Atomic Tattoos
99% Invisible16 Tammi 2019

Atomic Tattoos

In the early 1950s, teenage students in Lake County, Indiana, got up from their desks, marched down the halls and lined up at stations. There, fingers were pricked, blood was tested and the teenagers were sent on to the library, where they waited to get a specialized tattoo. Each one was in the same place on the torso, just under the left arm, and spelled out the blood type of the student.

This experimental program was called Operation Tat-Type. It was administered by the county and the idea was simple: to make it easier to transfuse blood after an atomic bomb. At the age of 16, producer Liza Yeager's grandmother, who went to school in Lake County, was permanently marked in anticipation of a nuclear catastrophe.

Atomic Tattoos

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jaksot(778)

The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food

The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food

Officially titled The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food, it was often known simply as “Kniga” (translated: "book") because it was one of the only cookbooks to exist in the Soviet Union. The volume is pep...

4 Elo 202142min

The Lows of High Tech

The Lows of High Tech

Britt Young is a geographer and tech writer based in the Bay Area. She also has what's called a "congenital upper limb deficiency." In other words, she was born without the part of her arm just below ...

27 Heinä 202140min

Hanko

Hanko

Hanko, sometimes called insho, are the carved stamp seals that people in Japan often use in place of signatures. Hanko seals are made from materials ranging from plastic to jade and are about the size...

20 Heinä 202139min

Stuff the British Stole

Stuff the British Stole

Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff. Today those objects are housed in genteel institutions across the UK and the world. They usually come with polite plaques. The ABC podcas...

14 Heinä 202146min

Mine!

Mine!

Every year, fights break out on airplanes. They happen between the people who lean back in their seats, and the people who get their knees smooshed. Sometimes planes have to be grounded because of the...

29 Kesä 202130min

Katie Mingle's Right to Roam

Katie Mingle's Right to Roam

We revisit Katie Mingle's Right to Roam episode as we say goodbyeIn the United Kingdom, the freedom to walk through private land is known as “the right to roam.” The movement to win this right was sta...

23 Kesä 202134min

Flag Days: The Red, the Black & the Green

Flag Days: The Red, the Black & the Green

After Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd last year, tens of thousands of people all over the world took to the streets to protest police violence against Black people. And ...

15 Kesä 202134min

Flag Days: Good Luck, True South

Flag Days: Good Luck, True South

Correction: Our staff producer pronounced the the Japanese word "ōbōn" incorrectly in this episode. It is pronounced OH-bohn not oh-BAHN.Let us be the first to wish you a Happy Flag Day, beautiful ner...

8 Kesä 202144min

Suosittua kategoriassa Liike-elämä ja talous

sijotuskasti
mimmit-sijoittaa
rss-rahapodi
psykopodiaa-podcast
rss-rahamania
ostan-asuntoja-podcast
juristipodi
rss-seuraava-potilas
pomojen-suusta
taloudellinen-mielenrauha
rss-sami-miettinen-neuvottelija
leadcast
yrittaja
rss-lahtijat
rss-myyntikoulu
rss-sisalto-kuntoon
oppimisen-psykologia
rss-h-asselmoilanen
rss-bisnespaiva
rss-paasipodi