In this episode we’re going to learn about cancer radiotherapy, the use of radiation to treat cancer. So many people are afraid that nuclear radiation causes cancer, and yes this is possible if you receive a sudden megadose of radiation, but it is very difficult to get enough just enough radiation to increase the risk of cancer while not getting too much dose and dying from acute radiation sickness. In the real world, radiation is used to kill cancer cells and save lives. I’m going to interview one of the world experts in this field of medicine.
Dr. Blake Walters received an M.Sc. in Medical Biophysics at the University of Toronto in 1992. He joined the Ionizing Radiation Standards Group at the National Research Council of Canada in 1994. He received a PhD in Medical Physics from Maastricht University, The Netherlands, in 2017.
With the NRC, Blake helped to develop new computational techniques to greatly improve the accuracy of cancer radiotherapy. This work helps to spare healthy tissue while maximizing the dose to the tumour. This work has been adopted in radiotherapy clinics around the world, and has become the gold standard for accurate radiotherapy planning.
Currently, he continues his work for the NRCC, developing and implementing Monte Carlo techniques to meet the increasingly complex demands of current radiotherapy technologies. He is also the in-house physicist, specializing in dose calculations for low energy X-rays, for a company that designs and manufactures pre-clinical and clinical irradiators sold around the world.
Come check out The Rational View on YouTube!
Join our Facebook discussion group
Twitter @AlScottRational
Instagram @The_Rational_View
#TheRationalView #radiationtherapy #cancer #linearnothreshold #nuclear #radiation #health
Bob McDonald on the Energy Transition
Bolstering your cognitive immunity with Dr. Andy Norman
A summary of what I’ve learned on nutrition and health
Beth McDaniel’s paint captures carbon
Dr. Joel Fuhrman says we can eat our way to better health
Dr. Valter Longo Advocates Intermittent Fasting to Live Longer
Science Communication in a Crisis with Dr. Christopher Reddy
Dr. Antonio Cabrales on the AI revolution and UBI
Can we afford [not] to have Universal Basic Income? (re-release)
The alcohol controversy
How should we tackle magical thinking?
Can we ’manifest’ our future? with Kevin Scott
Are we about to lose control of AI?
Cosmology, art and outreach with Dr. Paul Sutter
Dr. Robert Gale talks about treating Chernobyl victims
Dr. Traci Mann explains why your diet didn’t work
Dr. Peter Butt defends tightened alcohol guidelines
Dr. Edzard Ernst debunks detox diets
Professor Matthew Neidell says the precautionary principle is poor public policy
The politics of food with Dr. Marion Nestle
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Freakonomics Radio
The Why Files: Operation Podcast
Criminal
Jimmy Akin’s Mysterious World