Thread by @larsroobol

1. Some people asked me about an alarming article in the @DailyMailUK. We are all going to die!!!! 😱😱😱

Sure, we all are, nobody’s got eternal life. But will “the claw” contribute to even shortening it?

Read more about it in this thread. 👇🏻

2. Here’s the article. How does one recognise that a claim is bogus, or that there’s really something to it? It starts with close reading of the text!

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7…

3. Firstly, a bold claim is being made: even a single touch could be deadly. Aaaaaahhhhhh! 😱😱😱

4. Enter the specialist. Dr. Robert Maxwell, archaeologist and “Chernobyl specialist”. What kind of specialist? The caption underneath the photo says he’s a radiation expert, and repeats touching the claw could be fatal. 😱😱😱

5. But Dr Robert Maxwell is an archeologist, who has conducted field trips to Chernobyl in 2010 and 2011. I can accept he’s an expert on the archeology of Chernobyl, but I could not confirm he’s a radiation expert.

That’s also a sign, citing experts, but in a different field.

6. Inaccuracies are another sign. Making big claims like “most dangerous of them all” and not being able to take readings accurately. The captions says 679.000, while the display says 67.900 counts per second.

7. Now we’re on that subject: the instrument is a Ludlum 26-1 pancake Geiger counter. If it’s showing 67.900 counts, you know something quite radioactive is nearby, but it doesnt give more information than that. But what you *really* want to know is the *effective dose rate*.

8. And the @DailyMailUK article doesn’t talk about that. But they cite their source: news.com.au, and this article gives some more useful information.

That’s the greatest tip I have on offer: always look up the original information.

news.com.au/technology/env…

9. Now we’re getting somewhere! Dr Maxwell managed to put his device into dose rate mode and found 40 microsieverts per hour.

In comparison: at sea level, natural background is 0,1 and at altitude, in a plane, about 3 microsievert per hour.

So it’s an elevated dose rate.

10. A real radiation expert would not be scared. He or she would have learnt how to take readings safely, without being worried.

And certainly wouldn’t panic about an elevated 40 microsieverts per hour.

11. So does this claw belong in the woods? Certainly not! It is bad radiation protection, it should be disposed of safely, in a facility for radiological waste.

12. And does it kill you if you just touch it? Of course not. I’d use gloves, because it’s contaminated, probably with caesium-137.

Never know when you need to rub your eyes, pick your nose, remove something sticking between your teeth. Don’t put the stuff inside your body!

13. And “contact for any prolonged period will definitively kill you”?

With a dose of 4 Sieverts (4.000.000 microsieverts) within a short period, 50% of people will die within weeks.

With 40 microsieverts per hour, you will reach that dose in ... 100.000 hours, 11.4 years.

14. That’s definitely not a short period of time. It won’t kill you within weeks, but being in “the claw” for 11 years will probably give you some increased probability of dying of cancer.

But most likely, you will be bored to death in these 11 years. 😉

Don’t believe the hype!