Do Go On - 271 - The Demon Core

Episode Date: December 30, 2020

When Japan surrendered in 1945, World War II was brought to a close and the United States' plans for a third atomic bomb drop were abandoned. The plutonium core at the centre of the bomb was shipped to New Mexico for further experiments. Despite avoiding use in war, this plutonium core was still intent on killing. Being at the centre of the first two criticality accidents in history, it was dubbed "The Demon Core."Buy tickets to our live streamed shows:https://sospresents.com/authors/dogoonSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodCheck out our AACTA nominated web series: https://www.youtube.com/user/stupidoldchannel Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-TopicTwitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/demon-core-the-strange-death-of-louis-slotinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_corehttps://www.nndb.com/people/053/000168546/http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2016/05/23/the-blue-flash/https://www.sciencealert.com/the-chilling-story-of-the-demon-core-and-the-scientists-who-became-its-victims-plutonium-bomb-radiation-wwiihttps://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/demon-core-that-killed-two-scientists

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serenji Amarna, 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there.

Canada, we are visiting you in September this year. If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnikey and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart. Hello Dave, hello Matt. Hey Jess, I'm Matt Stewart. That is Dave Warnock over there. And Jess, you are Jess Perkins. That's right. Welcome to the show.

Welcome to my show, Do Go On. Great to be part of it. And can I just also say to you, Matt, welcome to my show. Do Go On. Thanks so much having me on your show, Do Go On. Thanks for having me too, Jess. And Dave, thank you for having us here, Do Go On. The thing is that Do Go On kind of belongs to all the people. All three of us. All three of us. Yeah, the people. The people in this room. We're the people. Do Go on. Hey Dave, I'm already hearing new listeners going, what is this all about? Yeah. Can you explain the show for us? Well, I'd love to explain the show for you, but I've had about 250 goes at it and I've never got it right. So a few weeks ago, I put the call out on the show to be like, hey, if there's any muses out there that'd love to make a 60s style song that explains how the show works, like a sitcom style song.

We've had a bunch of entries, and this one has come from a dear, dear friend of mine, who you might know as Tom Mitchell, former lead singer. of Weidhorned. Oh my God. Not Braille Face. No, that's Chawton White from my other band, playwright. This is even further back than that, one of my closest friends in the entire world.

And he's a big fan of this show. So thank you so much for sending in this song, Tom Mitchell, that explains the show. Welcome to Zugo on. We hope you listen alone. Not just a day for do we're apart as the other's banter alone. It's obvious to suggested by a list. Now they begin with a question.

This is SCAR. I get it. Now you get it. So Tom's also explained the show, but also explained what SCAR is. So thank you so much, Tom. Tom, that is great. That is so, so good. Very much appreciate it.

He sent that to me, emailed and said, should I send this to the Doogall 1 email? And I said, I'll keep it a surprise. Thank you for that. Absolute gift. It was weird that he did confuse Scar for SCAT, though. I think that was third generation SCAT. Ah, yes, third wave of scatting.

Yeah. Yeah. Still, we don't know what SCAR really, really is. We'll never know. So, thank you for that. So the show is, yeah, we take this as a report on top. I mean, it is my turn. And this is the last report for the year.

Far out. And tell you what, this year can go suck a fuck. 2020, get fuck. Oh, that was pretty good. He had a good time in 2020? Wait, 2020? Oh, my goodness. Oh, good Lord.

No. How exciting, Dave. I hope you really go out with a bang. If this is a mediocre report, I'm going to be very disappointed in you. Go out with a bang, we shall. Oh, no, there's some sort of explosion. Okay, my question is, what topic in the hat sounds like a genre of metal, but really is the name of a nuclear mishap?

Oh, you're not going to get it, but... Like an actual genre of metal? Oh, it sounds like one. It's something core. Oh, metal core? Yeah, it's very sinister, very devil-like. Grumble core. Dumbledore.

Is it Dumbledore? It's Dumbledore. I knew it. The nuclear mishap Dumbledore. This topic, it jumped out at me because it's called the demon core. Oh. That does sound like a metal. That does sound like a demon core.

Suggested by two people. Thank you to Stephen Dumbold and Blake Wild. Dumbledore. Yeah. It also kind of sounds like it could be a genre of porn. Oh. Demon core? Yeah.

Wow, you are into some weird shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's fine. Hey, that is actually fine. Okay, so, have you guys heard anything about the demon core? I know about Goblin core music, but I haven't, no, I haven't heard of demon core.

I have heard of it fairly recently when my friend Dave mentioned it on a a podcast. He sounds hot. No, but he's got a heart of gold. Really? Lucky's not hot. Yeah, honestly. I mean, he'd be arrogant, otherwise.

All right, we've got to go back to 1939 to set up this one at the onset of World War II. Uh-oh. The sequel is always better. When advances in nuclear fission meant that many American scientists, many of whom had fled fascist regimes in Europe, were worried that Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany might attempt to create a massively destructive nuclear weapon. Okay. That was a big concern.

Yeah. So the most famous scientist in the world, Albert Einstein, was persuaded to send a letter to then-U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt alerting him to this danger. And when Albert comes a knocking, you listen. Yeah. And as a result, an advisory committee on uranium was established. By 1940, it was known that Germany was indeed exploring,

the new technology, and so was Britain. So eventually when the United States entered the war in late 1941, a vast array of plants, laboratories and manufacturing facilities were built across the country under the direction of Lieutenant General Leslie Groves. Manhattan Project became the code name used for the research with the ultimate goal being to develop and test a nuclear weapon before any other country. I've heard of Manhattan Project. Yeah, the Manhattan Project.

First they take Manhattan. And then they take Berlin. Exactly. I mean, if you can't take your own city, how are you going to take theirs? Yeah, and Rome wasn't built in a day. Oh, that's a good point. Hey, hey, hey.

You know what I mean? Oh, went in that place. They spent billions of dollars on the Manhattan Project and employed 130,000 people, including some very, very famous scientists. Jay Robert Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in Northern. New Mexico, and he's sort of seen as the father of all of this, Robert Oppenheimer.

Also working on the project was at least 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Mara Curie. Yes, hanging around. Obviously, she's like, anybody known any penicillin? I got some. I got it. I got it. Mainly that were all winners of Peace Awards.

Peace and music. Literature. Yeah, bring it in there. I got Ernest Hemingway. What do you reckon? Can I make this bomb? He's like, oh. I don't know.

I don't know about that. My heart's a bomb. For you. There's a very famous scientist. If you're like an inter-science, you might know these people. Niles Bohr. Hans Beater. And if not, you'll enjoy the names anyway.

Amazing. Ernest Lawrence, Enrico Fermi, Isidore Isaac Rabi, Felix Block, and my favourite, Glenn T. Seaborg. That's good. Who discovered 10. different elements including plutonium. Far out.

He was busy. Yeah. Have a break. Try Hawaii. It's very nice. Your feet up, mate. He's covered 10 and none of them are the element that are named after him. Do you know they're named an element after him?

Seaborgium is an element. Seaborgium. It's a beautiful name. Sounds made up. Beautiful name for girl. It's not like in the first 20, so I don't know it. It's not in the first. Certainly not.

So I don't know it is. What's the first one? Hydrogen. Don't know it. What's zero? I don't want to say too much about the project because I think it would be a very good report in its own right. But long story short, they were successful.

Hooray! Is that a hooray? I don't know how to feel. Well, it came at a big cost of humanity. They were successful. Boo! Boo! Thanks for making us worried about the inevitable nuclear war that shall ensue one day.

Yay. But on July 16th, 1945, in a remote desert location in New Mexico, the first atomic bomb was successfully detonated. Called the Trinity Test, it resulted in an enormous mushroom cloud, some 40,000 feet or 12 kilometers high. Four, that's big. And with that, the atomic age was ushered in. That's quite large. Yeah, that's a big old bomb. Am I right in that?

What I'm imagining? Yeah. Like bigger than like a three-story building. Yeah, bigger than like a porta bellow or a... Oh, fuck. Really? Yeah, yeah. Bigger than a porta bellow.

Yeah, that's like king of mushrooms. Yeah. You can sometimes get a mushroom burger that's just a porta bello. They're the size of a burger. Yeah, well, this bomb was the size of two burgers. What? A double stack. No.

Yeah. I said it couldn't be done. Oh my God. They thought they were worried that Adolf Hitler would be the first to develop it. Yeah. Well, they beat him to it And a lot of people died From cholesterol?

Clostral? You think it's healthy because it's vegetarian But there's still a bit of grease in there Oh yeah Yeah, there's double the normal amount of grease Yeah Well, under the gardens of Oppenheimer Two distinct types of atomic bombs

Were developed at Los Alamos New Mexico A uranium-based design called The Little Boy and a plutonium weapon Called the big boy Called the fat man Oh come on A little boy and the fat man

Did you guys grow up with I've heard Joshua call them these Little hot dogs are called little boys Yeah cocktails My dad sometimes called them little boys Little cocktail Frankfort Yeah I never called them little boys No

Yeah it's very upsetting When you think about it too much Cocktail Franks Yeah I think that's what we call them Sounds delicious Yeah With that weird rubbery skin.

But then also on Josh Earl's podcast, I'd heard something I'd never heard before, which is that his family would have pink soup, which is they drink the water that hot dogs have been boiled in. There's an entree. Yeah, pink soup. No, thank you. You're listening, Josh. You're gross.

He knows. He wasn't bragging about it. Oh, no, he wasn't. I thought maybe it was like a Tasmanian thing. You know how it can change. state to state, but your dad would say it. Yeah, little boy sometimes. Gets rid of that theory.

And I'd slap his face. Yeah. I've heard people call him chippaladas as well. Oh. Well, that's more fun. That makes them sound exotic. Makes them sound like chips, though. Yeah.

I'm expecting potatoes. Oh, right. Oh, would you like a chippelada? Please. Oh. What the fuck? Take those little boys away. Yeah.

I can't remember what we called them. I thought that maybe just Frankfitz. Yeah. Franks. I think it was mostly Frankfitts. Yeah. Little boys. Forty Franks, maybe?

Is that a thing? Maybe cocktail weenies? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yep, yep. I remember at our school fate, when I, at primary school, the American guy was running the raffle, and he'd say, Hot dog, we have a weaner. And at the time, I thought it was so funny. That was the height of comedy.

God, that's the dream, isn't it? To be a middle-aged dad absolutely crushing in a school fateful to seven-year-olds, that would be, oh, oh, man. Why does he come up with his material? Oh, that must be... Gosh, he's big book of jokes. Yeah. Yeah.

That must be one of the few benefits I can imagine of having children, is that at some point you're very funny to them. And then they realize it's just a chain email that you keep reading out, Dad. And then you're incredibly lame after that. And then they start just sending you the emails. Yeah. Anyway, we're talking about bombs. The little boy and the fat man.

The two bombs they developed. Some of that guy, the fate never did. Never bombed. Always crushed. It's the same joke over and over again. Little Matt Stewart, the front row just bent over. Say it again. Say winning again.

Cutt Weiner. Sounds like winner. I get it. It's very good. Even back then you were enamored with a pun. That's a pun? Yes. Sounds like winner.

The key there was sounds like. Right. Right. Okay. Two words that sound alike. Yeah. Very funny word. And then adding hot dog at the start.

Because that's like the same as weena. The context. Hot dog. I don't know if that. We have a weena. So it's sort of saying hot dog, we have a... We have a hot dog. That is good.

That is good. Hold up. Yeah. Actually holds up. All right. So little boy and fat man, those are the two weapons. It was only a month after the first Trinity test that these two bombs were dropped on Japanese cities. Little boy was dropped on Hiroshima on 6th of August, 1945.

and Fat Man was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki just three days later, causing an incredible amount of destruction. The two bombs killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians. And you cheered this just moments ago, Jess. Did I? Yeah. Come on, Matt.

You said hot dog, we have a wee man. That's what I was really. Hey, I was trying to lighten the mood. It is difficult to make any of that funny. But there were plans for a third bomb if Japan. San didn't surrender. But fortunately for them, they did six days after the bombing of Nagasaki and also the news of the Soviet Union had declared war and then they weren't happy about that either. And so a recording of Emperor Hirohito surrendering was broadcast to his countrymen.

And that was the first time any Japanese emperor had ever been heard addressing the entire country. Isn't that amazing? That's, yeah, really fascinating. So they've been in charge for a long time. And, but the every man, you know, peasants and such had never really heard them speak before. Oh, right, at all. I thought it just meant it all at the same time, but they just didn't hear their voice. Yeah, I guess if you didn't, you know, if you weren't in the palace or close by, which most people weren't, you didn't get to hear them.

Yeah, that's fair, yeah. They didn't podcast or. No. Like radio. If you miss it live, that's it. Really? There's no catch up back then. Wow.

Different time. No on demand. No on demand. Oh, they couldn't even. stream at all. No. So they were just streaming video of them without audio. Huh.

Strange. Yeah, you could watch them talk, but never. Never hear them. Right. Ah, it seems like a... It's quaint, isn't it? Yeah. I wouldn't go back if I could.

No, God, no. I mean, I'd listen and not watch. Yeah. But I would never watch and not listen. Well, I refuse. Yeah. So they didn't need the third bomb. So back at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico,

code named Project Y. This news meant they could stand down on the third atomic bomb, specifically the plutonium core that would be the heart of the third bomb. This third core was nicknamed Rufus, and it was a 6.2 kilo or 13.7 pound sphere of refined plutonium and gallium. Basically from the outside, it looks like a smooth, grey metal ball about the size of a soft ball. Whoa.

It's tiny. small. Yeah, so that's the thing that goes, bang. Jeez. Oh, thank you, Dave. Now I know what a bomb is. It's funny. Something so small could cause, like, could destroy an entire city.

That's how powerful these things are. I don't really understand why they had to invent a new one each time. Why didn't they just make multiple little boys? Oh, so they had two different types as little boy and fat man. And why make a third one then? Oh, so the third one was actually similar. to Fat Man. Right.

Yeah. So they've dropped both and found that the plutonium one was actually more effective. So let's just make more of those. Were they having a good laugh with these names? Yeah. It's so dumb. Little boy, fat man. And imagine being in the meeting where they were like, oh, okay.

So Fat Man, they're a bit more effective than a little boy. Killed heaps more people. Perfect. Yeah, great. Well, let's make more of that. More of those little boys. Killed lots and lots of civilians. Yeah, I know, it's real bad, isn't it?

Yeah. Just what the fuck are you thinking? You reckon those atomic bombs were real bad? That's my take. Okay, well, I'll think about it. Sorry, is that so hot that you're burnt, you're feeling a radiation burn over there? Yes, absolutely.

Though, I mean, they had been firebombing Japanese cities for months, if not years by this point, and often they would firebomb a city and 100,000 people would die. So, like, they're pretty used to making calls that kill a lot of people. What? Real bad time for planet Earth.

The third core, Rufus, would have been used in an atomic bomb like Fat Man that had destroyed Nagasaki, and it could have been dropped in just another four days. They were ready to drop another one. And at the time, there were calls from the military to drop it on Tokyo. Can you imagine?

Fortunately, for humanity, that never happened. So Rufus stayed at the Los Aless Alamos facility and was used for further post-war tests. And one of the team conducting tests on Rufus was Harry Doleon, born in Connecticut in 1921, while still a graduate student in physics at Purdue University, Harry Doleon was recruited for the Manhattan Project, and he arrived at Los Alamos in November 1943. He helped to prepare the plutonium core that would eventually be used at the first Trinity test.

So imagine that. He's like 21, 22. Still a student working with some of these really giants of his field. And I just need to stop for a second and vaguely explain the theory as to how an atomic bomb is meant to work. Oh, I mean, for any listeners who don't know, sure. I was wondering why you would waste the time, don't it? But yeah, that makes sense. Who knows who's listening?

Children could be listening. Could be kids. This is for the kids. Break it down. Explain it to them like they're six-year-olds. Yeah. Maybe four-year-olds. Yeah, there could be four-year-olds.

So, it's bad. I should add, this is the theory as I understand it. I am not a nuclear scientist. In fact, this may shock you, but I'm not a scientist. I'm not a scientist at all. What? Dave. What the fuck?

What the fuck? Sorry for this bombshell. Is that a pun? Apologise for that. Apologise. And I also have to say, the people. People that worked on this are some of the smartest scientists that have ever lived. A lot of them also carried the guilt of creating these fucked up weapons,

so you can't have it all. You can't be a genius and make ethical decisions. Yeah, difficult. Must be hard. That's why being a big old dummy works in my favour. Exactly. How many weapons have you created that it could kill 200,000 people in a few minutes? These.

Talking about my fists. Nice. I can punch you to death. You could I won't You literally could But I won't Okay

Also You'll probably push me up here With your legs Yeah I could do that To death Well up the top of a hill And down the other side There's a cliff

I could push you off a cliff With my legs Push me into a steep Please don't do it Okay Please just beat me to death of your fist It's much kinder This is also hard to explain

Without any diagrams But there's a bunch of videos on YouTube I'll explain this in greater detail From experts So if you find this confusing And are interested at home just look it up. But the basic concept of an atomic or atom bomb,

not surprisingly, it's all about atoms. Right. That's where the name comes from. And atom, of course, just a reminder, Jess, which I know you know, is the smallest unit of ordinary matter that forms a chemical element. Every solid liquid, gas and plasma

is composed of atoms. They're building blocks of matter. Everything's atoms, baby. And inside the nucleus of atoms are different amounts of protons and neutrons, and that determines what sort of elements. and that determines what sort of element they are. Yeah, obviously.

Sorry, but what's important here is when you break apart the nucleus of an atom, a large amount of energy is released. And this is called fission. It's not just gone fission. No, it ain't gone fission. Is that a pun? Is that a pun? Yes, I did one.

Yeah. Gone fission. I bet you real funny scientists have that as a bumper sticker. Absolutely. the funny guy in the lab. Yeah. The guy who came up with Fat Man and a little war. The picture of him with a fishing rod on the end of the fishing rod is like a bomb.

Yeah. Gone fishing. Gone fishing. That's good stuff. How's fish and spelt? F-I-S-I-O-N. Yes. Fission.

So it turns out you can break an atom apart by firing a really tiny neutron at it. And for its size, a lot of energy is released. But if it only happens once, no big deal. You wouldn't really notice. But imagine if you could make it so when the atom split apart, more of the neutrons that were inside it fired out, and then they slammed into other atoms, which split them, which in turn sent more neutrons flying out,

and this forms a chain reaction where it happens over and over and over again. That's going to create a lot of energy. Heaps and heaps of energy. Well done, Jess. And in nuclear power, the idea is to control the fission so it doesn't get out of hand. You stay in control of the chain reaction. You only break up out as many atoms as you need to, and create as much energy as you need.

Right. But in nuclear bombs, however, the idea is to get the atoms to keep smashing into each other to form an uncontrolled chain reaction that results in huge, huge, huge amounts of energy being released. And this is what makes atomic bombs so effective and so terrifying. The reaction just goes so out of control. That's why there's that blast wave that goes out and then the mushroom cloud goes up. Yeah. Yeah, right.

I wonder the first one, They were just crossing their fingers going, I hope we don't blow up Earth. Yeah. Part of them must have been like, we're pretty sure this won't blow up the whole planet. But, well, Fermi, did you carry the one?

Oh, God. When it gets out of hand, that's called critical mass or when it's out of control really badly, that's called reaching super critical mass. Super critical mass. Super critical mass. Which if, I mean, if you want to make a bomb,

that's like, you know, you want super critical mass. but in any other situation, you do not want that. No, no. Because it's also at this point that it unleashes a huge amount of radiation. And radiation is really bad for people nearby. Yeah. Super critical mass. Sounds like the time that I wore yellow chinos to church.

At home, just take a second to imagine the regret face. still goes for him and that's what I love about him. He hates him so every time, but it doesn't stop him. He's gone for it. You went for it. You had a swing. It's great. It often stops me.

Really? These are the ones that get through. Imagine we could pull down that barrier. Yeah, Matt, go for it. Say whatever you want. This is a safe space. That was great. That was your brain at a super critical mass.

A mass. That's funny. That is funny stuff. Now, does that, that's the, that's the, that's a, the vague explanation. Do you sort of understand what happens? That actually, well, I now understand it more than I ever have before. Yeah, absolutely. My year nine science teacher has a lot to answer for it. Oh, fantastic. Great, because I watch so many videos explaining it. And I'm like, that doesn't make sense without a diagram. I cannot say that. No, you did very well. So just to reiterate,

in a nuclear explosion, a bomb's radioactive core goes critical. A nuclear fission chain reaction starts and it gets quickly out of control. Boom. So the American scientist studying the leftover core Rufus, they wanted a better understanding of the edge where subcritical material, not critical yet, tips into the extremely dangerous and intensely radioactive critical state. They're like, how far can we push it? Yeah, right, before it's really bad. Yeah, they wanted to push it as far as they could before it unleashed a deadly blast of radiation. Right.

But, I mean, like, if anybody's in the area of the bomb, it's still going to create a deadly blast. Yes. But not radiation. Thank God. Well, it will create both if it goes too far. That's what they're going to. It's a very fine line as we are about to find out. Do you happen to have an easy to understand explanation of what radiation is in your pocket?

It's like in the microwave. It's basically it is really bad for your body. It alters your DNA and destroys your cells. Yeah, I sort of get like that it's bad. Yeah, but I just don't understand what it is. It's invisible, is it? You can't see it happening. Well, sometimes.

You can see reactions of it, but no, you can't really see it, no. Yeah, I just don't really get what is happening exactly. But it's probably the kind of thing that I would need to study for years to understand. Yeah, it's like, you know, rays hit you. Yeah. And then it destroys your cells. It destroys your DNA. And the more you get, the worse it is.

The more you're exposed to. Right. And there is kind of a rule of thumb for if it gets to this level, you're going to die. Right. They can't help you. And it's going to be really nasty as yourself. You lose like all your white blood cells, all that sort of stuff. Which I read that later on there was an accident and that's how they created bone marrow transplants.

Ah. Because it destroys your marrow. Right. The first ever marrow transplant was people that had been exposed to radiation. Wow. So they gave them new bone marrow. There's a silver lining there. There you go, exactly.

It's all signs. Oh, thank God for this. Now, remember how I said that you split atoms by firing neutrons at them? Yes. Well, plutonium naturally sheds its own neutrons. So they're constantly shedding them. So the team were experimenting with surrounding the core in different materials to see if they could form a shield around it that acted like a mirror

that made the neutrons bounce back onto the atom. So the neutrons are flying off it. You put up a mirror around it, it's going to hit back into the atom, which is going to split them efficient. Yeah, right. And it's more efficient because you don't have to fire shit at it. It's firing stuff at itself. Right, yep.

So they monitored the state of the court to see how much radiation was giving off depending on what type of materials around it. So they were just like using different blocks of stuff. Less than a week after Japan surrender, and only two days after the date of Rufus's cancelled bombing run, on August 21st, 1945, Harry Dollyan, our young 24-year-old physicist, returned to the lab after dinner

to continue the experiments that he'd been doing. Oh, he's stopping for dinner, is he? Where's the work ethic? Well, he actually has extreme work ethic because everyone else went home, but he went back to continue on his own. I don't care. He stopped for dinner. Which is a breach of safety protocols.

Oh, going back in. So he's a bad boy. He's a bad boy, that's right. Okay. Break for dinner. See you guys later. he just snuck back into the lab. Oh yeah.

Okay, I'm back on board. Yeah, he's a bad boy. The only other person in the room was the security guard, Private Robert J. Hemily, who sat about 10 feet away. The experiment the Dollyne was doing involved surrounding the core with bricks made from tungsten carbide, which reflected the neutrons back onto the core to start the reaction. He was adding brick by brick, monitoring it as he edged it closer and closer to going critical.

So the more he surrounded it with bricks, the more neutrons were firing back on itself and the closer it was going. He's edging. He is edging this pattern. Before, yeah. Wow. Trying to...

Just take as time. Doesn't want to go too early. Yeah, but if you go too early. Yeah. He's trying to go real slow. Yeah. To create a bigger bang. Yeah, exactly.

Brick by brick, he built up the reflective tungsten walls around the core until his neutron monitoring equipment indicated the plutonium would go supercritical if you added any more. Remember the idea was to push it as far as you can without going too far. And it's about to go too far. He moved to pull one of the bricks away, but in the process accidentally dropped the brick directly onto the plutonium core.

Uh-oh. It immediately went super critical, which generated a blue light... Whoa. And a wave of heat. Whoa. What is that... What? Well, in an instant, Dolean reflexively pushed the brick away with his exposed hand.

Uh-oh. This stopped a runaway chain reaction, but exposed his right hand to massive amounts of radiation. He felt a tingling sensation in his right hand straight away. Okay, tingling, I was expecting to feel worse than that. I think it's going to get worse. Oh, yeah. But you're right. You would think.

Yeah, it just feel like burning. Not just like, oh, I sat on my hand for a piece. Pins and needles. Tingling almost sounds nice. Yeah. Wow. So he could see a blue... Yeah, blue light just for like...

It's like he's creating... This sounds like how a superhero begins. Yeah. Yeah, it totally is. So he drops the brick. He goes, shit. Realised it straight away, instinctively grabs it and knocks it off,

which stops the reaction. He should have got a stick or something. Yeah, but some tongs. So he said... But that action saved. Yeah, because if he kept it going, it would have gone super critical. because it's one of those things where it gathers momentum.

The longer you leave it, the more it goes, the chain reaction just gets out of hand, like, so quick. So it's on there for like a fraction of a second. Still already it's gone super critical. He's like, fuck! Yeah, right. Knocks it off. So, like, to get a stick or something,

it might have been too late. Yeah, he probably wouldn't have had time. Right. So it was pretty courageous. Yeah. Or instinctively, at least. Yeah, instinctively put his hand on the line. his hand glowed blue

Fuck off And then immediately blistered And he was rushed to hospital Oh no Unfortunately for him In that brief instant He had received a lethal dose of radiation He was estimated to have received

Between 20,000 and 40,000 REM which translates as Rontgen equivalent man Which is the unit they now use Which is four to eight times The dose usually estimated to be fatal So remember I was saying Before they estimate they go

sometimes it's a bit touch and go, but once you hit a certain point, they're like, oh. Right, and even if he instantly chopped his arm off, it's too late. Yeah, just because it's his hand, but it's also his body. Yeah, just instantly. You're too close. Dolean was hospitalized and treated in an intensive care unit for severe radiation poisoning. And there are photos online of his burnt and blizzard hand, and it looks fucked. Oh, yeah.

I will not be boasting this. Thank you. Poor man. He slipped into a coma and died 25 days. after the accident. Wow. 25 days. It's a pretty grueling death.

Yeah, he'd be in agony. And they just so they just didn't understand enough then? Well, they have known straight away. I mean, if anyone. Yeah, if anyone in the world knows the risks, it's these guys because they've been creating these weapons. Oh, and he wasn't meant to be in there. But he did, you know, he thought, oh, it's easy.

Like, you know, I just take away this brick and I'll bring it back down slowly. Brick by brick, I'll bring the core back down to normal. but he accidentally just, you know, it's human error, he just dropped it on top of it. And the security guard you also mentioned? Well, the security guard on duty also received a dose of radiation, but it was non-lethal, although he did die of leukemia 33 years later at the age of 62.

Impossible to say whether he would have naturally got that. Right. But that disease is, that disease is often associated with radiation exposure. Right. Right. Yeah. But Dolly. was the first known fatality caused by a criticality accident.

So he was the first ever in the world to be killed by one of these accidents. Wow. He might have been the first, but he would not be the last. Despite safety regulations for the project being scrutinized further and revised after the accident, new rules came in that stated that two people were needed to conduct such experiments, which already was protocol, but now they were much more serious about it. Instruments monitoring neutron intensities with audible alerts were introduced and contingencies were introduced, if ever such an accident, ever occurred.

But having said that, he knew it was about to go super critical. It wasn't that he didn't know. He just fucked up and dropped the brick on top of it. Right. You know, he's already surrounding it with bricks, and that's making it go crazy enough. But if you're putting it directly on top of it, that's why it went absolutely meltdown. But that will never happen again, right? Well, cut to exactly nine months later to the day.

Canadian physicist and chemist Lewis Sloaton or Louis Sloaton was continuing the experiments on the Rufus core. Born in Winnipeg and now 35, Sloaton had also worked on the Manhattan Project. According to the New Yorker, which has a great article by Alex Wellerstein on Sloaton,

quote, at that time, Sloaten was perhaps the world's foremost expert on handling dangerous quantities of plutonium. He's the guy. He's the plutonium guy. He's the guy, yeah. You get this guy in. he's like the world's foremost expert.

Wow. So you'd think safe pair of hands. Less than 12 months earlier, he had helped assemble the first atomic weapons, the most dangerous bomb ever made up until that point. And there's a photo of him standing next to it whilst they're making it with his shirt unbuttoned, wearing short shorts and sunglasses. Honestly, he looks a lot like Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. Seriously?

That's great. I'll show you, this is, you're getting goldblum by? Yeah, a little bit, yeah. Oh, sorry, and there's the photo, I'll post both of these, there's the photo of him just hanging out, shirtless, next to the most dangerous weapon ever made. That's very goldblown. During this time, he actually wanted to leave the ongoing project

and return to teaching, but a replacement chief bomb assembler had to be trained up. Enter Elvin C. Graves, who was also part of the Manhattan Project, and it helped build the first nuclear reactor, which was extremely experimental and especially dangerous at the time. He was part, this is Elvin, of Enrico Fermi's quote suicide squad. Oh, I don't want to be on that squad. Who were assigned to smash a five-gallon glass bottle containing a solution of cadmium

sulfate over the reactor with hammers if something went wrong. So if there was a meltdown, the hope being that cadmium would stop the runaway chain reaction. Holy shit. But if it got to that point, you'd be pretty lucky to survive standing that. close to a nuclear meltdown. I just want to be on like the friendship squad. Oh, yeah. A couple steps back.

We got to get milkshakes. So if the hammers don't work, you throw milkshakes out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Right? But you've had a chance to go put on a hazmat suit. Yeah. I'd be living in one if I was...

Oh, great cold. Yeah. Yeah. One made out of like double petroleum. Yep. Or something even stronger than that. Yeah. Triple?

I'd be in a full suit of armor. I think. Yeah, made out of maybe each of the top ten. Because that's how the periodic table is ranked, right? Yeah. So I just the top ten best ones. Yeah. Right.

First one, hydrojone. Hydrogyne. The second one. Helium. Helium. So you're surrounded by gas. Yeah. But yeah, hard gas.

Oh, but what if you suck in helium and you have a funny voice at all time? Yeah, perfect. Quite the mood. Hello. Oh, everyone. Step back. I've got a milkshake. I've got a real fake.

Oh no, it's gone. It's very hard to take that guy seriously. Say it again. Oh, no. Sorry, man. Slighting? Elvin? Say something?

That's great. Yeah, that's a good. I reckon that's a solid plan. So, yeah, that was the top two. I don't helium. Yeah. Yeah, I'll use it. And then following it.

Yeah. Philharmonic. I also got their didodorium. Yep. C-borgium. Let's not forget that one. Yeah, C-borgian. D-borgian.

D-borgian. Wow. Fiborgian. Fiborgian. Yeah. So you've got to, like, a couple of them come from later on, but I'll, you know, give them a go. You sort of, sometimes you've got to, like, believe in an element, and it'll grow. Yes.

It'll grow with your belief. They've gone important. So sometimes, like, will one element overtake another? Yeah. Well, have you, I mean, have you been concentrated on the table? They change around all the time. Dave, you've got to watch the table news. So the ranking system.

Yeah. Yeah. If one of them is really improved, sometimes the head of the table will go shuff up a bit. What would you say is 2020's most improved element? Most improved. Yeah. Probably Boron.

Wow. Yeah, Boron's coming up with a bullet. Yeah, it used to be, boron used to be a laughed at now. Now it's, yeah. Had a real good year. Look at itself. Big preseason. Been in the gym?

Yeah. Yeah, bulking up. And yeah, just having a real body. Looking good. Yeah. Put on a lot of weight, but mostly muscles. Yeah. All muscle.

Yeah. It's all tone. They're actually starting a shed. So that bomb's actually called muscle man. Or shred. Is it shred or shed? Shred. Shred.

They're actually in the shred phase. Yeah. Yeah. So you can see. Uranium sheds. Neutrons. All right. Science facts.

Break it down. Thank God we're here to explain science to these dummies that listen. Break it down. Honestly, that's all. Break it down now. Break it down. BORON. That really got me.

That was fun. Dave's come in, science class. You 10. Hat. Backwards. Let me wrap. Let me wrap some elements. Which way does he sit on the chair?

Oh, you better believe it's the wrong way. Oh, he's so bad. Oh, no. Sitting upside down with the legs going to my arms. Ow! Fuck this hurts. God, it looks so cool. I wish there was another way.

I thought I think that was another way. I'll see a rule. I'll break it. In my ass. Yeah, break it off in my ass. I broke a chair leg off my ass. I've got to go to hospital. Help me. But what?

Have we learnt today, kids? So anyway, back to Sloaten. He wants to get out of the game. He wants to go back to teaching, physics and chemistry. Oh, okay. Is this a story where, if that had happened, he'd still be alive happy? Well, probably not now. I mean, this was 75 years ago.

Sure. People can't live past 75 in days. No, I'm sorry. This newborn baby can't even live 75 years. Okay, fine. Well, I mean, if he was still alive, he'd be 110. Yeah. It's possible.

It's possible. It's possible. It's possible. It's possible. No, Dave, it is. People have done it. So, what I'm saying is he's alive. Yeah.

In here. Where are you pointing? My bud. Yeah, okay. He's living in there. I was going to say amongst the milk, but you probably aren't producing any of it. No. It's going to waste.

Absolutely. You were wasting that milk. So back to Slotin. Elvin C. Graves has come in to replace him. But during this time, Slotin was continuing the work of experimenting to get the core to the point of going critical without it actually going critical.

They're still edging this little thing. He had developed his own method of getting it very close to critical. And it also become... Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, whoa, boy, boy, boy, Oh, oh, oh, do, do, do, do. Tantric edging.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm going to need a cold shower. I'm thinking of, I'm thinking of dead dogs. Okay. That really cools me off. Grandma. Grandma. What a nightmare it must be there.

If you're having to think of stuff that grosses you out. Maggots. Baggots. I can't wait to burn a nut. So a lot of it is actually thinking about gross things. A lot of it's actually quite traumatic. It's real hot. Poverty, poverty, poverty.

Okay, okay, I'm good. I'm back. So he's continuing to trying to get it to go critical without going critical. He had developed his own method of getting it real close, and he'd become a bit of a showman known for his provado. He was known to wear his trademark blue jeans and cowboy boots was carrying out the test. This is the Jeff Goldblum guy. He invited his report.

replacement, Elven Graves and some other men to watch the experiment. He made them all also wear cowboy boats. Come on, guys. This isn't for safety. It's fun. We've got to look cool. Okay, it's fun. Teamwork.

What he would do is he would slowly lower a lid of beryllium that looked, what number is that one, do you? Four. Number four. A lid of beryllium that looked like a large bowl over the top of the core. This is technically called a tamper. Burrillion reflects neutrons. So the closer it got to fully covering the core, the more fission occurred. So if you lower it really close to it, the chain reaction's gone crazy in there.

But he never wanted to fully enclose the core with the beryllium, for it risks going critical. It's kind of like a chef with a metal closh covering a fancy meal. He never wanted to fully cover that meal. Because you eat with your eyes. Yeah. Exactly. Thank you. Thought that myself.

Yeah. I thought of tamper, tamper, tamper. So that's not bad So he put a little hole in the top of the tamper So he could hold it in one hand A bit like how you hold a bowling ball Yeah okay So he's holding the outside of the round bowl

But there's a hole in the top of it So he puts his thumb in there And he can hold it with one hand And this is where it gets really dodgy Between the bottom of the tamper And the outside of the core He in the other hand Had a screwdriver

Hmm In theory, the screwdriver formed a wedge between the tamper and the core's base, so the lid never fully closed over the core. So he's holding it in one hand, the tamper, and then the other hand, he's jamming a flat head screwdriver so it can never close properly. It's got real DIY home handyman kind of. Yeah. With a fucking plutonium core.

And his thumb... Yeah, his thumb's exposed. Is that what you're saying? His thumb's exposed? Yeah, but it's not going critical, so it's fine. He's put a little condom on it. Oh, yeah. They protect from everything.

Finger gloves. It is. Yeah, globes fingers. Sorry. It was a pretty precarious wedge, especially when you're dealing with some of the deadliest shit manners ever discovered. And nine months earlier, it's killed your friend and colleague in horrible and painful way. Nevertheless, he'd done this experiment many times.

Oh, dear. This is despite warnings from senior colleagues. Enrico Fermi, who's a giant in their field, often called the Ardardis. architect of the nuclear age, he warned Sloan that he would be, quote, dead within a year if he continued to do such precarious experiments. The architects are very cool nickname, by the way. Oh, that is cool, isn't it? Yeah.

Do you prefer that or cobra? The architect. No, cobra. You can be the architect. That's great. You're more likely to pull off the architect. Yeah, you look like an architect. You do not look like a cobra.

Exactly. So it's such a good code name. Like in a movie, if I was like an arms dealer or something, that for the first, 45 minutes, they'd talk about cobra and you'd be imagining like this amazing, tough, badass guy. And then like I'd meet them in Times Square or something, they'd be like, your cobra? Yeah. Hey, how's it going? Hey, hello!

I sucked in too much helium. No, I sound like Mickey Mouse. Cobra out. Cobra out. Yeah, sure, we'll be able to give you a shipment of M16 rifles. No worries. Tudel-Li! I keep them in my mum's garage.

Come round after eight So she doesn't see She sees me She'll be like Why is this Spanish man Coming inside our house With a briefcase full of money Mum

Don't worry about it is my fridge He doesn't need a cup of tea mum Why is selling M16s to a Spanish man Oh Because Spanish men What's so many questions I wouldn't say no to a Spanish man I see colour nor creed

The only colour I see is green Money Our money isn't green. How confusing that all their money is the same. Yeah, that's right. Okay. I take that back. I've just never seen a hundred dollar bill.

That's not something I have in my wallet. Let me tell you. Wow. You get to do some real business, and then you'll see the real colour of me. That's right. You've got to do some dodgy cash-only jobs. But if I had a 50 and a 10, you put them together. Yeah.

60. You got 60. $60. And then I'm only 40 away. You've got the majority of $100. Pretty good. Pretty good. So he's been told, mate, you'll be dead if you keep doing this shit.

But he keeps doing it. And now he's showing people. The screwdriver experiment even got its own nickname. The screwdriver experiment? It's even more badass. It was called, well, maybe not. It was called Tickling the Dragon's Tale. No, that sucks.

I hate that. Because it was known as being extremely risky. One, why would you tickle a dragon's tail? And two, why would you balance your life on a fucking screwdriver? Yeah, it's not a great idea. I don't mind it, tickling the dragon's tail. It sounds like a euphemism for wanking. Well, yeah, that's why it's so good.

It works two ways. Multiple entendre. Despite the known risk, Soden continued the experiment this time in a room full of guys, including his replacement, Elven Graves, as well as three physicists, an engineer, a photographer, and a security. Pretty guard, so they're eight men in the room.

To quote from the New Yorker again, As he began the slow and painstaking process of lowering the tamper, one of his colleagues, Ramer Shriver, turned away to focus on other work, expecting that the experiment would be uninteresting until several more moments had passed. Uh-oh. But suddenly, he heard a sound behind him.

Uh-oh. Sloaten screwdriver had slipped, and the tamper had dropped fully over the call. Oh, no. When Tribe had turned around, he saw a flash of blue light and felt a wave of heat on his face. On his face. A week later, he wrote a report on the mishap, where he wrote, The blue flash was clearly visible in the room, although it, the room, was well illuminated from the windows and possibly the overhead lights.

The total duration of the flash could not have been more than a few tenths of a second. Sloaten very quickly in flipping the tamper piece off. This was about 3pm. So he's balancing the screwdriver, but it's slipped out, and now the closh has gone fully over it. And it's in split second gone super critical. Right. And, yeah, so the guy who had the blue light in his face, he a week later is still not in a coma or anything? No, he was okay.

He was far enough away. Right. But Jeff Goldblum. But Jeff Goldblum, well, quickly he realized his mistake straight away. he knocked the two halves apart and stopped the chain reaction from getting even more out of control. He then quietly announced to the room, well, that does it. He knew it was really bad. The security guard watching on, who had no idea what the purpose of the experiment was,

because he was not a scientist, he saw the blue light and was suitably freaked out and he ran to get help. Because you would, you'd be like, what the fuck? Yeah, that's probably not good. That's never happened before, and they never look this scared. I better go get help. None of them are cheering. So I'm guessing that's not what they were aiming for. Did you want to see the blue light?

Should my face be on fire? Later calculations put the total number of fission reactions, which is when the atom splits, in those tenths of a second at three quadrillion. That's a lot. That's heaps. So that's three quadrillion atoms smashing into each other, which sounds like so many,

but that is still a million times smaller than the first atomic bomb. Holy shit. Three quadrillion times a million. but it was enough to send out a significant burst of deadly radioactivity. Oh no. As an ambulance was called and the rest of the lab was evacuated, those still in the room tried to calculate how much radiation they'd been exposed to,

quickly trying to work out who lives and who dies. That's a fun game amongst friends. Slootin, the one who'd slipped the screwdriver, made a sketch of where everyone had been standing at the moment of criticality. In his calculations, he tried to use a radiation detector and various items that had been near the core around the room. He tested a brush, an empty Coca-Cola bottle, a hammer and a measuring tape. Sadly, the detector itself had also been exposed and contaminated so much that it didn't

actually give accurate readings. Wow. And he's in there going, he's basically going, who in here did I kill? Yeah. He's like, I... He's like, probably me. Yeah, I'm probably gone, but how far away was everyone else? again from the New Yorker

Quote, Sloaten instructed one of his colleagues to lay radioactivity detecting film badges around the area which required the scientist to go dangerously close to the still overheated core. The errand resulted in no useful data and was mentioned in a later report as evidence that after an exposure of this magnitude human beings are in no condition for rational behaviour.

So he's like the plutonium expert of plutonium experts and this has happened and he's told a guy to set up an experiment that will give no data and made him go close to this thing that's still putting out radiation. All those in the room were taken to hospital and Sotan vomited several times, but by the next morning he'd stopped. He seemed generally in pretty good health, but his left hand, the one that had been closest to the core was tingling and became increasingly painful. Both of his hands began to blister.

Oh. His whole dose was around 2,100 REM or REM, of neutrons, gamma rays and x-rays. 500 REM is usually fatal for humans, so he had four times that. Wow. His parents were flown out to see him in hospital. His white blood cell count dropped, his temperature and pulse were all over the place, and an examining physician noted internal radiation burns that he described as three-dimensional sunburn. Oh, don't really know what that meant.

means. He's cooked his organs. Oh, yeah. That's fucking incredible. Yeah. That's something you can't see or, you know, like, it can impact a human that way. Yeah, it's fascinating. It is like, you know, putting yourself in the microwave at a really high temperature real quick.

Eventually, he sank into a coma and died nine days after the exposure, dying in the same hospital room as his friend and colleague Harry Dolean had. What was Dollyon's exposure? Was it similar? Or was it more? It was, I think it was similar, but he died after 25 days. Sorry, I couldn't remember the number for him. He'd had a lot more, actually, just looking up here, he'd had 20 to 40,000.

But for whatever reason, maybe it was his position over the core because certain was standing right over the top of it. It really fucked him up. Yep. So that's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah, his body was shipped back to Winnipeg where it was buried in a sealed casket. probably still radioactive

and he was 35 years old not very old at all I didn't even think of that yeah yeah the nearest person to Sotan during the experiment

was the man that was to replace him Elvin C Graves he'd been watching over Sloton's shoulder and was thus partially shielded by him receiving a high

but ultimately non-lethal radiation dose that is some silver lining for this guy is that his body actually protected most of the rest of the room Right.

Wow. He'd copped it and absorbed it all. That's why he died. Yeah. But no one else in the room died because he was standing over it. Really? Did anyone get leukemia or anything like that? Well, Elvin C. Graves is the closest guy.

He developed chronic, even though he was hospitalized for several weeks. He lost his hair and he at a time had a sperm count of zero. Wow. That's what it. Yeah. Wow. Out of time. So they came back.

Well, he developed chronic neurological and vision problems as a result of the exposure. But he did recover. He returned to work. and had a healthy baby daughter two years later. Holy shit. Two years later as well. That's a pretty quick turnaround. Pretty good effort.

Wow. He did die over heart attack 20 years later at the age of 55, and it's unclear whether the exposure contributed to this. Yeah, right. I suppose you could say that for any of their deaths, can't you? Yes. And another guy, Marion Edward Schleske, he was a physicist who was also in the room.

He died of leukemia 21 years after the accident. Wow, that's starting to feel like, I mean, it's a small sample size, but a bit of a pattern. And only 20 years later, and I think the security guard was like 30, something, 35 years later or something. Same thing. And Dwight Smith Young, the photographer in the room, he died 27 years later of a plastic anemia where the body fails to produce blood cells in sufficient numbers. Right.

And this is possibly a side effect of radiation poisoning. Yeah, that sounds about it. But again, it's hard to say, would you have developed that anyway? Did it make it quicker or did it make it happen? Right. It's really hard to say. Yeah. So after being involved in the first two deaths caused by a criticality accident,

and Rufus began being referred to as the demon core. Oh, okay. That's why it's called that. And why are they even still playing with it now? Yeah, there's other toys. You know, get a slinky. Oh, yeah, slinky isn't it? They're fun.

Wait, does anybody die out of radiation poison after it playing with a slinky? Yes, but not for a long time. After it fell into a reactor core and so on, they jumped up to. Why slinky? So what's the goal of it at this point? Oh, they were just continuing experiments to work out ways of getting it critical. This is for a possible, like,

post-second world war now. Post-second world war, but still to make an even more effective bomb. Right. Yeah, that's what they're trying to do. Prior to the second accident, it was expected that the demon core would be sent to the bikini atoll in the Marshall Islands,

which I believe is where the... For a holiday. A bikini comes from. What? The name, bikini. There you go. In the Marshall Islands, where it would be detonated as part of Operation Crossroads,

the first post-war series of nuclear tests. Thousands of observers were to watch these explosions, including Louis Sotan. He was supposed to be there. But he never made it. But after the incident, the Corps was still radioactive, and they had to wait for the radioactivity to decline. So it never made it to this bomb test.

It's interesting they called at the Demon Corps, but it was two just clumsy accidents. fuck-ups. Yeah. It was full human error. Yeah. You can't really blame the core for that. For doing what it was designed to do.

Yeah. It's amazing. Are you imagining Rufus as like a cute little animated bomb? I guess so, yeah. Can't blame him. You can't blame Rufus. Come on. And I ask you because I definitely am.

You naughty demon call? Oh, Rufit. You know, I watched Paddington the other night and he's like so well-meaning. just keeps making mistakes. Doesn't know how Siketate works, so he gets it everywhere, you know? But he's not radioactive. No. As far as I'm aware.

I haven't seen the second one. Me either, actually. Eventually, Rufus, the demon core was melted down in 1946 and reintegrated into the US nuclear stockpile. The two incidents at Los Alamos had a lasting effect on nuclear safety. All hands-on assembly work was banned and people no longer handled cores with their hands. Good. Subsequent critical.

testing of fissile cores was done with remotely controlled machines, well the operator sitting safely in another room. That's a good idea. Yeah, this adds up. That's funny. I guess, yeah, I assume that's how it always was, but it'd become that way because of these

accidents. Yeah, that's right. It's like that's why Homer Simpson sort of puts his hands through that glove wall. Yeah, but before that it was just a dude with the screwdriver. Yeah. And cowboy boots? Yes. And no.

buttoned up shit. Sounds like a genuine badass who, yeah, just no fear. No fear. Really, like cocky. When he probably should have had some fear. Yeah. Especially in a room when he's dealing with other people's lives.

But really, that's the story of the demon core. And it's a tricky one because the weapons that these men created and developed cause untold suffering and destruction. Yeah. So I don't want to focus the story only on them and their fate, but I just thought it was pretty interesting. Yeah. It's fascinating.

the lengths that we as humans have gone to. Yeah. Yeah. And I suppose that they argue, well, if the other, the enemy had gotten at first, they would have used it on us. So that's why we had to beat them,

whatever. But a lot of them did go on to regret making it. And even Robert Oppenheimer, the head of everything, he later opposed them making hydrogen bombs, which are even more dangerous. Yeah, wow. And got blacklisted by the government

because he went, we shouldn't be experimenting with this shit anymore. Right. In 1989, the film Fat Man and Little Boy that follows the Manhattan Project features a character based on Dolly and Soton played by John Cusack. And he does the screwdriver experiment

and it fucks up and it's a really tense scene. You can watch it on YouTube. No thanks. I'll just watch Paddington too. Yeah. But I'll take your word for it. Yeah, so. Wow.

But he's like an amalgamation of the two characters. Dave, that was a very interesting report that even I, an idiot, could follow. I'm glad that it was because, you know... Because you know you work with an idiot. Well, as is often the way when you're doing the research, whatever, I've watched these videos and things like that. I want to make it so it's easy for people that haven't seen that to understand.

Yeah. But also, not boring as shit. Yeah, it's a fine line. Much like getting the... Edging something to super critical. It's a fine line. And can I just say that we started the year, the first episode, was the eruption of Mounts and Hellens, a disaster.

And we finished the year with yet, Another disaster episode. Ah, it seems very fitting for 2020. Yeah, well done. Totally. We should have seen the science. Well, that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show, the fact quote or question in the section. I think that's a little jingle.

Fact quote or question. I always remembers the ding. Now, to get involved in this, you can go to dugonpod.com or Patreon.com slash dugonpod. and sign up on the Sydney-Shaunberg Deluxe Memorial Edition package level, rest in peace, and then you get to give us a factor quote or a question. You also get to give yourself a title. There's also all sorts of other rewards that are up for grabs, bonus episodes. We do three a month voting rights on topics.

Did people vote on this one, Dave? This was a vote. This was a very close vote. I put up three topics to finish the year, and it was for our deluxe package. The Sydney-Shaunberg. Syneberg voters. And yeah, this one, just by a couple of votes.

And yeah, there's a bunch of other stuff, a weekly newsletter. You get access to the Facebook group, the loveliest corner of the internet. But for the fact quote and questions section, you get to give yourself a title. You get to give us a factor quote or a question. First up this week, we got Roy A.J. Phillips,

who's given himself the title of the pessimistic pest, which exists amidst us. Oh, you did get me. He said, I'll get you soon, Matt. You got me the son. The pessimistic pest which exists amidst us. That's amazing. That's really hard to say.

A midst. Pesmistic pest that exists amidstess. A peasant mystic pest which exists amidst us. Yeah, it's the amidsst. Amidstis. Amidstis. Roy asks a question. Which is your favorite bit?

joke from a show or routine of each other's context be damned oh oh oh that's really hard it's been a while now yeah it has yeah it's been it's been uh Dave what's Dave's Dave's bit about uh especially for Dave was your last gig in Kosamui no uh Perth and then Dublin last year oh they were since Thailand Yeah. But this time last year. It's a classic pullback and reveal line about you being, your partner dying or something. Oh, being pregnant. Being pregnant. I was thinking the same one.

Same diff. And he goes, and I wish her well. Yeah, yeah. That's a very good bit. Thanks so often an opening bit I have. It's a good bit. People go, well, didn't expect him to say that. Yeah, I think that's the part of it.

He's like, whoa, Dave. That's kind of. brutal, yeah. And Bob, I mean, she's got so many great bits, obviously, the classic, the rapper bit, the classic bit, the list bit. Yeah, your list bit is so good. That's such a great joke. It's fun to do, so I like it.

The spoons. I always love that line. Why all the spoons? That's one of the very first jokes. I also love, Matt, a line that I think. you said sometimes didn't work, but when you what shamed a mutt. I think that's a very funny.

Munt shamed a mutt. Oh, yeah, that's very funny. It nearly never worked. It's for me, that's just a really funny phrase. Yeah. I mean, it sounds funny. What do I want? It's a be funny?

They are asking too much of me. Also, like, your regrets, your list of regrets. Oh, you also, what's the bit you have about boxing in your most recent show? Oh, that. Punching something to death. Cowed a death. That really made me laugh. Again, I did not expect you to say it.

So it's really funny. Yeah, that's really unpacking nostalgia that bit at the heart of it. Yeah. It's putting up a mirror. Great question. I mean, he did say with no context, I think we delivered on that. That's right. People are going quiet.

Saying, these bits sound terrible. A list bit? What is that? What is you listing? Come see a show. It's on YouTube. that one. No, tell us

See a show. See a show. I'll never do another show. Really? I don't think so. Who knows? The next one comes from

Nicole DeMorton whose title is Burgess of Drunken Stories That Have No Point And Nicole writes a question Which is If you were arrested What would your family assume

You had done? Public urination. Oh, really? I don't know. It wouldn't be anything. I wouldn't have murdered someone. They'd be like, what have you done, your dickhead? Beat up a cop.

Yeah. I'm always fighting the power, you know? Yeah. Jay walked or something. Yeah, it's probably jay walked. It'd be something lame for me. Yeah, mine would probably be, they'd probably be my shankton narc. Not like intoxication?

Oh. Nah, they know. They know that I, yeah. Your dad would probably be there with you. I've got... In the back of the divvy band. I've matured, I've got a bit, so... Yeah, no, they probably would think it's that.

But they'd be wrong because that'll never happen. Because it would be shanking a knack. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, mine'd be lame, public urination, something like that. Probably might have to be like voter fraud. I was going to say tax fraud. That's what your parents would assume.

Yeah. Oh, no, he's trying to vote for grandma again. God damn it. I want grandma to be prime minister. I meant voting on grandma's behalf. I just thought, donkey vote. You're just riding in your mum. You can't keep doing that, mate.

That's a very funny misunderstanding. I reckon if I got arrested, they'd probably think of some sort of administrative error. Yeah, surely. A different Dave Warnocky murdered something. Come on. But come on. Come on. That or arson.

You know. The big two. Great question, Nicole. Next one comes from Kelly Clark, who is the phenomenal. Phenomenologist. You were so close to that. It was it. I bailed on it.

You were so, I was like, he's nailed it. You had it. The phenomenal phenomenologists. Nailed it. Kelly is offered a fact, and that fact is a kishmishy fact. Which is, I think, Chris Mish wasn't two levels, only a week or so ago. That's right. We're still in the Christmas five.

The tree is still definitely out. Yeah, a tree still. Big time. Oh, not mine. I'd throw it out the front of the first thing, boxing day. Ornament of all. Get out. It's midnight.

Cratty, kick it out of the door. See you next year. Still got family over. Yeah. Get out. Oh no, not you, you can stay. Just the tree. The tree's out.

Would you like another coffee tea? Coffee tea? Anything? Nibbley? Sherry? Port. I just start putting it on cricket. Yeah, it's Boxing Day now.

Yeah, come on. Come on. Walking in with the bowler. Lock his castle down. Kelly's got a Christmas in fact. And it is. The Immaculate Conception wasn't the conception of Jesus in Mary's womb. It's the name given to the concept of.

of Mary in her mother's womb. What? It refers to the belief that Mary was not impacted by sin or its results, even from her very first moments, as preparation for being mummed to God the sun. If this is read before February 2nd, 2021, it is before the end of the traditional Christmas season. And it was read out just in time,

with a month to spare, I think. So, yeah, right. I always assumed it was the Immaculate Conception was about Jesus being born to Mary without. Yeah, without Joseph's help. I always assumed it was the Madonna best of. Oh, the Immaculate Collection. Yeah, it's a bit of pun work there. Thanks, Madge.

Great work, great work. Thanks, Madge. Thank you very much, Kelly. And finally, Thomas Doppler writes, or first he's taught himself, the official quiz master of the Dukon Patreon's Facebook group. And you are the master of it. And Thomas has given us a fact as well. His fact is,

as I heard you talking about the flaming lips on the Kishmish episode, did you know that they released an album in 1997, Zareka, that is four albums and is supposed to be played on four different systems at the same time? It is possible to listen to each of them separately, but it really comes. together if you listen to all of them at the same time. No way.

Yeah, and so I remember this coming out. I don't think I've ever listened to it, but see back when it came out, you need four CD players. Wow. And then every time, because you're pressing play on all of them, or even if four people are, it'll be slightly different every listen because they'll, you'll never nail the same player, or even if it's microseconds off. Yeah, it was an interesting idea.

I remember it got a bit of a hype at the time or maybe afterwards. I don't think I'd heard of them until the 2000s. But yeah, that's it. That's a fun fact. I don't think I'd even have enough channels to play that on radio, four tracks at once. Yeah, right.

I wonder if they ever did play it on Triple J. That's where it would have been played if anyway, probably. That's interesting. It's a great fact. I didn't know about that. I'd like to give it a listen. So that's all the fact.

Quotes and Questions for this week. We also like to thank a few of our other Patreon supporters. And Jess, you normally come in a little game to play with their names? What kind of footwear they are wearing in a very dangerous situation. Yeah, okay. I like it. I panicked. But that's all right. He wearing our cowboy boots whilst irradiating his whole bunny. Yeah.

All right. Well, firstly, if I may, I'd love to thank from West Drayton in Great Britain, Keir Beals. Oh, Keir Beals, obviously. Walking 10 feet off a beel wearing... Slippers. Slippers. What's a beel? I don't know.

It's a line in this one hit wonder song from, I don't know, maybe the 70s or something, called Walking in Memphis. Oh. Walking 16 feet off a beel. I don't know what it means. I've never... I know the song, I think. Yeah. Walking in Memphis.

Is that right? Do you even feel the way I feel? I don't know. How do you feel? Oh, no, it's going to be... The first line is put on my blue suede shoes. That's got to be what she's wearing. Oh, blue shade.

I'm sure. Was walking with my feet 10 feet off a beale. Beale with capitalised B. Maybe it's just like another word for street or something. Anyway, we've got sidetracked here. Beal, definition. Uh, bail. That's a different word.

You suck. All right, let's see. Important to get this down. Dorothea. It's a British school mistress. I don't think, well, I don't think that is correct. Definitely worth taking the time to get to this. No, all right, I don't know.

Anyway, I have a feeling it might be a street or something like that. But, um, yes. It's something you can walk on. Keir Beale, sorry, Keir. Sorry. Great name Keir as well. I don't think I've ever heard of a Keir before. K-E-I-R.

I like that. Yeah, nice one. I hope you enjoy wearing your blue suede's shoes while doing something dangerously. And I'd also love to thank from Horsham in England, Chris Steer. Flippers. Chris Fleer's.

And what are they doing? Flip-flopping. Yeah. Oh, what are they trying to do? Sorry, they are trying to... Is it something underwater or the flippers are unrelated? No. They are trying to photograph a cyclone.

Oh, wow. In flippers. Yeah. They thought, I mean, if it goes wrong, it's going to go wrong here. It doesn't matter what I'm going to... If they find my body, at least it would be funny. Yeah, they're thinking like, they'll go, oh, was that run here? Was this guy sucked out of the ocean?

Yeah, a bit of a prank. Prank. Pranked you with my dead body. I just looked up Keir, I think it's pronounced Kiir, Keir. And it's a Gaelic word meaning dusky, dark-haired,

dark-skinned, swarthy. Oh. Ki-eer. Key-Ear. There you go. And not far off that name is Kieran Darcy from Birmingham in Great Britain.

Kieran Darcy is wearing. ugg boots. Oh, I love me ugs. I love me ugs. I love me ugs, but I wouldn't want to be doing them whilst doing a rodeo back of a bull.

Oh, back of a bull. Yep. With your ugs on. Oh, they're stuck in the little... Stereps. They can't get you off. I'm going to call them little shoe holes, but yeah, you call them stirrups if you like.

Sorry. Come on, Matt gets technical sometimes. Shoehole. Thank you, Kieran. Can I thank some people? Please. I would love to thank from London, Tom Rourke. Tom Rourke. Tom Rourke wearing those little spikes you wear on the ice.

Oh, crampons. Crampons. Yeah, but I mean, obviously that's not dangerous if you're in ice, but where is he wearing him? Oh, he's wearing him. To the supermarket. To buy tampons. And that's dangerous because if he gets the wrong ones, he's in trouble. have to go back.

Exactly. And he's trying to walk vertically up the shelf. He's like, what's at the top of the shelf? Let me find out. No, where I'll get it. But the crampons only really working ice. Cramponds are dumb words. It's no good.

I enjoy it. It's stupid. I like it. I like it because it's so dumb. So I couldn't believe, I've only worn them once and I couldn't believe that they were called crampons. I said, what? These are dumb.

Crampons? All right. I'd also love to thank. Thank you, Tom. I'd love to thank, what's this? What's the country code essay? Is that Sweden? It's usually Sweden, I believe.

Yeah. From a place I cannot pronounce in Sweden. Mondale. Mondal. Tytus Drot. Titus Drott, a fantastic name. And Titus is wearing tissue boxes on my feet. Get these tissue boxes off my feet.

And what's he doing with the tissue boxes? What's he doing on there? He is trying to light a cigarette in the middle of a petrol. station. Oh no, Titus. Stop it. You're wearing flammable shoes. I know, just wait. Just wait. Drive away for the petrol station. He hasn't been driven there. He's walked there.

Oh my God. In tissue boxes. Oh dear me. Just got the craving. He's having a bad day on me. Muldal is just south of Gothenburg in Sweden on the west coast and the name comes from basically Mills Valley. Valley of Mills

Cool Yeah Nice That sounds picturesque Yeah Yeah It is Look at that little spot

Oh gorgeous Huh Beautiful Thanks so much Titus And finally for me I'd love to thank From Coventry In Great Britain

I'd love to thank Poppy Freeman Quaidan I like the name Poppy I like the name Poppy too It's cute Poppy was on a short list Of puppy names

If we had If we got a girl Puppie's a little schlappy He never washed his hands. Great Poppy line. It's probably not a great one for Poppy. Poppy might not enjoy that one so much, but great Seinfeld line. Puppie's a little schlappy.

I'm sure that act... Needing that dirt. Yeah, I'm sure that actor's now on cameo, not washing his hands and giving you a shout-out. And Poppy is wearing stilettos. Oh, okay. While running a jumping castle. Well, it's running a jumping castle. I was going to say, running across.

grass because that's a real pain like us. If you're running a jumping castle the kids can do whatever they like. They're like, come on, Poppy, you're not coming in here after me. Oh, my time's up. Oh, come and get me. Yeah.

Damn you kids. And she jumps on knowing that she's going to have to buy another jumping castle again. To get that smug off of a little Darren's face. Yeah, they'll get a little come up and fuck you, Darren. Fuck you, Darren. I would like to thank

if I may. Please. from an undisclosed location which I can only imagine is the fortress of the moles Ryan Wessner Ryan Wessner Rion Wessonar

Thongs Yep Flipflops Flip flops on his feats Yes And he's wearing them in Antarctica Foolish behaviour Oh my God

He's going to get frostbite and his tootsies Oh no these little tutzies Well you got no tutsies now Ryan Oh my God So good like balancing. Sorry, Ryan, but that's a real bone-headed move. Yeah.

When did you pack, huh? What were you thinking? What were you on a beach and someone said, hey, good, pop down to Antarctica and you said, yeah, no worries. Yeah, he said, it's summer. I'm good to go. Summer in the Southern Hemisphere, right? And no one, and you didn't stop to pack?

You went straight from beach to airport. Come on, Ryan. You'd be even cold on the plane and flip-flops. Ryan, do you sign up to the Patreon for us to scold you? Because if so. We delivered. Yeah, we did it for you there. I hope you have a great day here.

Ryan, you're a good guy and wherever you're from in the land of the old people. Just wish you all the best. Yeah. It's warm down there, isn't it? Yeah. It's always warm. It's always warm. Not the demon core.

So thanks so much, Ryan. You are a good man. We assume. I'd like to thank now from Dundee in Great Britain. Is it Dundee? Dundee, yeah, in Scotland. Of course. And a beautiful name here.

Haig Crookshank. Oh, that is great. Hague. So wearing wellies. Oh, okay. And what do you mean? He's wearing wellies? With holes in them.

And he's going in all the puddles. With a little... So dangerous. And Billy Connolly did a little... A wee joby. Yeah, in his wellie. A weird job. A bit of fun.

My parents definitely enjoyed calling pooos. jobbies. Yeah, jobbies. For that exact bit. Josh Shell's family called him Little Boys. Do not drink the brown soup. That's so awful. I apologise, everyone.

That's fucked. So on your hay, crook shang up in Dundee, with your wellies, with holes in them. You're a mad person. I would also like to thank finally for me from Shirley in Great Britain. It's Jodie Thomas. Jody Thomas. Jody Thomas is wearing knee-high steel-capped boots. I'm not sure why.

Yeah, they look terrible. They're really hard. They're just hard. You can't really move your legs so well. But Joddy's protecting her toes but also her shins. Yeah, it's sort of like medieval armour sort of stuff. Yeah, right. But up top, it's just like, you know, like a singlet.

Yeah. Yeah. I said still toad, but it's all steel. Yeah, the point is it's like, I mean, I wasn't lying when I said still toad. Right. But also the rest is also still. The rest, that was implied. Yeah.

But she's wearing those while participating in Ninja Warrior. Yeah. And they are really slowing it down. She's like, come from a medieval fair. Yeah. Did not have time to change into her sneakers. But she loves a challenge. She loves a challenge and she looks good in them.

They look great. And she's known as like, you know, the night or something. Yeah. Yeah. With a K. Yeah. So there's no switch there. Or deadly night shade or something like that, you know?

Yeah. Right. So there is a switch. It's a double switch, meaning the switch is rendered useless. Yeah. So thank you so much to Jodie there from Shirley. I believe that's all our patrons. Yeah.

Can't believe we did it, but we did. So thanks to everyone, that's Jody, Hague, Ryan, Puppie, Titus, Tom, Kieran. Chris and Keir. So many great names. I can't believe how they keep delivering. Is it like the only people great names are allowed in? Is there a rule or something?

Yeah. We're kind of... We should open it up to everyone. Yeah. Let in the Johnss and the Waynes. We are bad business people. And the John Wayne. And the John Wayne.

Wow. And the Wayne Johns. Wayne Johnson. Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Let him in all say. Wayne the Doroc Johnson. Where do you put the D game? Excuse me?

A little play there. So that brings to the end of the episode almost. No, it doesn't because we have to do the Triptitch. Let's have a look. Who is welcome to the Tripditch Club? The way this works is if you're signed up on the shoutout level for three years straight, you get a shoutout once. And then again, when you hit three years, you get inducted into the Triptage

club. I'm losing it. You get it. I'm losing it. Nearly done for the year. Come on, hold it. Come on. Now, the way this works is I'm standing at the door. I've got the guest list.

I've got the velvet rope. I'm going to lift it. I'm going to welcome you in. Then Dave will hype you up. He's your hype man. Jess is Dave's hype man. So Jess will hype Dave's hype. Yes.

But once you're in, Jess has also provided some hors d'oeuvres, some cocktails. What do we got? Well, you best believe we've got Little Boys. Little boys. Oh, yeah. And surely we've got the cocktail called Tickle the Dragons Cocktail. Yes, we do. And we also have another cocktail called the Pink Soup.

Oh, yeah. And it's vodka and... Pink. And pink. And Little Boy juice. It's gross. The hot dog flavored water. Fred Durs would love it.

Oh, yeah. And Dave, you've booked a band, have you? Certainly have. Small and humble. It's Shakira. Whoa. Yes. shaking it, you know.

She had that song from Zootopia. Yeah, that's a good song. That was a good impression. Thank you. It wasn't mad, actually. No, I'm not doing it again. Now I'm shy. Now I'm shining a light on it.

That was so good. Now I'm shy. That was so good. All right, so there are two inductees this week into the Triptitch Club. All right, Dave, you can do this. Two? Two. Okay.

Firstly, I'd love to welcome into the club from Euritzfield in Austria. it is Thomas Hintereger. Oh, things just got hinteresting around here. Yes. Yes. And I'd also love to welcome in from Bloomington in Indiana, in the United States. Andrew Frank. I mean, how can I deal with that? Yeah.

F-R-A-N-C-Z-Y-K. Let me just say, things just got... P-R-R-A-R-R-R-R-Z-C? Frantic. Oh, things just got a little frantic. Or alternatively... Yes, that's great. Or alternatively, we're saying that wrong.

Things just got a little Bloomington. No, I've lost it. I can't remember what I was going to say there. Okay. Where were they from again? Bloomington, Indiana. I was going to do a pun on Bloomington. I was going to say, things just got blooming interestingly around here.

That's the backup. Yeah. In case we've said the name wrong. So sorry. Welcome in. Fantastic work. Enjoy Shakira while you're sipping on a little pink boy or whatever that thing was we said before. We can't call it a pink boy.

What is it? Little boy. Little boy. Pink soup and tickling the dragons cocktail. Okay. So that brings the end of the episode. If you want to find us, where do go on across all social media? Do Go On Pod.

That's right. At Do Go On Pod. And tell you what, this is the last episode of the year. But things never stop here at Do Go On HQ because we will be back bigger. bad, better than ever in 2021 next week. Yes, we will. We never take a break. That's right.

Much to our own detriment. Exactly. We are tired. You are killing us. But you love content. I love the content. You love it. And we love Shakira.

Shakira, Shakira. So thank you so much for another year of Dougal. We appreciate you supporting the show and you can do so by telling a friend about it. posting on social media, giving us a review, or heading to Patreon and chucking in a couple of shekels in exchange for bonus episodes, voting privileges, all sorts of things. That's at patreon.com slash do go on pod. But until next year, let me say thank you so much for listening. And until then, goodbye.

Bye. Sucker fuck, 2020. Whoa. Too far? No, just enough. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more. podcast from our great mates. I mean, if you want, it's up to you.

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