"The Glowing Foot - The radioactive machine that fit your children's shoes" investigates the "Shoe-fitting Fluoroscope" (or Pedoscope). From the 1920s to the 1970s, these X-ray machines were a centerpiece in shoe stores across America and Europe. Parents and children were delighted to look through a viewfinder and see the bones of their wiggling toes inside new shoes, ostensibly to ensure a "perfect fit."Science writer Sarah Beam exposes the deadly ignorance behind the novelty. The machines were unregulated and often leaked massive amounts of radiation. Sales clerks, who operated them daily,...