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Radiation Detectives

July 30, 2015

MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Erin Black (right) and guest student Ben Duncan sliced open a marine sediment core taken in January 2015 from the Marshall Islands, site of U.S. nuclear weapons testing in the 1950’s. After opening it, they sampled individual layers within the core. By looking at the prevelance of radioactive atoms in the different layers (similar to looking at tree rings for hints of past climates) researchers can see how the bomb changed the surrounding environment and if radioactive materials are still being released. (Photo by Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)