“…kill…me…”
It is the siren cry of stereotypical ‘I-shouldn’t-exist’ mutants the world over. Writers of surreal apocalyptic fiction love this crazy stuff and mutants are widely considered to be the norm of the post-nuclear world, but is it possible that these creatures could ever come to be?
In the nuclear Wasteland setting of the Crumble Bulletin, mutants are as common as racists in the real world*, and I also touched on the concept of mutant animals in my Pokemon post-apocalyptic fan theories article.
Read more: ‘3 amazing Pokemon post-apocalyptic fan theories‘
So, in the spirit of Christmas (where Santa Claus has three arms and more eyes than you can count in the time it takes to quickly glance at them and then turn swiftly away), let’s discuss just how possible mutants truly are.
First, what is mutation?
To begin, we must firstly talk like we know the science. As you may know, cells possess a string of genetic code known as DNA, and this DNA is copied into new cells when the process of cell division is taking place. Imagine this like there is a monkey living inside you, typing out the same sheet of paper on a typewriter hundreds of thousands of times in a row.
According to the University of Utah’s Health Sciences department, there will be a “typo” in every 100,000ish nucleotides. The monkey, however skilled, may miss a keystroke every now and then, and it’s perfectly natural.
What these typos create is genetic variation in the human (or miscellaneous animal) species. Basically, we all look similar but different because our individual DNA (our alleles) are also different.
So how does radiation affect this process?
Radiation from nuclear materials – also known as ionising radiation – has the potential to harm our DNA. That said, DNA is harmed every day anyway, as radiation such as that from the sun is constantly bombarding our bodies and damaging our nucleotides. However, sun exposure won’t grow you that third arm you want, because we have little repair machines floating around inside us as well, repairing everything that gets broke and ensuring all the codes are correct.
The director of Oregon State University’s nuclear engineering and radiation health department, Kathryn Higley, said that direct harm from radiation can either kill or cause mutations within our cells, and if this is not repaired, problems occur. In reality, this is likely to be cancer – particularly in the thyroid, a gland that tries to absorb radiation (but kinda screws itself in the process). However, birth defects are not unheard of.
Indeedaroonie, the non-profit organisation Birth Defects for Children warns that certain doses of radiation in pregnant woman can cause defects such as impaired development of both height and the brain. In contrast, looking at a report published by the Radiation Effects Research Organisation, it would appear that instances of serious birth defects were not all that much higher after the Nagasaki and Hiroshima explosions, leading researchers to conclude that there was no real statistical significance in their data.
When writing a cool nuclear post-apocalyptic story, mutants are like butter on the toast. However, scientifically speaking, they are probably not very likely. Not big hulking stupid things, anyway – but maybe some folk with fused fingers or cleft palates!
*Common enough that it makes you uncomfortable to think about, but you’re hoping they phase out of existence over time.
If this article hasn’t made your brain mutate, you should have a read of Duncan P. Pacey’s other work! Be informed when new content is alive on his Facebook and Twitter pages.
