I was 7 years old and came upon the article about radiocarbon in the World Book Encyclopedia. It had illustrations about how carbon dating works, how carbon-14 is absorbed by an organism and then the date of death can be calculated by how much remains in the skeleton.
The article also introduced me to the term "half-life". And to drive home the point it had a drawing of a human skull gradually decaying in a way that not even Wes Craven could conceive.
“I was 7 years old and came upon the article about radiocarbon in the World Book Encyclopedia.”
Heh - did your mom scold you too as you sat on the floor with the books scattered around you? “You better make sure those all get put back in the right place!”
It was sort of the internet of our time. Reading about WWII and they mention “Hitler” - pull out the G-H-I book....