1. The worst nuclear accident in history, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine — then part of the Soviet Union — will leave measurable radioactive contamination in a 15,000-square-mile area for 300 years.
2. Shortly after the accident, needles on pine trees in a 1.5-square-mile area around the crippled nuclear plant turned red. The trees now growing there resemble mangled, warped bushes and lack central stems.
3. Scientists studying barn swallows near Chernobyl from 1991 to 2006 discovered 11 types of abnormalities, including malformed beaks and deformed feathers.
4. The brains of 48 species of birds around Chernobyl have been found to be 5 percent smaller than average due to radiation-caused oxidative stress, possibly decreasing cognitive activity.
5. Researchers measured a higher and less variable mean level of radiation — compared with post-disaster measurements at Chernobyl — around Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after its 2011 meltdown
6. Six ...
