Post

4bya, late heavy bombardment created land, plate tectonics and life... and dumped a bunch of radioactive debris in the crust and upper mantle :-)

🤣 this joke rocks

I read "Radeon" at first and was like "that's funny but I don't understand how it relates to graphic cards"

"I did, but they cancelled my policy recently."

People think the insurance companies are being greedy by canceling their policies, but in truth no insurer could charge a reasonable red giant premium and stay solvent - they’re on the hook for literally all the property in existence when the sun burns out.

If you have insurance anymore.

Good to see a maintenance person who really thinks long-term.

🤣

Radon has a daughter and her name is Polonium.

G-

This always used to worry me , the sun exploding. But if we turn into energy we will just be reborn somewhere else, probably into something else

Is she from the insurance company, trying to deny a claim?

The lithosphere gets most of its heat *from* the mantle. It’s the cold lid on the hotter convecting layer. The heat all originates in radioactive decay of course though.

But we have great insurance in California……and it’s gone.

😂

I read this without my glasses and thought it said “your raccoon levels are high.” Comic still works.

Even in cow milk and: In breast milk ~0,42 ug/Litre (in Sweden). Its everywhere but harmless tiny amounts. ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

I remember when fifth grade teacher told us someday the sun was gonna burn out. My stomach hurt for months after that. Damn her anyway.

Hey, xlcd.com, can you give my post a peek and tell me if I was at all on track about your motivations or just seeing visions in the clouds?

Post o' the day!

"A world made just for us!" - most religions

Fun fact: exceptionally long-lived stars like Class M stars are likely poorly suited for developing life due to extremely unstable radiation output.

I detected radiation at the power plant, and they said it was Radon. "Eat fewer bananas."

Since I have slept in my basement for 38 years I keep radon mitigation fans going 24/7. It's worked so far.

Planet? Not up to code.

Alt text? Alt text.

The "basement" is the Earth's crust? Seems kinda funny

Ugh builders! Amirite?

Man, I hate when that happens.

Try finding a suitable and uninhabited M class system at this time of universe... we're screwed.

I knew it. This is just another insurance plot!

"It just goes to show ya. There's always *something*." -- Roseanne Roseannadanna

tinyurl.com/yc7xwpdk

There are insurance companies that actually ensure. I mean the profits form 1.6k per house hold that never gets used is for exactly this reason. NOT short selling stocks to pay CEO's and investors. And secretly changing policies in the fine print. Get on this level!!!

Thank you for your great content.

One of my favorite things about BlueSky is the artists and cartoonists 💙

Why not use alt text to give the title text if you're not using it for accessibility purposes anyway?

There are some things Flo can't fix.

That freaked me out when I first read it, at age 12 or so. Then I learned that 1 billion years is like 2x as much as the time that elapsed between multicellular life and today. Haven't worried about it ever since.

How high were the levels and how long do you live there? I just discovered the new house that we bought has levels of 1000-2000 bq/m³.... we only live a couple of months here. But still now I'm paranoid.

Good luck with that insurance claim in a few billion years (and some more few billion years until they will finally pay you). By then, the paperwork might be fossilized!

And this is why I follow you! This is great! Now, I need to test while the house is closed for Winter!

It's funny how radon stopped being a thing after the early to mid 1990s but now it's suddenly back again. Someone had a stockpile of radon detectors and they must have died and their heirs discovered it while cleaning out their attic. New business opportunity!

Rodan?

Zoning that is not Earth

Ah...more bad news I'm afraid...

That's why I always have a window open. Don't want to be an extreme exposure casualty. The propane heating tank next to my bed during a long power outage was for that.

Too soon

thank you intergalactic immortal radon gas inspector, very cool

that’s hilarious “two weeks “

😂

A look at how Radon gas is produced from Uranium containing rocks and how this can represent a threat to human life if the levels in our buildings reach dangerous levels, especially to smokers. youtu.be/V0dOg34-6w0

Oh, this is a good one (says this science nerd).

This is going to be reposted and seen 20 times on here a day

Remediate these carcinogenic people!

Coverage denied

Shit, what are all these neutrinos doing up in here?

Too few people are aware of Radon. At least over here in good old Europe.

youtu.be/XfbefTYH31M?...

Hmm...don't know anything about source or levels, but there was a "radon sauna" doing business here in Tokyo not far from us. 🙄

Fun fact: scientists didn't understand why the Earth still had a molten core. If it was really as old as the stratigraphic rock layers indicated, it should have cooled and solidified all the way through, long ago. That was before they discovered radioactivity, which of course produces heat.

LOL in the middle of the street before reading the alt text! 😂😂😂

Hi

OMG I found @xkcd.com on Blue!!! EEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

😃👋

Just open a window.

I was hoping you would show up here

Always get insurance with off-planet carrier

That I am

True

That's correct

We had a house with urea formaldehyde insulation which allowed a buildup of radon. We had to remove the insulation before we sold the house.

Radon’s about to be renamed to Minnesoton now fyi jabde.com/2025/01/13/t...

Sweet, thanks, I didn't know he'd added that feature.

Such amazing levels of detailed technical expertise like this out in the world, and yet vast numbers of people don’t know what a “tariff” is. Make it make sense.

I normally just get to this late enough that a bot has added it as the first reply I see, or some other good citizen has done that for the bot I do wish xkcd regular site would add a button to reveal the alt text (as it does on its m. mobile site)

Long press the image

Check the replies to this post (or any other xkcd post here) you’ll most likely see the title text posted by a bot.

My sister's house had radon (common in her area) but sufficient ventilation. What's missing from the alt text is that it's not the short half-life, gaseous radon itself which is "deadly": it's the decay products once they are inhaled as dust.

U said it.

Thank You!!!

😏

Brill as always. Perhaps an oblique comment on the SoCal fires

She thinks humans will last that long? I got a bingo card with 20 ways we'll be extinct in the next 4 years.

Nothing better than geologic time cartoon. For the ages!

youtube.com/shorts/Gi7q5...

www.fiverr.com/s/DB0p0wN

We keep destroying the ventilation system on the planet too.

Like a current policy with companies who are seeking ways out of their responsibilities through their small print that shouldn't be there in a company that suggests hope for devastation and then lets hope down because there is not enough money for the corporations and make lying a rich trait

I'd more be wondering WTF this contractor is from- and maybe if she'd be comfortable sharing some contacts from said place.

Science matters.

Science prevails regardless of what you believe.

Moving to another planet is the best option for remediation, of course. But if that's not in your budget at the moment, you can always try sealing the cracks in your floors and walls and increasing ventilation in your home 😅

Shouting into the void but, met you once at a party briefly and your humor gives me faith. Thank you so much and I hope it brings you joy to keep up the good work.

Nicely played!

Should have built around a red dwarf

It is so sad that we know for sure that there are no advanced civilizations within 100 light years from here.

Oh, the irony.

I’m sending this to my county when I appeal our property tax assessment… “you really should give us a discount for at least the next 50 billion years”

I switched Randall and Radon at first and was confused

Some people don't understand that an element decaying can drastically change its properties, including turning it into a gas.

Thanks. Another commenter was taking that another way, but something about the “man” part gave me pause. Radon is awful. sorry to hear about your area.

Radon is the easiest fix. Cut a hole in the slab, stick a PVC pipe down there, use a fan to suck the air from under the slab and blow it outside the house. Radon never enters the house that way. Radon mitigation people charge like $1,000 to do this.

Eh! Are you serious or seeing a whole teem of therapists

😂👍🏻