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Sci Guys

170: The Man Who Drank Radioactive Water (Until His Jaw Fell Off)

Sci Guys

The Sci Guys

Science, Comedy, Education

4.9632 Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2022

⏱️ 66 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You might think no one would willingly drink liters of radioactive water, but that just means you clearly haven't heard of Ebenezer Byers - a man who did just that! Until his jaw came off...

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References & Further Reading
  1. https://historyofyesterday.com/eben-byers-the-man-who-drank-radioactive-water-until-his-jaw-fell-off-d2634336b504
  2. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-great-radium-scandal/
  3. https://web.archive.org/web/20071113070153/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,743525,00.html
  4. https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/radioactive-quack-cures/pills-potions-and-other-miscellany/radithor.html
  5. https://journals.lww.com/health-physics/Citation/1980/12000/INCEPTION_OF_STANDARDS_FOR_INTERNAL_EMITTERS,.28.aspx
  6. https://www.nytimes.com/1932/04/02/archives/death-stirs-action-on-radium-cures-trade-commission-speeds-its.html
  7. https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/cancer-in-general/treatment/radiotherapy/internal/radioactive-liquid-treatment/radium-223
  8. https://people.uwec.edu/jolhm/EH/Rosenhoeft/index5.htm

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello and welcome to The Sci Guys, the show where we talk about the crazy weird and wonderful stories from the science world.

0:13.0

I'm Corey, and as always, I'm joined by my co-hosts, Jemp and Luke Cutfer.

0:17.0

Hello, hi, howdy.

0:30.5

This week we're talking about a jaw-dropping story of radiation.

0:33.6

But first, we have to thank all of our patrons.

0:34.8

Thank you to our patrons. Thank you, patrons.

0:35.6

Thank you very much.

0:36.3

As always.

0:37.0

They voted on this

0:37.7

episode and they chose it. It was all from them. So thank them for this horror story. These are the

0:42.4

best to happen. But first, before you thank them, head down to our comments if you're on

0:46.4

YouTube. If you're not listening on, if you're listening somewhere else and you're not watching

0:49.8

on YouTube, go and use your eyes and use your fingers to answer this question. The question is, have you ever had an x-ray? I'm curious. I just want to know. Who hasn't had an x-ray? I've

0:58.3

had multiple x-rays. I've had the dentist, surely, like everyone. Really? Everyone gets,

1:02.0

everyone gets x-rays at the dentist? Oh yeah. I'm just, I've, even want an expert. She charged me before.

1:11.6

Yeah, the same thing happened to me.

1:12.6

But I've always had free dentistry.

1:13.6

And she's like, you're stupid.

1:14.6

And I was like, well, now I'm never coming back to the dentist.

1:16.6

Jokes on you.

1:17.6

I actually will eventually be on you.

1:19.6

Yeah, well, the joke will be on my teeth. Actually, let's put up an image. I've got an image of an x-ray of my foot, if anyone's interested to see it. Here it is. This is the image of my foot x-ray.

...

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