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“Looking Far Afield” usually describes today's breaking-edge science, but this time, we look back more than a century to find lessons for today in the skin effects of early x-irradiation. X-rays were the technological equivalent of the genome and biotechnology at the end of the nineteenth century. Within months of their discovery by Wilhelm Roentgen on Nov 5, 1895, x-rays were performed in the U.S. with exuberant enthusiasm. It is not surprising that evils soon emerged from this Pandora's box in the form of acute burns and skin malignancies. A powerful x-ray machine was built at Massachusetts General Hospital in October 1896, and severe dermatitis appeared in November 1896. Dermatologists were at the for…