Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Today's subject is one of the deadliest weapons on Earth, sarin gas.

There is a very strange story about its original intended target.

The enemy back then wasn't Syrian rebels, who have been targeted with the gas by their own government. It was, wait

for it, the weevil

a voracious beetle found in fields

and orchards. Ask a

gardener about weevils. Or ask

Orkin, the pest control

experts. Here's what their website

says about weevils. Quote,

they can be very destructive and their damage is often very expensive.

In the mid-1930s, there was a weevil problem on German farms.

The German government, forced to buy expensive pesticides from overseas,

turned to a scientific bear, yes, the aspirin one, to develop a cheaper alternative.

His name was Gerhard Schrader.

As head of Bears' plant protection group, Schrader got to work mixing various molecules.

He was trying to concoct a substance strong enough to kill pests but spare animals and humans.

He tinkered for months with compounds before he had a eureka moment.

He added cyanide to the mix.

The scientists quickly developed a splitting headache and struggled to breathe.

Suddenly, he could barely see.

...