Undaunted by warnings from the scientific community that the highly radioactive gas is a carcinogen, tens of thousands of health-seekers like Umeda are drawn each year to hot springs in Japan that ...

Radon (Rn) is a radioactive, colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that occurs naturally as the decay product of the elements radium ... have bathed in natural hot springs for the therapeutic ...

Of course, the problem with radium is that it's less like a heat-seeking missile ... what it was about the hot springs that made them curative, but once the presence of radon was identified ...

Baths known as "radium hot springs" have existed in Japan for hundreds of years, their owners proclaiming the virtues of lightly radioactive radon gas as a way to clear skin, restore youth ...

Radon is a naturally occurring element that develops from the radioactive decay of radium. Health authorities ... Some spring water and hot springs also contain radon. The exact risks of radon ...

A century ago radioactivity was new, exciting and good for you–at least if you believed the people selling radium pendants ... few well-known hot springs were radioactive. (Radon gas produced ...