed to inhibit non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), homologous recombination (HR), and microhomology-mediated end joining (MMEJ), respectively. Notably, inhibiting NHEJ enhanced HR repair efficiency and reduced IR-induced RET/PTC1 rearrangement. Conversely, inhibiting HR increased NHEJ repair efficiency and subsequent RET/PTC1 rearrangement. The MMEJ did not show a markable role in this progress. Additionally, inhibiting DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs) decreased the efficiency of NHEJ and thus reduced IR-induced RET/PTC1 rearrangement. To conclude, the data suggest that NHEJ, rather than HR or MMEJ, is the critical cause of IR-induced RET/PTC1 rearrangement. Targeting DNA-PKcs to inhibit the NHEJ has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for addressing IR-induced RET/PTC1 rearrangement in PTC.

Risk factors for secondary bladder cancer following prostate cancer radiotherapy.

This review investigates the complex landscape of secondary bladder cancer (SBC) after radiotherapy for prostate cancer (PCa). External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) poses an increased risk for SBC, while brachytherapy seems to be associated with smaller increased risks for SBC due to its targeted radiation delivery, sparing the surrounding bladder tissue. Secondary cancers in the bladder are the most frequently diagnosed secondary cancers in the PCa patient population treated with radiotherapy. Patient-related factors are pivotal, with age emerging as a dual-edged factor. While advanced age is a recognized risk for bladder cancer, younger PCa patients exhibit higher susceptibility to radiation-induced cancers. Smoking, a well-established bladder cancer risk factor, increases this vulnerability. Studies highlight the synergistic effect of smoking and radiation exposure, amplifying the likelihood of genetic mutations and SBC. The latency period of SBC, which spans years to decades, remains a critical aspect. There is a strong dose-response relationship between radiation exposure and SBC risk, with higher doses consistently being associated with a higher SBC risk. While specific models for therapeutic radiation-induced SBC are lacking, insights from related studies, like the Atomic Bomb survivor research, emphasize the bladder's sensitivity to radiation-induced cancer. Chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy, although infrequently used in PCa, emerges as a potential risk for bladder cancer. Bladder cancer's complex epidemiology, encompassing risk factors, treatment modalities, and cancer types, provides a comprehensive backdrop. As research refines understanding, we hope that this review contributes to guide clinicians, inform patient care, and shape preventive strategies on SBC.

Girlhood in &lt;em&gt;What Use Are Flowers?&lt;/em&gt;: Lorraine Hansberry, the Postapocalyptic Earth, Nurturing

The earliest date ascribed to the manuscript of Lorraine Hansberry’s posthumously published play What Use Are Flowers? is December 19, 1961. However, there is no conclusive evidence showing when Hansberry first conceived the idea of what became Flowers, a play about child survivors of an unnamed (but obviously) nuclear holocaust. Yet, given the context of President John F. Kennedy’s speech during the Berlin Crisis, which became a flashpoint for the national debate on nuclear war, shelters, and the survivability of the ideas of home and family, attributing it to 1961 would be unsurprising. In Flowers, an aging hermit, the only remaining adult survivor, plays the role of father and teacher, creating the simulacrum of a patriarchal family without a woman (mother) to care for the children of postapocalyptic Earth. Through readings of Flowers and its precursor text “Gedachtnis,” both of which feature the female child survivor named after a wild plant that is neither edible nor useful to human survival, I examine the question of girlhood and its human–plant conditions as a contested terrain through which patriarchy is both nurtured and challenged. What ultimately explodes in Flowers may not be a technological atomic bomb, but rather a nuclear device in human history, which has been fueling sustainable, renewable energy in a male-dominated world, namely, girls’ use by, and value to, men.

AI, Amazon, and the Atom Bomb Navigating the Consequences of Technological Innovations in Surgery.

AI, Amazon, and the Atom Bomb Navigating the Consequences of Technological Innovations in Surgery.

A Historical Survey of Key Epidemiological Studies of Ionizing Radiation Exposure.

In this article we review the history of key epidemiological studies of populations exposed to ionizing radiation. We highlight historical and recent findings regarding radiation-associated risks for incidence and mortality of cancer and non-cancer outcomes with emphasis on study design and methods of exposure assessment and dose estimation along with brief consideration of sources of bias for a few of the more important studies. We examine the findings from the epidemiological studies of the Japanese atomic bomb survivors, persons exposed to radiation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes, those exposed to environmental sources including Chornobyl and other reactor accidents, and occupationally exposed cohorts. We also summarize results of pooled studies. These summaries are necessarily brief, but we provide references to more detailed information. We discuss possible future directions of study, to include assessment of susceptible populations, and possible new populations, data sources, study designs and methods of analysis.

Árvores sobreviventes ao bombardeamento atómico de Hiroshima

The objective of this article is to publicize the social action project EC-614 of the University of Costa Rica “Trees of peace surviving the Hiroshima atomic bomb: Phase 1: establishment of seedlings in Costa Rica”, as well as the impact it has had especially in public libraries and as a contribution to the fulfillment of objective 16, “Peace, justice and solid institutions”, of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Therefore, a contextualization of libraries as peace-promoting entities is carried out and the project, its genesis and significance are described. Likewise, the conclusions and learning that have been obtained so far with the development of this collaborative project between the School of Biology and the School of Library and Information Sciences of the University of Costa Rica are presented.

Cytogenetic validation of DS02R1-estimated dose for atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki with FISH

Introduction For Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, it has not been possible to calculate individual doses from the cytogenetic data and compare them with the physically estimated doses. This is because the cytogenetic studies used solid Giemsa staining which only provides the percent of cells bearing at least one stable-type aberration (most of the unstable-type aberrations had already disappeared), and a gamma-ray dose plus a 10-times neutron dose was used to integrate the data for both cities. Objectives To compare the FISH-derived gamma-ray dose with the DS02R1-derived gamma-ray dose after correcting for a contribution of the neutron dose. It was also an attempt to determine if the frequency of stable-type aberrations had remained unchanged after the exposure. Methods Stable exchange-type aberration data was obtained using the 2-color FISH method from 1,868 atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The collected frequency was first extended to a genome-equivalent frequency. Then, by using known induction rates of exchange-type aberrations in vitro caused by neutrons and gamma-rays, respectively, and the mean relationship between the neutron and gamma-ray doses in the DS02R1 estimates for the survivors, the gamma-ray effect was estimated from the total yield of translocations. Results It was found that over 95% of individual cytogenetic gamma-ray doses fell within the expected range of plus/minus about 1 Gy from the DS02R1 dose and the mean slope for the linear regression was 0.98, which reassures us of the validity of the DS02R1 study. Conclusions The present results demonstrate the validity of the individual DS02R1 doses, and that the frequency of stable-type aberrations in blood lymphocytes did not decay over the years, and thus is useful for retrospective dose evaluations of exposures which took place in the distant past.