At first glance, it sounds like a tragic tale from a distant past: a dazzling 18th-century socialite, adored for her porcelain skin, dies young — the secret to her beauty, a fatal cosmetic laced with white lead. But for physicist Fiona McNeil, that old story triggered a very modern scientific investigation — one with surprisingly current implications.

A professor of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University, Fiona has spent over 30 years studying lead poisoning, from its effects on women’s health to its overlooked role in everyday products. But when she stumbled across the story of Mariah Gunning — the glamorous aristocrat whose beauty came at a deadly cost — Fiona’s research took a sharp turn into the past.