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With a Swiss forensics investigation pointing to polonium-210 as a possible cause of Yasser Arafat's death, the radioactive element is back in the news.

Confirming whether the Palestinian leader died from an assassination attempt will be difficult, given polonium's short half-life and the fact that Arafat has been dead nine years, science writer Deborah Blum says.

Whatever happened to Arafat, polonium does have a deadly history.

"Polonium only really came to public attention when we started using it to kill each other," says Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook.

One such incident took place on a chilly November afternoon in 2006, in London's Grosvenor Square.

That day, three Russians ordered drinks at the upscale Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel.

"It's very hushed. Full of shadows and whispers, dark wood paneling and leather seats," says Will Storr, author of "Bad Blood," an essay published earlier this year in MATTER. "It's very discreet."

Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun ordered gin, and a 43-year-old Russian dissident named Alexander Litvinenko drank green tea. As far as Litvinenko was concerned, it was a business meeting with two old acquaintances.

"He goes home to his little house with his wife Marina, has a chicken dinner, watches the Russian evening news and goes to bed," Storr says. "It was just a normal night."

But within hours, Litvinenko began having bouts of severe vomiting. Litvinenko knew immediately that he had been poisoned. His wife called for an ambulance.

"He goes to the local hospital in Barnett and tells the doctors there, 'I've been poisoned by Russian spies.' And of course they suggest that he calls for a psychiatrist because he had sushi for lunch," Storr says. "So they were like, 'It's food poisoning. You've just been poisoned by some bad sushi.' "

But days passed and Litvinenko's condition worsened. He was put on a feeding tube and started losing his hair. Antibiotics were administered and tests for AIDS and hepatitis came back negative. Doctors were at a total loss.

It took over two weeks to finally discover the culprit. Tests showed polonium-210 coursing through Litvinenko's body.

Blum says death comes quickly because polonium-210 has a half-life of just 138 days.

"For a while it's hissing and spitting with radiation and energy, and then it burns itself out," she says. As it stabilizes, the polonium emits alpha particles.

"Alpha radiation is not highly penetrating radiation," Blum says. "If I was standing in front of you with a container of polonium-210, I could hold this in my hand and it would not go through my skin. So for it to be dangerous, you have to swallow it."

All the assassin had to do was put the odorless polonium in Litvinenko's green tea. From the moment he took his first sip, he was doomed.