Radiation and mutation

[Graham4C]

Hi all,

Id like to know what the relationship is between radiation (from the sun or elsewhere) and mutation with regards to cells, animals, and people.

thanks,

Graham

 

[OrdinaryClay]

Hi all,

Id like to know what the relationship is between radiation (from the sun or elsewhere) and mutation with regards to cells, animals, and people.

I can't post links yet. Look up Ionizing Radiation in Wikipedia. They do a pretty good job describing the type of radiation that is mutagenic. Ionizing radiation is very, very hostile to life. Most of it damages the "mundane" machinery of the cell. This is bad news, and usually results in cell death. Think of the chemical machinery in the cell as a house of cards, and ionizing radiation as knocking cards out. You can survive some hits but not many.

Some IR impacts the genetic material causing mutations. Obviously, the vast, vast majority of mutations caused by ionizing radiation are fatal to the cell or, if it effects what they call non conserving genes, it could be an indifferent change.

We are protected by our atmosphere, both the Ozone and the sheer mass of air, and by the earth's magnetic field. The magnetic field is a very interesting case. We are fortunate in the consistency, strength and global nature of ours. Mars does not have a global magnetic field. Its magnetic fields are very localized and would be ineffective in protecting us from radiation. Planets, especially rocky planets, are not guaranteed to have magnetic fields. Look up Earths Magnetic Field on wikipedia. The planets in our solar system that have a global magnetosphere are Mercury, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Use wikipedia to read about Mercury's magnetosphere. Very interesting.