Nearly 40 years after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, wildlife is thriving

On April 26, 1986, the Soviet Union’s Chornobyl Power Complex nuclear reactor 4 exploded, releasing a massive amount of highly radioactive material. People living near the power plant were forced to evacuate, and the area was deemed uninhabitable. But today, many animals — some the descendants of pets left behind — have made this region their home. In this episode, we chat with researchers who have spent a lot of time in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone studying the animals that live there, trying to understand how constant low levels of radiation impact their health. What they’re learning could inform plans to repopulate areas that suffered past nuclear disasters, including Fukushima, and help with the development of methods that protect astronauts from radioactivity in space. Send us your science stories/factoids/news for a chance to be featured on an upcoming Tiny Show and Tell Us bonus episode and to be entered to win a Tiny Matters coffee mug! And, while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/tinymattersnewsletter.Links to the Tiny Show and Tell stories are here and here. All Tiny Matters transcripts and references are available here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.