Tomoko stands at the inn in Fukushima prefecture that has been in her family for generations. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
radiation radiation
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radiation
The safety director at Grand Canyon National Park says people may have been exposed to radiation from three buckets of uranium ore that sat for years in a museum collection building. Whether the amount of exposure was unsafe has not been determined. Rhona Wise/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Pharmacist Donna Barsky measures potassium iodide at the Texas Star Pharmacy in 2011 in Plano, Texas. Richard Matthews/AP hide caption
The Amana Radarange was born of a happy accident caused by an engineer who was working for the defense contractor Raytheon in the 1940s. Courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution hide caption
The Homeland Security website Ready.gov warns that following a nuclear blast, you should wash your hair with shampoo but not use conditioner, because conditioner can bind radioactive material to your hair. Smith Collection/Getty Images hide caption
Neck strain might not feel like a CT-worthy injury to you, but it's increasingly getting advanced imaging. Reza Estakhrian/Getty Images hide caption
A man is screened with a backscatter X-ray machine as travelers go through a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport in 2011. Danny Moloshok/Reuters/Corbis hide caption
Farmer Magoichi Shigihara checks on his cucumber farm in Nihonmatsu in Fukushima prefecture, about 31 miles west of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, in May 2011. Testing shows radiation in foods grown and raised in Fukushima is back to pre-accident levels. Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Emily Whittington, a radiation therapist at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, pulls down a mask intended to guide radiation beams into patients with head and neck cancer. Emily Siner/NPR hide caption
A plane flies above the clouds and two passengers sit oblivious to their exposure to cosmic rays. Katherine Streeter for NPR hide caption
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Aki Hoshide makes a space walk outside the International Space Station in 2012. NASA/Getty Images hide caption
CT scans are valuable for finding cancers, but deliver a lot of radiation in the process. That's an especially big concern for children. iStockphoto hide caption
Use of CT scans has doubled for children under five and tripled for older children. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Radiation therapist Jean Etienne holds a range compensator, which shapes the depth to which the proton beam enters a patient's body to target a tumor. Rebecca Davis/NPR hide caption
Pricey Prostate Cancer Therapy Raises Questions About Safety, Cost
Easy does it on the X-ray doses for kids. iStockphoto.com hide caption
This illustration shows a device made by MammoSite used to deliver targeted doses of radiation as part of brachytherapy. Courtesy Radiological Society of North America hide caption
A sign at Chicago's Midway Airport informs travelers about the millimeter wave scanners used to screen passengers. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption