Tortoise shells can yield information on nuclear contamination, scientists find

Bikini Atoll in the Pacific, the site of the 1954 hydrogen explosion where the island of Nam was destroyed. Photograph: Pixelstock/Alamy

Tortoise and turtle shells can be used to study nuclear contamination, scientists have found.

Just as tree rings can provide snapshots of the Earth’s climate, and ice cores can give us information on past temperature, researchers found that the layers of shells can be used as a time stamp of periods with nuclear fallout.