Short answers, pulled from the story.
Friedrich Stromeyer discovered cadmium in 1817 while examining a sample of zinc carbonate that had turned a strange yellow color when heated. He isolated the new metal and named it cadmium after the Latin word for calamine, the zinc ore in which it was found.
The primary application of cadmium shifted from pigments to the coating of iron and steel to prevent corrosion during the 1930s and 1940s. By 1944, 62 percent of the cadmium used in the United States was dedicated to plating, and by 1956, that figure stood at 59 percent.
Itai-itai disease is a devastating condition caused by cadmium contamination in the Jinzū River in Japan that affected local agricultural communities. The victims were almost exclusively post-menopausal women who suffered from renal abnormalities and severe bone pain that gave the disease its name.
Cadmium-113 absorbs neutrons with high selectivity to control neutron flux in nuclear fission and prevent additional fission events. The pressurized water reactor designed by Westinghouse Electric Company uses an alloy consisting of 80 percent silver, 15 percent indium, and 5 percent cadmium to achieve this control.
Smoking is the most important single source of cadmium exposure in the general population, with as much as 50 percent of the cadmium in cigarette smoke absorbed by the user. The tobacco plant absorbs and accumulates heavy metals from the soil, making it a significant source of exposure.