Today's special: Radioactive escargot

It sounds like something out of a bad horror movie: Years after a hydrogen bomb accident, radioactive snails begin crawling up from the depths of the Earth.

But it's all too real for the citizens of Palomares, a fishing village in southeastern Spain. According to Reuters, higher than normal levels of radiation in the snails could point to dangerous levels of plutonium and uranium below ground. Hydrogen bombs fell near the village in 1966 after a midair collision between a bomber and a refueling craft, in which seven of 11 crewmen died.

The U.S. and Spain are investigating the site for more radiation problems, and have warned residents away from eating the snails, a local delicacy.

Blog community response:

"Yummy radioactive snails...crawl from the earth, demanding vengeance. And a nice alfredo sauce."
--Gilmoure

"Next month, Spain and the US have jointly decided to pay for a soil investigation to research the feasibility of a clean up. Good job guys. Way to work out the details of sort of starting to clean things up 40 years later. I'm glad I didn't grow up in that neighborhood."
--Steve Kallestad

"Jokes about radio-cochlear overlords aside, two things come to mind: If we don't survive nuclear holocaust: what creatures, more robust than we, will? (Reminds me of the thriving Chernobylian fauna (phschool.com).) What ungodly mutations must an organism undergo to thrive therein? If the future is bleak for humanity, it may be less so for simpler, more robust organisms."
--Slashdot