Dark Matters: Twisted But True (2011) s02e11 Episode Script
Pavlov's Children, Alien Rain, Glow Girls
Noble: This is your one and only warning.
Your screen will soon be filled with dramatized stories of scientific research that some people may find controversial or disturbing.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Ask yourself, does progress always come at a price? Are some experiments too risky or just wrong? A little curiosity can't hurt anyone Can it? I'll introduce you to a mysterious red rain.
Is it animal, vegetable, mineral or something out of this world? And a bunch of factory girls who radiate health and a good work ethic.
Glowing in the dark is only fun for a while.
But first, sit, stay roll over -- simple tricks to teach a dog, and we're just animals, too, right? So, can you train a human like a dog? Or more importantly, should you? Heard of Pavlov and his dogs? Well, meet Pavlov's children.
[ Bell ringing .]
Always ensure that the cannula fits tightly over the salivary gland.
Physiologist Ivan Pavlov is introducing freshmen medical students to his experimental techniques on dogs.
He has developed equipment to collect the dog's saliva via tube in its mouth or a hole in its cheek.
When the dog is presented with food, its level of salivation is measured by an electromagnetic chart recorder.
Thus, we know exactly how much Raisa has salivated.
Am I boring you, Krasnogorskii? Professor -- of course not, Professor Pavlov.
It is fascinating.
This is science, and you are privileged to be a part of it.
When I was your age, I had never seen a laboratory.
[ Choir vocalizing, bell tolling .]
I was in a seminary, training to be a priest.
One book changed my life, and it was not the word of God as the priests hoped -- "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin.
I opened that book, and I knew myself.
I knew who I was.
I was an animal among other animals.
To understand myself, I need not explore my immortal soul.
I only needed to explore other animals.
Stringer: Charles Darwin's ideas on evolution very much embedded humans in the natural world.
He showed that we were part of the natural world, not separate from it, that we'd been produced by the same processes that have produced the rest of the diversity of life.
Noble: Pavlov is fascinated by the reflex responses of animals.
All animals have reflexive responses, right? If you put your hand really close to your eye really quickly, you'll get a blink response.
If you tap part of your leg, you get a kick.
Those are automatic, unconscious.
Noble: But Pavlov noticed something interesting about how a dog's salivation reflex is triggered.
So, tell me, what is so fascinating about the dog's saliva, hmm? Well, gentlemen, the saliva of a dog can tell you more than you think.
It can tell you how you think.
One day, I entered the room when my assistant, Tolochinov, was feeding the dogs as usual, and I noticed the dogs were salivating before there was a scrap of food in the bowls.
The dogs were drooling at the mere presence of their keeper.
So, what makes the dogs salivate? Dr.
Shapiro: Previous to this, we thought that a dog's digestion would just be completely automatic.
They eat something -- they salivate in response.
But he discovers that the body is responding in this automatic way to things they're seeing in the environment.
Noble: Pavlov believes that the sight of his assistant has replaced eating as the automatic trigger for salivation.
If he's right, the dog's reflex responses could be trained to respond to anything even a bell.
Now, Raisa here has heard this bell every time she receives food.
[ Bell rings .]
Already, her mind should be preparing her body as if the food were already before her.
The salivation rate is rising.
This proves a profound fact -- what the mind believes becomes fact for the body.
Dr.
Shapiro: Pavlov discovers you can actually induce reflexive automatic responses in response to things that the mind perceives.
These are "condition responses," he calls them.
Noble: This groundbreaking work earns Pavlov the nobel prize in 1904.
Dr.
Shapiro: It's mind-blowing because it means that the dogs' minds are actually radically influencing things that, before, we thought were just automatic.
Could this also apply to humans, Professor? One only needs to say the word "blinis" and Smolenski starts salivating.
That is the great question -- the biggest question, Krasnogorskii.
Does the dog control its drooling, or can't it help itself? Can Viktor Mikhailovich Smolenski help himself? Noble: Nikolai Krasnogorskii starts to wonder, "How much are we humans "controlled by our unconscious impulses? "How much of our lives are merely reflexes triggered by signals we aren't aware of?" Excuse me, Professor.
May I speak with you? Of course.
Would a human experiment not prove Darwin's contention that we, too, are animals? An interesting question, Nikolai Ivanovich.
Dr.
Shapiro: Two great thinkers.
Darwin, right? -- Bridging the gap between animals and man.
Pavlov -- bridging the gap in animals in the mind and body, connecting the two.
But what hasn't been done yet is Pavlov's work in humans -- bridging the gap between mind and body in humans.
Noble: Krasnogorskii believes he's the man to make that leap.
He needs human test subjects to experiment on at will, subjects who cannot complain.
[ Indistinct conversations .]
He finds them in an orphanage.
Nowwho wants to help make a great scientific discovery? These days, experiments involving human subjects, but specifically children, are very tightly regulated to make sure that the subjects and the children are protected at all costs.
Back in those days, scientists could do almost anything they wanted.
So, you see, children, science is the future for Russia and the world.
Now [Clicks tongue.]
let's get to work.
Dr.
Britt: Krasnogorskii decided to work with children instead of adults.
Adults are more likely to try to figure out what the experiment is all about, which was not something he wanted to interfere with his work.
Noble: Krasnogorskii treats the children like Pavlov treated his dogs.
[ Air rushing .]
He straps them into a machine and locks the child's head in a metal cage.
Keep still.
Dr.
Britt: What Krasnogorskii did was to essentially reproduce Pavlov's experiments, but this time, using children instead of dogs.
Noble: The children are left alone in the booth for an hour or more, made to lie perfectly still.
Krasnogorskii believes he can prove these children are nothing more than animals And neither are you.
Noble: Nikolai Krasnogorskii is attempting to train the subconscious minds of orphans to react at his command just like his mentor, Ivan Pavlov, did to dogs.
Instead of the bell Pavlov used for his dogs, Krasnogorskii applies pressure to the boy's wrist to signal that food is coming.
The machine immediately feeds the child a cookie.
[ Lever creaks .]
He records the child's salivation levels.
And repeat.
[ Air rushing .]
When he believes that the child's unconscious mind has learned to associate the signal with food, Krasnogorskii gives the signal but no food.
Just like Pavlov's dogs, the boy salivates and swallows -- not because of food, but because of Krasnogorskii's signal.
Krasnogorskii has proven a human mind can be trained as easily as a dog's to react to a signal with an unthinking reflex.
It's working! [ Laughs .]
For over a decade, Krasnogorskii experiments on dozens of orphans strapped inside his machine.
[ Switch clicks .]
He discovers differences between the reactions of dogs and humans.
condition stimulus.
Unlike dogs, humans can separate subtle changes in the stimulus.
Predicted response.
Children trained to salivate when hearing a metronome beat one rhythm automatically ignore it when the rhythm is changed.
unconditioned stimulus.
The child's conscious mind associates clicks with food, but the unconscious reflex of salivation can differentiate one rhythm from another.
No response.
It worked.
Dr.
Britt: Well, as it turns out, humans are much more sophisticated in our responses to stimuli than are animals.
We can, for example, distinguish between very fine differences in a stimuli, and we learn things faster and retain them longer.
[ Laughs .]
Pavlov: Nikolai Ivanovich.
What you are doing here -- it's it's inspired.
[ Chuckles .]
Noble: Ivan Pavlov is captivated by the results.
Fascinating.
So, the question is, "at what stage of development does the reflex become active?" Dr.
Britt: Krasnogorskii concluded that there was a mechanistic explanation of the mind.
All behavior was the result of either innate responses -- like salivating to food, for example -- or learned responses, which we had accumulated throughout our lives.
So, once you work out the details, it's conceivable that if you could record all of the events that someone had undergone, then you could completely predict behavior.
We'll need more children and a whole range of ages, from infancy through Noble: Pavlov and Krasnogorskii's work becomes hugely influential in unexpected areas.
Dr.
Shapiro: Pavlov studied associations -- in his case, with dogs, between seeing people delivering food and salivating.
Well, any time we turn on the computer or our television or even just leave our houses, advertisers try and help us associate one thing with another.
Usually, it's, you know, power and fame with driving a certain car or athletic prowess with a certain kind of sneaker.
Pavlov's work is alive and well.
Noble: Pavlov's research helps Madison Avenue sell us trillions of dollars' worth of products.
It also helps treat anxiety, substance abuse, and other problems of the mind.
Dr.
Britt: It was the inspiration behind the most popular form of therapy today, cognitive behavioral therapy, which treats psychological disorders by training patients in learned responses, which bears a similarity to conditioning.
Noble: We do not know the fate of Krasnogorskii's test subjects Keep still.
but they changed our world, proving that conditioning the subconscious human mind is no more challenging than training that of an animal.
In the end, we're all Pavlov's children.
Remember that as you watch the commercials.
[ Air rushing .]
It is human nature to see freak weather as a sign from the Gods.
But when the heavens open in India and rain is the color of blood, scientists hunt for a rational explanation.
In this case, the most rational explanation sounds completely crazy.
Where did life begin? In some primordial goo billions of years ago on the volcanic surface of the young earth? [ Chuckles .]
It's an incredible idea Yet the truth may be still more astonishing.
Is it possible all life on our planet fell from the sky? Are aliens still falling? [ Thunder crashes .]
Are you seeing this? This rain -- it is red.
Red rain.
[ Laughs .]
It is some kind of magic, I'm telling you.
[ Laughs .]
Godfrey Louis -- Professor of solid-state physics.
Apologies, Professor.
You wanted to see me? George from crystallography sent this to me.
Well? Santhosh Kumar -- doctoral student.
It is a red liquid.
[ Speaking indistinctly .]
Let me help you.
Have you see this? Red rain -- unexplained.
I thought it might be, uh, fun to try and find the answer.
It would be an honor.
Then the game is afoot.
So, Mr.
Kumar, what is your first working hypothesis? Dust blown from a desert or a volcano, perhaps.
In science, we have something called "Occam's Razor.
" Sometimes, the simplest solution is the correct one.
So, when we have this red rain from the heavens, perhaps it's dust clouds.
For example, dust from the Gobi Desert, the Sahara Desert, swirls over Europe and even lands in the United States in your backyard.
So, it was no accident, therefore, that some scientists said, "aha, let's look at dust clouds.
" Professor, it's definitely not dust.
These look like living cells.
Hmmmost fascinating.
Well? Living cells in rain -- most likely, it must be contamination.
Then you must go to Changanassery.
More of the rain has fallen.
Get new samples.
[ Rooster crows .]
Is there something I can be helping you with? I am, uh, Santhosh Kumar.
I'm looking for samples of the red rain.
Is this what you are looking for? And what is it you think caused it? Bats? Bats.
They believe a flock of bats exploded and that the rain is their blood.
Should we test for blood? Perhaps there's a simpler question to ask first -- have you ever seen evidence that bats can explode? [ Chuckling .]
No, Godfrey, never.
Noble: Every sample of red rain contains the same strange microscopic objects.
They look like some sort of organic cell, but they test negative for blood.
Dr.
Cohen: The cell-like structures they were observing were very unlikely to be red blood cells.
Because the interior of the cell is salty, they would have absorbed or taken in the rainwater around them and probably burst.
Noble: The cell-like objects contain proteins only found in living organisms, but they lack a fundamental component of nearly all cells -- there is no nucleus.
They are like cells, yet, at the same time, they're not.
We need to find out more about the rainfall.
Back to Changanassery, I think.
[ Thunder crashes .]
It sounded like an explosion.
The whole house was shaking, then blood was falling from the skies.
Come on, we have to go.
Noble: A single deafening explosion high in the sky, followed by red rain -- witness after witness tells the same story.
That's the fifth one -- all the same.
So, your first thought is Thunderbut you do not hear a single clap, even in the monsoon.
I thought, perhaps, a supersonic jet, but there are no air bases near here.
But not supersonic -- hypersonic.
It could be a shock wave an asteroid.
Every day, rocks from space -- asteroids -- hit the Earth.
Now, for the most part, they simply burn up high in the atmosphere, leaving no trace.
But the larger ones -- when they come in, they create a shock wave in front.
And when the asteroid goes faster than the speed of the shock wave, it creates a sonic boom, going in at 40,000 to 70,000 miles per hour.
Boom! The cells were on the asteroid.
I mean, where on Earth could you find a cell with such strange properties? The answer is nowhere on Earth.
But, surely I mean to say, is that likely, possible even? You are suggesting Alien life? When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Noble: Physicists Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar believe they have discovered alien life.
They think living cells survived the deadly vacuum of space on the back of an asteroid and fell to Earth in a bizarre red rain.
Cells living in space is not as crazy as it sounds.
When the Surveyor spacecraft was first created by workers on the planet Earth, it was slightly contaminated by microbes.
It was then shot to the Moon.
And then several years later, our astronauts picked up panels from the Surveyor and brought it back to Earth.
We were shocked to find that there was evidence of microbial life that actually survived several years of living on the Moon.
Noble: Professor Louis puts the cells through a series of brutal tests.
He bathes them in sulfuric acid.
He heats them to more than 300 degrees.
He exposes them to ultra-low pressure and ultraviolet radiation.
These extreme conditions would kill almost any known cell from Earth, but these unearthly cells don't merely survive, they thrive.
Kumar.
The cells -- they do reproduce.
They are alive.
But at room temperature, the effect is almost invisibly slow.
But, surely, cells should reproduce easily at room temperature.
Not these ones, it would seem.
It only happens at extremely high temperatures.
In fact, I could still see reproduction at 300 degrees.
Dr.
Cohen: Most cells that we know of cannot divide and reproduce at temperatures of 100 degrees centigrade and above.
There are certain cells that have evolved to cope with high temperatures.
These are cells, called "extremophiles," that live at very high temperatures and have developed elaborate mechanisms to allow them to divide and reproduce.
There are no cells that we know of that can survive temperatures of 300 degrees centigrade and above.
Noble: That's about almost hot enough to melt lead.
Also, I have tested for DNA.
I cannot find any.
There is no DNA, yet they reproduce.
What does this mean? An essential component of any free living organism is DNA.
DNA is the blueprint of life and allows that cell to survive and function.
More importantly, it allows that cell to divide and reproduce.
So, if I was handed a tube of cells that didn't contain DNA but were able to divide and reproduce, I would have to question whether they were part of life on this planet as we know it or whether they came from somewhere else.
Thank you.
Godfrey.
This could even bigger than I thought.
What could? Have you ever heard of panspermia? The conventional theory of how life started on the Earth is that life started as amino acids and primitive DNA molecules in the ocean, in tidal pools, or perhaps at the bottom of the ocean near volcano vents, where you have energy.
The panspermia idea says, "Not so fast.
"Perhaps, from outer space, we have spores, "spores that could survive the rigors of space "for millions of years, "and they would then land on the Earth "in the form of meteorites and then basically seeding the Earth as a consequence.
" Noble: Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar publish their strange findings in a respected astrophysics journal.
Scientists around the world are intrigued, and British researchers request a sample to test for themselves.
[ Telephone rings .]
Good morning.
It is 3:00 a.
m.
It is fine, please.
So, you have seen it replicate at hot temperatures? Definitely.
But the cells are biological.
They are alive? Excellent.
Of course.
First thing.
Santhosh, I think we're really onto something here.
Dr.
Cohen: The British researchers found that these cells could only divide at the higher temperatures and not at the lower temperatures, and this had not been observed previously for any other cell population.
Noble: But the British find something inside the cells that Professor Louis did not.
They say they have found DNA when we found none.
Did we make an error? Though British scientists detect the chemical signature of DNA, they are unable to observe it directly.
Perhaps it is like DNA, but not identical.
It will appear on their test, but not on ours.
Extraterrestrial? Or more down to earth? The case remains open.
The evidence for these cells from the red rain being, in fact, of extraterrestrial origin has been far from proven to the satisfaction of the scientific community.
While the Indian researchers said they couldn't find DNA in it, they were physicists who were not used to dealing with plant cells and didn't have the equipment for it.
Noble: Perhaps the red rain did not come from an asteroid, or perhaps it did.
As yet, there is no other proven explanation.
Do you honestly believe that the red rain contains cells from outer space? Absolutely.
I think alien life may be raining down on us from space every day.
Or should I say, it's the best working hypothesis we have.
The truth, as they say, is out there.
Girls just want to have fun, at work or at play.
But when the factory workers are kept in the dark, it won't be long before someone gets hurt.
An employee and her employer make a trade -- the workers' time and skill for the business owner's money.
What else comes into the bargain? Does the company owe its employee the truth? Does the worker owe the factory her life? [ Laughs .]
I am so sorry we're late.
[ Chuckles .]
Hi, girls.
Women: Hi.
You hear about Jane? Wrote her address on the back of a watch Noble: Katherine Schaub and her cousin Irene paint glow-in-the-dark clock and watch faces for a living.
Dr.
Silbey: When the U.
S.
Army entered the first World War, it needed instruments that could be read at any time, day or night, even in dark trenches.
By painting the numbers and dials of instruments, the U.
S.
Radium Corporation was catering to the army's needs.
Well, looky here, girls -- rare as a hen's teeth, an eligible bachelor.
Say hi to Fred, girls.
Women: Hi, Fred.
Hi, Fred.
[ Chuckles .]
Got any of those gloves for us, Fred? Aww, he's a worrier, see? Leave him, Katie.
I think he's a dream boat.
[ Giggles .]
Well, Irene, you could do a lot worse than bagging a smart chemist from upstairs.
[ Chuckles .]
Noble: The corporation has turned the new science of radioactivity into a profitable business.
They call their glowing paint "undark.
" Its key ingredient is radium.
Radium is an amazing material.
Because it's radioactive, it emits particles.
And if you mix it with a substance like zinc sulfide, it'll cause the zinc sulfide to fluoresce.
It'll glow in the dark, and that'll last for a long time -- 1,500 years.
Noble: After World War I ends, business remains brisk for the U.
S.
Radium Corporation.
The girls are kept busy painting undark watch dials to meet growing public demand.
I'm beat.
Beat? You can't be beat.
You and me are going out dancing, Miss Irene Rudolph.
Dancing? After today? How do you do it, Katie? Why, it must be the invigorating power of radium.
They say it cures every ill.
[ Chuckles .]
With our job, you should be jumping like a cricket.
Come on.
Let's get ready.
[ Chuckles .]
Kovarik: So, at the end of World War I, people are looking to science to solve their problems, and radium is part of the dawn of this new age, and they're very enthusiastic.
So, you find radium in all kinds of products.
You could have toothpaste with radium.
You could drink a glass of radium water.
You could go to a radium spa where you could experience the benefits of instant sunshine.
Wall Street millionaires would have radium-sniffing parties, thinking that this cosmic energy would help to inspire even more millions to be made on the stock market.
Hey, Irene, want to see my new secret weapon? Turn the light off, quick, now.
I'm the radium girl.
What do you think? Oh, yeah? [ Laughs .]
What have you done to your mouth? Borrowed a trick from that Italian girl, Analisa.
[ Laughs .]
Think we'll stand out to the boys now? Let's go! [ Giggling .]
I don't know that we need all the makeup.
You're glow-in-the-dark all over.
You're glowing with health yourself.
It's the undark dust.
Ain't you never noticed? Janey goes out dancing in her work clothes, says it wows everyone.
[ Chuckling .]
Who dances in their work clothes? Man: Hi.
Noble: The corporation has told the dial painters there is no risk from the radium.
What I can't figure out is what all these lead screens are for.
They say it's all so safe, so why are the guys with the brains hiding behind this stuff? Kovarik: Scientists and chemists didn't have a lot of information, but they did have concerns about the radium, so they would take precautions.
They would use lead shields.
They would handle radium with tongs.
But they didn't share those concerns with the dial painters.
This place gives me the creeps.
Can we go home now? I'm beat.
You sure are washed out a lot.
Seems like your get-up-and-go has got up and gone, young lady.
Noble: The girls quit their dial-painting jobs at U.
S.
Radium in 1921.
But a year later, Irene is in a hospital with fevers and violent pains in her bones and jaw.
[ Breathing heavily .]
[ Weakly .]
The doctors say they don't know what's causing it.
Well, I'll tell them.
It's the undark paint.
If it wasn't so dangerous, why'd they have lead screens and breathing masks in the labs? I promise you, Irene, I'm not gonna let them get away with this.
Noble: After two years of suffering, Irene dies.
[ Tooth cracking .]
[ Tooth cracking .]
[ Breathing shakily .]
[ Whimpering .]
Noble: 18 months after Irene's death, Katherine is hospitalized with identical symptoms -- fevers, fatigue, and agonizing pain deep in her bones.
She's seen by a specialist How are you feeling, my dear? Dr.
Frederick Flynn.
Well, I've looked at everything.
Your blood works, your physiology -- [ weakly .]
It's the radium, isn't it, Dr.
Flynn? I'm afraid not.
The U.
S.
Radium Corporation were so concerned, they commissioned a study from Harvard.
Harvard? The best of the best, scientifically.
They concur with my findings.
This terrible illness -- it's not the radium.
I know that's not what you were hoping for.
How else did I get like this? Well, it's not easy to accept, I know, but some of your symptoms are consistent with angina bacterial infection and, uh, quite possiblysyphilis.
[ Crying .]
I'm sorry.
Noble: Katherine Schaub spent three years painting clock dials with glow-in-the-dark paint.
Now she is slowly dying from a mysterious illness.
She's not alone.
Dr.
Puthucheary: In December 1923, Katherine began to suffer from something that the dial painters had begun to call "jaw rot.
" A health official began a second investigation into U.
S.
Radium.
She found three women dead and further two critically ill, but the Labor Department objected and said there was still not enough evidence to warrant action.
Noble: The sick dial painters' fight against their former employer gains momentum.
Katherine Wiley, an activist from the National Consumers League, has taken up their cause.
So, Dr.
Flynn is certain it's not the radium? Yeah.
Well, I guess he's an expert, butI don't understand.
He's treating you for free, right? Uh-huh.
It's awfully generous of him.
How'd he get in contact with you? You gave him my name.
He told me.
No, I didn't.
I'd never heard of Dr.
Flynn until you mentioned him.
Dr.
Flynn, I presume.
I, uh, don't believe I've had the pleasure.
Katherine Wiley.
You're not actually a medical doctor at all, are you, Dr.
Flynn? You're aphysiologist.
I, uh -- a physiologist in the employ of U.
S.
Radium Corporation.
They pay you for your research, do they not, Dr.
Flynn? They're paying you to lie, aren't they? U.
S.
Radium commissioned a study from Harvard.
It said radium isn't responsible.
I managed to get ahold of a copy, Dr.
Flynn, and that is not what it says.
That is not what it says at all.
So, the difference between what U.
S.
Radium is saying and what the scientific report really said is an underhanded piece of industrial skullduggery.
The Harvard scientists set up an experiment to find out how radium gets absorbed into the body, and they feed radium to cats, and they find out that the cats are absorbing the radium and depositing the radium in their bones.
And they figure out from this that the dial painters also are ingesting radium and the radium is also lodging in their bones.
The corporation lied, didn't they? It is radiation poisoning, isn't it, Dr.
Flynn? I'm dying, aren't I? How long do I have left? We now know Katherine Schaub was suffering from what's known as "chronic radium poisoning.
" The way in which you get radium poisoning is to ingest radium.
To paint these small watch faces accurately, you need a very sharp point on the brush.
And what women figured out pretty quickly, especially because they were being paid by the piece, was they could do this more swiftly and more accurately if they drew the paintbrush to a point in their mouth.
So they would dip the brush into the radium paint, bring it to their mouth and point it, and then apply it to the watch dial.
As a result, they were ingesting a lot of radium every single day.
Now, your body thinks of radium as being like calcium, and your body incorporates the radium into your bones and into your teeth.
The problem with this is that it damages the bones and teeth, and it can actually weaken your jaw so much that your jaw literally falls off.
So many patients who had radium poisoning actually had to have their jaws bandaged up to support them, to keep them as part of their face.
Noble: Five of the dial painters, including Katherine Schaub, sued the U.
S.
Radium Corporation for giving them a lethal illness.
[ Gavel bangs .]
Medical experts are called to give evidence.
This is the X-ray film that I held up against Katie's jaw for just 10 minutes.
She's so radioactive that, as you can see, the film is fogged.
Her bones are lethally radioactive.
[ Spectators murmuring .]
It is unlikely that she or the other plaintiffs will see out another year.
Dr.
Cohen: Katherine became the public face of this court case.
And even when she was dying, she pledged herself as an experimental subject to understand the disease.
In modern-day terms, she was a true working-class hero.
Place your right hand on the Bible.
Kovarik: U.
S.
Radium Corporation tries to argue that the statute of limitations has passed for these women and that they've known all along about their problems, but the court doesn't buy that argument and things were moving forward to trial.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do.
At that point, U.
S.
Radium Corporation says, "We need a postponement.
Our expert witnesses are going to Europe for the summer.
" And this is what really outrages people.
Here are these poor women dying for justice, and the doors of justice are barred to them.
Noble: The public outcry is so intense that a federal court judge forces the corporation to the table.
They've settled, Katherine -- $15,000 and $600 more for every year you live.
[ Weakly chuckles .]
I won't be collecting too many of them, I'm guessing.
Noble: Under public pressure, the corporation shuts down the factory where Katherine worked.
They've admitted they're wrong, and they're gonna make the painting safer.
Safer? They told us it was safe in the first place.
How do we know they've got it right now? Think we'll stand out to the boys now?
Your screen will soon be filled with dramatized stories of scientific research that some people may find controversial or disturbing.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Ask yourself, does progress always come at a price? Are some experiments too risky or just wrong? A little curiosity can't hurt anyone Can it? I'll introduce you to a mysterious red rain.
Is it animal, vegetable, mineral or something out of this world? And a bunch of factory girls who radiate health and a good work ethic.
Glowing in the dark is only fun for a while.
But first, sit, stay roll over -- simple tricks to teach a dog, and we're just animals, too, right? So, can you train a human like a dog? Or more importantly, should you? Heard of Pavlov and his dogs? Well, meet Pavlov's children.
[ Bell ringing .]
Always ensure that the cannula fits tightly over the salivary gland.
Physiologist Ivan Pavlov is introducing freshmen medical students to his experimental techniques on dogs.
He has developed equipment to collect the dog's saliva via tube in its mouth or a hole in its cheek.
When the dog is presented with food, its level of salivation is measured by an electromagnetic chart recorder.
Thus, we know exactly how much Raisa has salivated.
Am I boring you, Krasnogorskii? Professor -- of course not, Professor Pavlov.
It is fascinating.
This is science, and you are privileged to be a part of it.
When I was your age, I had never seen a laboratory.
[ Choir vocalizing, bell tolling .]
I was in a seminary, training to be a priest.
One book changed my life, and it was not the word of God as the priests hoped -- "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin.
I opened that book, and I knew myself.
I knew who I was.
I was an animal among other animals.
To understand myself, I need not explore my immortal soul.
I only needed to explore other animals.
Stringer: Charles Darwin's ideas on evolution very much embedded humans in the natural world.
He showed that we were part of the natural world, not separate from it, that we'd been produced by the same processes that have produced the rest of the diversity of life.
Noble: Pavlov is fascinated by the reflex responses of animals.
All animals have reflexive responses, right? If you put your hand really close to your eye really quickly, you'll get a blink response.
If you tap part of your leg, you get a kick.
Those are automatic, unconscious.
Noble: But Pavlov noticed something interesting about how a dog's salivation reflex is triggered.
So, tell me, what is so fascinating about the dog's saliva, hmm? Well, gentlemen, the saliva of a dog can tell you more than you think.
It can tell you how you think.
One day, I entered the room when my assistant, Tolochinov, was feeding the dogs as usual, and I noticed the dogs were salivating before there was a scrap of food in the bowls.
The dogs were drooling at the mere presence of their keeper.
So, what makes the dogs salivate? Dr.
Shapiro: Previous to this, we thought that a dog's digestion would just be completely automatic.
They eat something -- they salivate in response.
But he discovers that the body is responding in this automatic way to things they're seeing in the environment.
Noble: Pavlov believes that the sight of his assistant has replaced eating as the automatic trigger for salivation.
If he's right, the dog's reflex responses could be trained to respond to anything even a bell.
Now, Raisa here has heard this bell every time she receives food.
[ Bell rings .]
Already, her mind should be preparing her body as if the food were already before her.
The salivation rate is rising.
This proves a profound fact -- what the mind believes becomes fact for the body.
Dr.
Shapiro: Pavlov discovers you can actually induce reflexive automatic responses in response to things that the mind perceives.
These are "condition responses," he calls them.
Noble: This groundbreaking work earns Pavlov the nobel prize in 1904.
Dr.
Shapiro: It's mind-blowing because it means that the dogs' minds are actually radically influencing things that, before, we thought were just automatic.
Could this also apply to humans, Professor? One only needs to say the word "blinis" and Smolenski starts salivating.
That is the great question -- the biggest question, Krasnogorskii.
Does the dog control its drooling, or can't it help itself? Can Viktor Mikhailovich Smolenski help himself? Noble: Nikolai Krasnogorskii starts to wonder, "How much are we humans "controlled by our unconscious impulses? "How much of our lives are merely reflexes triggered by signals we aren't aware of?" Excuse me, Professor.
May I speak with you? Of course.
Would a human experiment not prove Darwin's contention that we, too, are animals? An interesting question, Nikolai Ivanovich.
Dr.
Shapiro: Two great thinkers.
Darwin, right? -- Bridging the gap between animals and man.
Pavlov -- bridging the gap in animals in the mind and body, connecting the two.
But what hasn't been done yet is Pavlov's work in humans -- bridging the gap between mind and body in humans.
Noble: Krasnogorskii believes he's the man to make that leap.
He needs human test subjects to experiment on at will, subjects who cannot complain.
[ Indistinct conversations .]
He finds them in an orphanage.
Nowwho wants to help make a great scientific discovery? These days, experiments involving human subjects, but specifically children, are very tightly regulated to make sure that the subjects and the children are protected at all costs.
Back in those days, scientists could do almost anything they wanted.
So, you see, children, science is the future for Russia and the world.
Now [Clicks tongue.]
let's get to work.
Dr.
Britt: Krasnogorskii decided to work with children instead of adults.
Adults are more likely to try to figure out what the experiment is all about, which was not something he wanted to interfere with his work.
Noble: Krasnogorskii treats the children like Pavlov treated his dogs.
[ Air rushing .]
He straps them into a machine and locks the child's head in a metal cage.
Keep still.
Dr.
Britt: What Krasnogorskii did was to essentially reproduce Pavlov's experiments, but this time, using children instead of dogs.
Noble: The children are left alone in the booth for an hour or more, made to lie perfectly still.
Krasnogorskii believes he can prove these children are nothing more than animals And neither are you.
Noble: Nikolai Krasnogorskii is attempting to train the subconscious minds of orphans to react at his command just like his mentor, Ivan Pavlov, did to dogs.
Instead of the bell Pavlov used for his dogs, Krasnogorskii applies pressure to the boy's wrist to signal that food is coming.
The machine immediately feeds the child a cookie.
[ Lever creaks .]
He records the child's salivation levels.
And repeat.
[ Air rushing .]
When he believes that the child's unconscious mind has learned to associate the signal with food, Krasnogorskii gives the signal but no food.
Just like Pavlov's dogs, the boy salivates and swallows -- not because of food, but because of Krasnogorskii's signal.
Krasnogorskii has proven a human mind can be trained as easily as a dog's to react to a signal with an unthinking reflex.
It's working! [ Laughs .]
For over a decade, Krasnogorskii experiments on dozens of orphans strapped inside his machine.
[ Switch clicks .]
He discovers differences between the reactions of dogs and humans.
condition stimulus.
Unlike dogs, humans can separate subtle changes in the stimulus.
Predicted response.
Children trained to salivate when hearing a metronome beat one rhythm automatically ignore it when the rhythm is changed.
unconditioned stimulus.
The child's conscious mind associates clicks with food, but the unconscious reflex of salivation can differentiate one rhythm from another.
No response.
It worked.
Dr.
Britt: Well, as it turns out, humans are much more sophisticated in our responses to stimuli than are animals.
We can, for example, distinguish between very fine differences in a stimuli, and we learn things faster and retain them longer.
[ Laughs .]
Pavlov: Nikolai Ivanovich.
What you are doing here -- it's it's inspired.
[ Chuckles .]
Noble: Ivan Pavlov is captivated by the results.
Fascinating.
So, the question is, "at what stage of development does the reflex become active?" Dr.
Britt: Krasnogorskii concluded that there was a mechanistic explanation of the mind.
All behavior was the result of either innate responses -- like salivating to food, for example -- or learned responses, which we had accumulated throughout our lives.
So, once you work out the details, it's conceivable that if you could record all of the events that someone had undergone, then you could completely predict behavior.
We'll need more children and a whole range of ages, from infancy through Noble: Pavlov and Krasnogorskii's work becomes hugely influential in unexpected areas.
Dr.
Shapiro: Pavlov studied associations -- in his case, with dogs, between seeing people delivering food and salivating.
Well, any time we turn on the computer or our television or even just leave our houses, advertisers try and help us associate one thing with another.
Usually, it's, you know, power and fame with driving a certain car or athletic prowess with a certain kind of sneaker.
Pavlov's work is alive and well.
Noble: Pavlov's research helps Madison Avenue sell us trillions of dollars' worth of products.
It also helps treat anxiety, substance abuse, and other problems of the mind.
Dr.
Britt: It was the inspiration behind the most popular form of therapy today, cognitive behavioral therapy, which treats psychological disorders by training patients in learned responses, which bears a similarity to conditioning.
Noble: We do not know the fate of Krasnogorskii's test subjects Keep still.
but they changed our world, proving that conditioning the subconscious human mind is no more challenging than training that of an animal.
In the end, we're all Pavlov's children.
Remember that as you watch the commercials.
[ Air rushing .]
It is human nature to see freak weather as a sign from the Gods.
But when the heavens open in India and rain is the color of blood, scientists hunt for a rational explanation.
In this case, the most rational explanation sounds completely crazy.
Where did life begin? In some primordial goo billions of years ago on the volcanic surface of the young earth? [ Chuckles .]
It's an incredible idea Yet the truth may be still more astonishing.
Is it possible all life on our planet fell from the sky? Are aliens still falling? [ Thunder crashes .]
Are you seeing this? This rain -- it is red.
Red rain.
[ Laughs .]
It is some kind of magic, I'm telling you.
[ Laughs .]
Godfrey Louis -- Professor of solid-state physics.
Apologies, Professor.
You wanted to see me? George from crystallography sent this to me.
Well? Santhosh Kumar -- doctoral student.
It is a red liquid.
[ Speaking indistinctly .]
Let me help you.
Have you see this? Red rain -- unexplained.
I thought it might be, uh, fun to try and find the answer.
It would be an honor.
Then the game is afoot.
So, Mr.
Kumar, what is your first working hypothesis? Dust blown from a desert or a volcano, perhaps.
In science, we have something called "Occam's Razor.
" Sometimes, the simplest solution is the correct one.
So, when we have this red rain from the heavens, perhaps it's dust clouds.
For example, dust from the Gobi Desert, the Sahara Desert, swirls over Europe and even lands in the United States in your backyard.
So, it was no accident, therefore, that some scientists said, "aha, let's look at dust clouds.
" Professor, it's definitely not dust.
These look like living cells.
Hmmmost fascinating.
Well? Living cells in rain -- most likely, it must be contamination.
Then you must go to Changanassery.
More of the rain has fallen.
Get new samples.
[ Rooster crows .]
Is there something I can be helping you with? I am, uh, Santhosh Kumar.
I'm looking for samples of the red rain.
Is this what you are looking for? And what is it you think caused it? Bats? Bats.
They believe a flock of bats exploded and that the rain is their blood.
Should we test for blood? Perhaps there's a simpler question to ask first -- have you ever seen evidence that bats can explode? [ Chuckling .]
No, Godfrey, never.
Noble: Every sample of red rain contains the same strange microscopic objects.
They look like some sort of organic cell, but they test negative for blood.
Dr.
Cohen: The cell-like structures they were observing were very unlikely to be red blood cells.
Because the interior of the cell is salty, they would have absorbed or taken in the rainwater around them and probably burst.
Noble: The cell-like objects contain proteins only found in living organisms, but they lack a fundamental component of nearly all cells -- there is no nucleus.
They are like cells, yet, at the same time, they're not.
We need to find out more about the rainfall.
Back to Changanassery, I think.
[ Thunder crashes .]
It sounded like an explosion.
The whole house was shaking, then blood was falling from the skies.
Come on, we have to go.
Noble: A single deafening explosion high in the sky, followed by red rain -- witness after witness tells the same story.
That's the fifth one -- all the same.
So, your first thought is Thunderbut you do not hear a single clap, even in the monsoon.
I thought, perhaps, a supersonic jet, but there are no air bases near here.
But not supersonic -- hypersonic.
It could be a shock wave an asteroid.
Every day, rocks from space -- asteroids -- hit the Earth.
Now, for the most part, they simply burn up high in the atmosphere, leaving no trace.
But the larger ones -- when they come in, they create a shock wave in front.
And when the asteroid goes faster than the speed of the shock wave, it creates a sonic boom, going in at 40,000 to 70,000 miles per hour.
Boom! The cells were on the asteroid.
I mean, where on Earth could you find a cell with such strange properties? The answer is nowhere on Earth.
But, surely I mean to say, is that likely, possible even? You are suggesting Alien life? When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Noble: Physicists Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar believe they have discovered alien life.
They think living cells survived the deadly vacuum of space on the back of an asteroid and fell to Earth in a bizarre red rain.
Cells living in space is not as crazy as it sounds.
When the Surveyor spacecraft was first created by workers on the planet Earth, it was slightly contaminated by microbes.
It was then shot to the Moon.
And then several years later, our astronauts picked up panels from the Surveyor and brought it back to Earth.
We were shocked to find that there was evidence of microbial life that actually survived several years of living on the Moon.
Noble: Professor Louis puts the cells through a series of brutal tests.
He bathes them in sulfuric acid.
He heats them to more than 300 degrees.
He exposes them to ultra-low pressure and ultraviolet radiation.
These extreme conditions would kill almost any known cell from Earth, but these unearthly cells don't merely survive, they thrive.
Kumar.
The cells -- they do reproduce.
They are alive.
But at room temperature, the effect is almost invisibly slow.
But, surely, cells should reproduce easily at room temperature.
Not these ones, it would seem.
It only happens at extremely high temperatures.
In fact, I could still see reproduction at 300 degrees.
Dr.
Cohen: Most cells that we know of cannot divide and reproduce at temperatures of 100 degrees centigrade and above.
There are certain cells that have evolved to cope with high temperatures.
These are cells, called "extremophiles," that live at very high temperatures and have developed elaborate mechanisms to allow them to divide and reproduce.
There are no cells that we know of that can survive temperatures of 300 degrees centigrade and above.
Noble: That's about almost hot enough to melt lead.
Also, I have tested for DNA.
I cannot find any.
There is no DNA, yet they reproduce.
What does this mean? An essential component of any free living organism is DNA.
DNA is the blueprint of life and allows that cell to survive and function.
More importantly, it allows that cell to divide and reproduce.
So, if I was handed a tube of cells that didn't contain DNA but were able to divide and reproduce, I would have to question whether they were part of life on this planet as we know it or whether they came from somewhere else.
Thank you.
Godfrey.
This could even bigger than I thought.
What could? Have you ever heard of panspermia? The conventional theory of how life started on the Earth is that life started as amino acids and primitive DNA molecules in the ocean, in tidal pools, or perhaps at the bottom of the ocean near volcano vents, where you have energy.
The panspermia idea says, "Not so fast.
"Perhaps, from outer space, we have spores, "spores that could survive the rigors of space "for millions of years, "and they would then land on the Earth "in the form of meteorites and then basically seeding the Earth as a consequence.
" Noble: Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar publish their strange findings in a respected astrophysics journal.
Scientists around the world are intrigued, and British researchers request a sample to test for themselves.
[ Telephone rings .]
Good morning.
It is 3:00 a.
m.
It is fine, please.
So, you have seen it replicate at hot temperatures? Definitely.
But the cells are biological.
They are alive? Excellent.
Of course.
First thing.
Santhosh, I think we're really onto something here.
Dr.
Cohen: The British researchers found that these cells could only divide at the higher temperatures and not at the lower temperatures, and this had not been observed previously for any other cell population.
Noble: But the British find something inside the cells that Professor Louis did not.
They say they have found DNA when we found none.
Did we make an error? Though British scientists detect the chemical signature of DNA, they are unable to observe it directly.
Perhaps it is like DNA, but not identical.
It will appear on their test, but not on ours.
Extraterrestrial? Or more down to earth? The case remains open.
The evidence for these cells from the red rain being, in fact, of extraterrestrial origin has been far from proven to the satisfaction of the scientific community.
While the Indian researchers said they couldn't find DNA in it, they were physicists who were not used to dealing with plant cells and didn't have the equipment for it.
Noble: Perhaps the red rain did not come from an asteroid, or perhaps it did.
As yet, there is no other proven explanation.
Do you honestly believe that the red rain contains cells from outer space? Absolutely.
I think alien life may be raining down on us from space every day.
Or should I say, it's the best working hypothesis we have.
The truth, as they say, is out there.
Girls just want to have fun, at work or at play.
But when the factory workers are kept in the dark, it won't be long before someone gets hurt.
An employee and her employer make a trade -- the workers' time and skill for the business owner's money.
What else comes into the bargain? Does the company owe its employee the truth? Does the worker owe the factory her life? [ Laughs .]
I am so sorry we're late.
[ Chuckles .]
Hi, girls.
Women: Hi.
You hear about Jane? Wrote her address on the back of a watch Noble: Katherine Schaub and her cousin Irene paint glow-in-the-dark clock and watch faces for a living.
Dr.
Silbey: When the U.
S.
Army entered the first World War, it needed instruments that could be read at any time, day or night, even in dark trenches.
By painting the numbers and dials of instruments, the U.
S.
Radium Corporation was catering to the army's needs.
Well, looky here, girls -- rare as a hen's teeth, an eligible bachelor.
Say hi to Fred, girls.
Women: Hi, Fred.
Hi, Fred.
[ Chuckles .]
Got any of those gloves for us, Fred? Aww, he's a worrier, see? Leave him, Katie.
I think he's a dream boat.
[ Giggles .]
Well, Irene, you could do a lot worse than bagging a smart chemist from upstairs.
[ Chuckles .]
Noble: The corporation has turned the new science of radioactivity into a profitable business.
They call their glowing paint "undark.
" Its key ingredient is radium.
Radium is an amazing material.
Because it's radioactive, it emits particles.
And if you mix it with a substance like zinc sulfide, it'll cause the zinc sulfide to fluoresce.
It'll glow in the dark, and that'll last for a long time -- 1,500 years.
Noble: After World War I ends, business remains brisk for the U.
S.
Radium Corporation.
The girls are kept busy painting undark watch dials to meet growing public demand.
I'm beat.
Beat? You can't be beat.
You and me are going out dancing, Miss Irene Rudolph.
Dancing? After today? How do you do it, Katie? Why, it must be the invigorating power of radium.
They say it cures every ill.
[ Chuckles .]
With our job, you should be jumping like a cricket.
Come on.
Let's get ready.
[ Chuckles .]
Kovarik: So, at the end of World War I, people are looking to science to solve their problems, and radium is part of the dawn of this new age, and they're very enthusiastic.
So, you find radium in all kinds of products.
You could have toothpaste with radium.
You could drink a glass of radium water.
You could go to a radium spa where you could experience the benefits of instant sunshine.
Wall Street millionaires would have radium-sniffing parties, thinking that this cosmic energy would help to inspire even more millions to be made on the stock market.
Hey, Irene, want to see my new secret weapon? Turn the light off, quick, now.
I'm the radium girl.
What do you think? Oh, yeah? [ Laughs .]
What have you done to your mouth? Borrowed a trick from that Italian girl, Analisa.
[ Laughs .]
Think we'll stand out to the boys now? Let's go! [ Giggling .]
I don't know that we need all the makeup.
You're glow-in-the-dark all over.
You're glowing with health yourself.
It's the undark dust.
Ain't you never noticed? Janey goes out dancing in her work clothes, says it wows everyone.
[ Chuckling .]
Who dances in their work clothes? Man: Hi.
Noble: The corporation has told the dial painters there is no risk from the radium.
What I can't figure out is what all these lead screens are for.
They say it's all so safe, so why are the guys with the brains hiding behind this stuff? Kovarik: Scientists and chemists didn't have a lot of information, but they did have concerns about the radium, so they would take precautions.
They would use lead shields.
They would handle radium with tongs.
But they didn't share those concerns with the dial painters.
This place gives me the creeps.
Can we go home now? I'm beat.
You sure are washed out a lot.
Seems like your get-up-and-go has got up and gone, young lady.
Noble: The girls quit their dial-painting jobs at U.
S.
Radium in 1921.
But a year later, Irene is in a hospital with fevers and violent pains in her bones and jaw.
[ Breathing heavily .]
[ Weakly .]
The doctors say they don't know what's causing it.
Well, I'll tell them.
It's the undark paint.
If it wasn't so dangerous, why'd they have lead screens and breathing masks in the labs? I promise you, Irene, I'm not gonna let them get away with this.
Noble: After two years of suffering, Irene dies.
[ Tooth cracking .]
[ Tooth cracking .]
[ Breathing shakily .]
[ Whimpering .]
Noble: 18 months after Irene's death, Katherine is hospitalized with identical symptoms -- fevers, fatigue, and agonizing pain deep in her bones.
She's seen by a specialist How are you feeling, my dear? Dr.
Frederick Flynn.
Well, I've looked at everything.
Your blood works, your physiology -- [ weakly .]
It's the radium, isn't it, Dr.
Flynn? I'm afraid not.
The U.
S.
Radium Corporation were so concerned, they commissioned a study from Harvard.
Harvard? The best of the best, scientifically.
They concur with my findings.
This terrible illness -- it's not the radium.
I know that's not what you were hoping for.
How else did I get like this? Well, it's not easy to accept, I know, but some of your symptoms are consistent with angina bacterial infection and, uh, quite possiblysyphilis.
[ Crying .]
I'm sorry.
Noble: Katherine Schaub spent three years painting clock dials with glow-in-the-dark paint.
Now she is slowly dying from a mysterious illness.
She's not alone.
Dr.
Puthucheary: In December 1923, Katherine began to suffer from something that the dial painters had begun to call "jaw rot.
" A health official began a second investigation into U.
S.
Radium.
She found three women dead and further two critically ill, but the Labor Department objected and said there was still not enough evidence to warrant action.
Noble: The sick dial painters' fight against their former employer gains momentum.
Katherine Wiley, an activist from the National Consumers League, has taken up their cause.
So, Dr.
Flynn is certain it's not the radium? Yeah.
Well, I guess he's an expert, butI don't understand.
He's treating you for free, right? Uh-huh.
It's awfully generous of him.
How'd he get in contact with you? You gave him my name.
He told me.
No, I didn't.
I'd never heard of Dr.
Flynn until you mentioned him.
Dr.
Flynn, I presume.
I, uh, don't believe I've had the pleasure.
Katherine Wiley.
You're not actually a medical doctor at all, are you, Dr.
Flynn? You're aphysiologist.
I, uh -- a physiologist in the employ of U.
S.
Radium Corporation.
They pay you for your research, do they not, Dr.
Flynn? They're paying you to lie, aren't they? U.
S.
Radium commissioned a study from Harvard.
It said radium isn't responsible.
I managed to get ahold of a copy, Dr.
Flynn, and that is not what it says.
That is not what it says at all.
So, the difference between what U.
S.
Radium is saying and what the scientific report really said is an underhanded piece of industrial skullduggery.
The Harvard scientists set up an experiment to find out how radium gets absorbed into the body, and they feed radium to cats, and they find out that the cats are absorbing the radium and depositing the radium in their bones.
And they figure out from this that the dial painters also are ingesting radium and the radium is also lodging in their bones.
The corporation lied, didn't they? It is radiation poisoning, isn't it, Dr.
Flynn? I'm dying, aren't I? How long do I have left? We now know Katherine Schaub was suffering from what's known as "chronic radium poisoning.
" The way in which you get radium poisoning is to ingest radium.
To paint these small watch faces accurately, you need a very sharp point on the brush.
And what women figured out pretty quickly, especially because they were being paid by the piece, was they could do this more swiftly and more accurately if they drew the paintbrush to a point in their mouth.
So they would dip the brush into the radium paint, bring it to their mouth and point it, and then apply it to the watch dial.
As a result, they were ingesting a lot of radium every single day.
Now, your body thinks of radium as being like calcium, and your body incorporates the radium into your bones and into your teeth.
The problem with this is that it damages the bones and teeth, and it can actually weaken your jaw so much that your jaw literally falls off.
So many patients who had radium poisoning actually had to have their jaws bandaged up to support them, to keep them as part of their face.
Noble: Five of the dial painters, including Katherine Schaub, sued the U.
S.
Radium Corporation for giving them a lethal illness.
[ Gavel bangs .]
Medical experts are called to give evidence.
This is the X-ray film that I held up against Katie's jaw for just 10 minutes.
She's so radioactive that, as you can see, the film is fogged.
Her bones are lethally radioactive.
[ Spectators murmuring .]
It is unlikely that she or the other plaintiffs will see out another year.
Dr.
Cohen: Katherine became the public face of this court case.
And even when she was dying, she pledged herself as an experimental subject to understand the disease.
In modern-day terms, she was a true working-class hero.
Place your right hand on the Bible.
Kovarik: U.
S.
Radium Corporation tries to argue that the statute of limitations has passed for these women and that they've known all along about their problems, but the court doesn't buy that argument and things were moving forward to trial.
Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I do.
At that point, U.
S.
Radium Corporation says, "We need a postponement.
Our expert witnesses are going to Europe for the summer.
" And this is what really outrages people.
Here are these poor women dying for justice, and the doors of justice are barred to them.
Noble: The public outcry is so intense that a federal court judge forces the corporation to the table.
They've settled, Katherine -- $15,000 and $600 more for every year you live.
[ Weakly chuckles .]
I won't be collecting too many of them, I'm guessing.
Noble: Under public pressure, the corporation shuts down the factory where Katherine worked.
They've admitted they're wrong, and they're gonna make the painting safer.
Safer? They told us it was safe in the first place.
How do we know they've got it right now? Think we'll stand out to the boys now?