Exposed Part 2: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunter's Point from SF Public Press
Release Date: 11/24/2025
The Agony and the Ecstasy: Race and the Future of the Love Story
Making Contact
In 2019 a well known romance writer began tweeting about other writers in her community and concerns about racism. It led to a huge reckoning within an organization called the Romance Writers of America. And although the online debate seemed to be isolated to a specific community of romance writers and their fans, it was really a microcosm of what's been happening all over the US. In this episode we learn all about romance novels and how newer writers are changing the norms of the genre, and giving it a political power it's never had before. And, we talk about what it means for organizations...
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Family Matters: How Communities Support Trans Kids in Conservative States (Encore)
Making Contact
In 2023, Kirin Clawson’s endocrinologist placed a puberty-blocking implant in her arm, a medical intervention that is associated with improved mental health for many trans kids with gender dysphoria. In February 2024, Indiana joined several other conservative states banning this treatment for minors. In this episode we hear from the Clawsons how the ban has impacted their family. And, we hear from psychologist, Dr. Myeshia Price about how all adults in the lives of children can support gender diverse youth, despite increasing discriminatory anti-trans laws aimed at kids. This...
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How The First Home Pregnancy Test Was Born (Encore)
Making Contact
In 1965 Margaret Crane was a young designer creating packaging for a pharmaceutical company when a scientist gave her a tour of the lab. Looking at the long rows of pregnancy tests she thought, well anyone could do that test at home! So she set about designing a prototype for America’s first home pregnancy test. While the design of the prototype was simple, convincing the company, the medical community and conservative social leaders that at-home pregnancy testing was safe and necessary was an uphill climb for Crane, who is only now receiving credit for her contributions to the industry....
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Flemmie Kittrell and the Preschool Experiment from Lost Women of Science (Encore)
Making Contact
Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed immensely to programs like Head Start – even though her name is often left out of the history. We'll hear more about her life and work in a story from the podcast Lost Women of Science, hosted by Carol Sutton Lewis and Danya AbdelHameid. This episode first aired on Making Contact in March 2025. Featuring: Dolores Caffey-Fleming, Program director of Project...
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Disability Visibility: Celebrating the Voice of Alice Wong
Making Contact
This episode honors the life and legacy of Alice Wong (Mar 27, 1974-Nov 14, 2025). We start the show with the Making Contact segment she produced in 2015, exploring the complex relationships between caregivers and care receivers: the vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care. Whether you’re a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the...
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Exposed Part 2: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunter's Point from SF Public Press
Making Contact
In Episode 2 of “Exposed” from our friends at San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco’s nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San...
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Exposed Part 1: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunter's Point from SF Public Press (Encore)
Making Contact
Today we present the first half of a two-part radio documentary from our friends at SF Public Press, “Exposed,” opening a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned naval base, in San Francisco’s southeast waterfront Bayview neighborhood, is currently the site of the city’s largest real estate development project. The base played a key role in the Cold War nuclear era, when it housed a research institution known as the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, which studied the human health effects of radiation. In Episode 1 of the...
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Kev Choice: Love, Growth, and the Power of Music (Encore)
Making Contact
We sit down with Kev Choice, a classically trained pianist, rapper, composer, and educator, who has reshaped the Bay Area music scene. Raised in Oakland with San Francisco roots, Kev blends hip-hop, jazz, soul, and classical music into a unique sound. His latest EP, _All My Love_, explores themes of love, vulnerability, and human connection, with soulful melodies and reflective lyrics capturing the complexities of relationships. This episode first aired in November 2024. Featuring Kev Choice Making Contact Team Episode host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani,...
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The Way Home (Encore)
Making Contact
To mark Indigenous People's Day, we'll hear two stories about communities working with food to revitalize identity and ancestry. First, we speak to Mariah Gladstone and Kenneth Cook in Blackfeet Nation in Montana about their online cooking show Indigikitchen and follow them into the field as they harvest a bison. Then, we talk to Dr. Keitlyn Alcantara about the Tlaxcala, an indigenous tribe living in central Mexico who were able to survive the expansive Aztec empire in the period just before colonization, and visit the Healing Garden at Hilltop in Bloomington, Indiana, where diaspora members...
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Criminalized Survival (Encore)
Making Contact
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so we are revisiting a show from our archives about criminalized survival, the criminal justice system’s long practice of imprisoning survivors of intimate partner violence when they fight back against their abusers. We'll hear from journalist Natalie Pattillo and filmmaker Daniel A. Nelson, who followed the stories of imprisoned women Kim Dadou Brown, Tanisha Davis and Nikki Addimando for their documentary film And So I Stayed. This show first aired in July 2023. Featuring: Natalie Pattillo, journalist, mother and co-director of the...
info_outlineIn Episode 2 of “Exposed” from our friends at San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco’s nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San Francisco 49ers were enrolled as test subjects in these so-called tracer studies.
We hear from military veterans who were sent on a mysterious mission to spread radioactive substances onto rooftops at an Army base near Pittsburg, Calif., for an experiment the radiation lab played a role in designing. Some recount experiences of witnessing nuclear bomb blasts in the Nevada desert. We also examine a national pattern of human radiation experiments revealed by Eileen Welsome, the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, who shined a light on similar practices conducted by government facilities, hospitals and other institutions. This miniseries first aired on Making Contact in February 2025.
Featuring:
Eldridge Jones, served in the military and was part of Operation Stoneman | Merle Votaw, a Navy veteran who participated in Operation Stoneman II | Eileen Welsome, author of "Plutonium Files" | Holly Barker, Anthropologist and professor at the University of Washington who studied the Marshall Islands.
Credits:
San Francisco Public Press:
- Reporting: Chris Roberts and Rebecca Bowe
- Editing: Michael Stoll and Liz Enochs
- Research Editing: Ambika Kandasamy
- Web Design: John Angelico
- Copy Editing: Kurt Aguilar, Michele Anderson and Richard Knee
- Archival Research and Illustration: Stacey Carter
- Audio Editing: Liana Wilcox, Mel Baker and Megan Maurer
- Sound Gathering: Justin Benttinen
- Photography: Sharon Wickham, Yesica Prado and Guillermo Hernandez
- Graphic Design: Reid Brown
- Fact Checking: Dani Solakian and Ali Hanks
- Proofreading: Lila LaHood, Noah Arroyo, Zhe Wu and Sylvie Sturm
- Special thanks to Alastair Gee and Danielle Renwick at The Guardian and Ben Trefny at KALW Public Radio, and to Laura Wenus and Amy Pyle
Making Contact:
- Host: Salima Hamirani
- Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
- Executive Director: Jina Chung
- Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong
- Engineer: Jeff Emtman
- Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonorain
Music Credits:
Midday, by the Blue Dot Sessions | Sweet Leilani, by Bing Crosby
Learn More:
[Exposed full investigation | Exposed Part 2
Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.