[loceng]

The thinking of the body as a holistic system is where research seems to generally fall short, and likewise there are so many variables related to exposure - including each individuals' capacity to deal with cancer cells/damaged DNA, etc.

Edit: To add to this, when I was 8 years old my dad developed kidney cancer - or at least that is when they found it. He was a commercial airline pilot, which so happens to have a higher level of kidney cancer (probably other cancers too) due to being surrounded by electronics in the flight deck + exposure to more radiation; I can only imagine they've tried to improve reducing exposure as much as they can, however who knows if that means more direct costs and perhaps they don't care about indirect costs. I know power line workers and certain other professions have a much lower life expectancy as well, we also know that exposure to strong(er) magnetic fields like from MRI machines can disrupt pregnancy. Knowing all of this it's hard to come to the assumption that smaller quantities/exposures can't not have some impact with in the "right" environment.

[carbocation]

> we also know that exposure to strong(er) magnetic fields like from MRI machines can disrupt pregnancy

No. The American College of Radiology contradicts this: "Present data have not conclusively documented any deleterious effects of MR imaging exposure on the developing fetus. Therefore no special consideration is recommended for the first, versus any other, trimester in pregnancy."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jmri.24011

[LeoPanthera]

The “surrounded by electronics” explanation really need a citation. It doesn’t make sense to me. Nothing in proximity to the pilot emits any kind of radiation - the radio antenna is not in the cockpit.

The higher dosage of solar/space radiation due to the altitude is surely the correct explanation.

[phyller]

Interestingly, there is a belief in military pilot communities that pilots will have far fewer boys than girls. Two close relatives of mine are military pilots, and my observations have confirmed this. From individual families we know, to officer neighborhoods on base that have an unusually high proportion of girls. It's still anecdotal of course, but very interesting.

Apparently there have been a few studies, but with questionable rigor. For example http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.603...

[loceng]

It's one of those things where I believe only mathematical/physics model could potentially show us answers, as that's the only way we'd ever be able to get "exact" resolution of what's going on between interactions. Whether we can ever model these systems to be as refined as reality is impossible to know - however perhaps we should start trying and see if what we are able to model shows anything that could perhaps help us direct more inquiry into; it makes me think of the Periodic Table, and how we were able to discover new/missing/unknown elements simply by ordering and seeing gaps in the model.