As befits a disease created unwittingly by mankind, acute radiation syndrome is a cruel, complex, and poorly understood affliction that tests modern medicine to its limits. The radiation exposure responsible for causing ARS may be over in a few seconds and unaccompanied by any initial reaction. But its destructive effects begin immediately, as the high-energy rays and particles of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation snap strands of DNA, and the exposed cells start to die. Nausea and vomiting set in, with a speed and intensity contingent on the dose, and the skin may redden. But the nausea
...more
