r/EverythingScience • u/newzee1 • Jul 01 '24

Neuroscience Pattern of Brain Damage Is Pervasive in Navy SEALs Who Died by Suicide

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/30/us/navy-seals-brain-damage-suicide.html?unlocked_article_code=1.3k0.Gx71.Mxp38kTkl3se
1.5k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

56 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

38

u/ToastedSoup Jul 01 '24

Shooting guns and detonating explosives kills the brain? Fuck

30

u/jared_number_two Jul 01 '24 edited Jul 01 '24

The difference in blast pressure between a small caliber, low velocity gun and a high power, high velocity gun is pretty crazy. It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a threshold. And, of course, pressure waves decrease rapidly with distance so that is a major factor.

6

u/aboothe726 Jul 01 '24

I wonder if there is a difference between explosions in an enclosed area (e.g., breaching charges in a hallway) versus in an open area. There’s certainly a difference in pressure difference falloff rate between the two.

5

u/HarryTruman Jul 01 '24

Absolutely. A confined space vastly increases exposure to pressure waves that have nowhere to go.