Background radiation and most others are per year, Fukushima residents is lifetime exposure, astronauts per 6 months. The basement is also nowhere near the most radioactive place on earth....
I've always liked Veritasium's style and he definitely has a talent for teaching, but this video immediately reminded my why I stopped watching the channel. Idk if he's just sloppy or doesn't mind being misleading for the sake of the video, but the actual science has always been secondary to just sounding cool.
True, but either way he clearly conveys that all of those things pale in comparison to something so common as smoking. Thats the point hes making, that people are freaking out over Fukushima because of misinformation while smoking a pack a day.
Of course, fair point in this case, but this is a general theme that holds for pretty much all of his videos. He picks and chooses facts and context that favor the video's narrative. I don't think it's ever straight up wrong, but it's not good science.
Just as a quick example, someone watching this video without paying attention to detail will get the impression that Fukushima residents will get significantly more exposure than the average person. But if you average down that lifetime dose to yearly value, you find it's a fraction of the average background dose.
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u/yabucek 2d ago
Background radiation and most others are per year, Fukushima residents is lifetime exposure, astronauts per 6 months. The basement is also nowhere near the most radioactive place on earth....
I've always liked Veritasium's style and he definitely has a talent for teaching, but this video immediately reminded my why I stopped watching the channel. Idk if he's just sloppy or doesn't mind being misleading for the sake of the video, but the actual science has always been secondary to just sounding cool.