On 10 May 2020 at 19:55, Richard Aiken wrote:

> As to the radiation problem, maybe add an anti-rad drug drip? Or cover
> up with several layers of lead-lined X-ray aprons?

Lead would make the damage *worse*. That's because the radiation
danger from flares (and planetary radiation belts) is high energy
particles. Mostly protons.

When they hit "heavy" elements (most metals) they'll collide with the
nuclei of the metal atoms and cause a *shower* of secondary
particles. being slowerr, those secondary particles will do *more*
damage than the original proton would have.

What you want for shielding is something that's got lots of hydrogen
either alone or combined with light elements.

LH2 tanks would work except absorbing all that radiation will heat it
and cause a lot of losses from it turning to gas and escaping thru
the pressure relief valves.

Water works well, though you need several meters of it. Plastics like
polyethylene work well too.

Traveller probably has stuff that'll work even better. But air rafts
won't have it.

Oh yeah, "anti-rad" dugs are mostly things that bind to stuff so that
you don't absorb radio-isotopes from fallout or other nuclear
contamination.

High energy particles, and stuff like gamma and X-rays do physical
damage to molecules in cells messing up DNA and creating lots of free
radicals that cause further damage.

The damage to DNA is what increases the odds of getting cancer. the
other stuff just tends to damage cells and cause them to die. Too
many dying cells (and the response of the body such as inflamation as
your immune system tries to remove the dead/damaged cells) is what
causes all the symptoms other than increased chance of cancer.

Any drug that'll treat *that* has to somehow repair/replace the cells
while fending off the immune system.

Can't just shut down the immune system as that'll leave you
vulnerable to all the viruses/bacteria/etc in your body or that you
get exposed to.

Maybe that's possible without "injecting nanites", but it'd be
*really* high TL.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com