In the old television series The Incredible Hulk, an accidental overdose of gamma radiation turned brainy, restrained research scientist David Banner into an ultra-powerful, musclebound maniac. Now in a mirror-image scenario mapped out by astronomers Aden and Marjorie Meinel in today’s San Diego Union-Tribune, radiation turns the savage into the scientist: they argue that a spike in cosmic radiation well may have contributed to the evolution of modern humans by accelerating the rate of genetic mutations.

In this piece, Iowa State University astrobiologist and Discovery Institute senior fellow Guillermo Gonzalez discusses why such a notion is scientifically untenable.