Home on the range (from left) Arrie van Deventer (founder of the Rhino Orphanage), Yolanda van der Merwe, James Larkin and Andie Kriel

One of the biggest problems with nuclear technology is people’s perceptions. The fact that radiation is beneficial is something that Professor James Larkin has been harping on for decades. Larkin is the director of the Radiation and Health Physics Unit (RHPU) at the University of the Witwatersrand. He’s also the chairperson of the university’s Institutional Biosafety Committee.

From smoke detectors to dental X-rays and PET scans, there’s a massive array of uses for nuclear technology. But after failing to convince people that nuclear is, in fact, beneficial, Larkin found a way of working with its negative stigma. During a conversation with friends over lunch about the severity of rhino poaching, he came up with an extraordinary idea. “Could we use radiation to devalue rhino horn by making it undesirable?” he asked.