The Reality Check Episode 41

Landfills + Chelation + Safety in Numbers

Landfills

Part 1:

What are some dangerous problems landfills cause?

One major problem that most of us know is that chemical substances sink into the ground, and they not only pollute the soil; if they are able to get into the water nearby or the water underground, then it would pollute that as well. Basically landfills will pollute the area of land that garbage is dumped on, whether is in the short term or long term. 

A lot of the things we throw away just stay that way for thousands, even millions of years. Those things just don't change, they will just be there for a really long time. But, there are other things, such as some oil left inside a container, those things thrown in a landfill will cause hazard waste, and it's extremely bad for the environment; long term or short term. Another similar thing is pesticides, all those different types of pesticides molecules are designed to kill and destroy something. We certainly don't want any of that in the wild. Those kind of things should be taken care of carefully.

What strategies do people use to design a good landfill? 

The first step of course is to reuse and recycle as much as we can, so most of the stuff we throw in the landfills will be those fixed things. Hazard things of course should be taken somewhere else to be treated differently.

Landfills are extremely expensive, that's why they are huge, and they have a fixed cost.

So, what's the lesson?

The lesson is that people are freaked out about landfills with tons and tons of garbage in them, but have no clue about the chemicals we are dumping somewhere else. Cause people are used to garbage, it's something disgusting and smelly. Chemicals on the other hand are not so common. 

Part 2:

Chelation

Chelation: It is a kind of treatment which they pump into your body somehow. Then the chelating agents will remove the heavy metals from your body. For the most common forms of heavy metal intoxication, wich as lead, arsenic, or mercury. Once if catches the heavy metals, it just holds onto it, and then later on, we'll urinate it out. It's one of the true forms of detoxification. 

It was first used during World World 1 to get rid of the heavy metals people got into their body because of the poison gas. 

People hope taking it will help them live longer, and prevent heart diseases. 

So, is it harmful? Or does it really help?

Scientists found out they not only remove the heavy metals, they also remove a lot of things we need in our body, which is isn't good. So, I guess it's okay to use it once or twice. Because people have died doing this. 

Science Myth of the Week:

Is there safety in numbers?

The answer is yes and no. If you are fighting a war, it would better to be in numbers. But, the protective effect of other people is balanced by the complication by something called the diffusion of responsibility, basically means more people seems like a good thing, but when there are more people around, individual people feel less compelling to help. Just saying that people will think that someone else will help, and so they don't help. Sometimes, people just feel that they don't know as well as other people, so they will want to let someone else to act. 

So the safety in numbers just depends on the situation.