How would a human species evolved to survive high radiation take a new nuclear strike?
Humanity has been exposed to prolonged nuclear radiation for thousands of years. In the past, hundreds of nuclear bombs dropped; then nuclear warfare ceased for thousands of years. Assume that humans survive for thousands of years with constant exposure to nuclear radiation. They have developed improved bodies that handle the radiation. Now, humans are extremely resilient to nuclear radiation, but it has been years since that last massive exposure to nuclear radiation.
What happens now when a nuclear bomb is dropped? Would they still be affected by the nuclear radiation with their evolution-improved bodies? Or would they still be subject to radioactive fallout? (Yes, many would be killed by the initial explosion, but would the following nuclear radiation have any substantial effect?)
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/72476. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
You've heard the expression whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger? Well, in some cases, what does kill a few of us, leaves the average of what's left of us stronger.
Consider a couple real-life examples, starting with MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Some people got a staph infection, so the doctor gave them some form of penicillin to fight it. This killed a large fraction of the bacteria in those patient's bodies, and helped those patients fight off the infection. However, in each patient a handful of cells out of many thousands survived. And which cells were those? The hardiest ones. Those cells went on dividing, spread to new patients, and the process was repeated. Now we have whole strains of super bacteria.
Another example is mosquitoes. Look it up on any outdoors site, and somewhere it will tell you to wear a repellent containing N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, also called DEET. However, outdoor people have been wearing this stuff for decades, and now there is increasing evidence that some mosquitoes are able to ignore it. It is not clear if the same idea was at play, i.e. that sensitive mosquitoes went hungry and died, and the more resistant mosquitoes had a meal, bred, and passed on their resistance. Nevertheless, DEET may be soon be singing its swan song.
For your story, I suggest taking a similar approach. The early exposures do in fact weaken or kill many people, leaving only the strongest and hardiest available to breed. The cycle repeats over a handful of generations, until you have virtually impervious homo superior.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/72484. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads
0 comment threads