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Scientists Now Know Why Reading These Medieval Books Could Prove Fatal
Credit: Pxnio cc0.

Researchers studying medieval texts at the University of Southern Denmark have uncovered a hidden danger in the bindings of at least three different historical documents that date back to the 1500 and 1600s. A green pigment found in the bindings of these books was discovered to be enriched in arsenic, so much so that they would poison anyone coming into physical contact with them. Naturally, one wonders how the arsenic found its way into these medieval books.

First, for the non-chemists among us: what is arsenic?

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