Wild Young Sheldon Theory Suggests Sheldon Should Have Cancer

Summary

• Young Sheldon is about to hit our screens, and as a result, online discussions have been reignited.
• Some fans have started discussing the wild idea that young Sheldon should have already gotten cancer because of his experiments.
• However, a number of counter-arguments refute this wacky theory.

In less than a month, CBS will premiere the long-awaited finale of the comedy-drama that chronicles Sheldon Cooper's teenage years, his experiences growing up and interacting with family, friends and the people who became his role models.

The seventh and final season of Young Sheldon promises to be both uplifting, bringing the title character to the events of The Big Bang Theory, and heartbreaking, as the canon of the original series suggests several traumatic events in Sheldon's life are bound to happen. Mary and George will cheat on each other (with the latter being caught in bed with another woman, unless it was Mary herself), and George will also die unexpectedly.

All of this causes no small amount of anxiety among fans, fueled only by impatient anticipation, and so many of us are in a literal frenzy, spending agonizing days waiting, over-analyzing the events of the series, and discussing all sorts of theories.

Well, one of those theories has turned out to be quite insane, suggesting that Sheldon... should have cancer. Yes, dear friends, you heard right, and so we kindly decided to find out what the reason for such conclusions is and whether they have any justification.

A Crazy Theory That Seems To Be Backed Up

The idea that the writers would make a child suffer from cancer is patently ridiculous, and it's hard to believe we're writing about it. However, a number of fans of Young Sheldon who enjoy speculating on scientific topics felt that the series, whose title character is literally obsessed with science, simply had to address such moments. After all, the child prodigy himself should be well aware of the risks. And those are not our words.

According to this theory, Sheldon should have developed cancer by now due to his constant exposure to radioactive and carcinogenic substances during his experiments. For example, in the Season 2 episode A Nuclear Reactor and a Boy Called Lovely, Sheldon decided to collect enough Americium-241 by extracting it from smoke detectors to build his own nuclear reactor.

In this context, fans also recalled a moment from The Big Bang Theory, specifically from the Season 4 episode The Roommate Transmogrification, when Raj moved into Sheldon's apartment. Sheldon secured the place by painting arrows pointing to emergency exits with luminous glow-in-the-dark paint, which can be toxic and radioactive, and therefore carcinogenic.

Why This Theory Doesn't Work

As much as this theory rivals young Sheldon in tedious nerdiness, there are plenty of counterarguments. And not just because this is a good-natured family sitcom where a horrible child character's illness would be completely out of place.

First, while Americium-241 emits mostly dangerous alpha radiation, the isotope can only harm the human body if it is directly inhaled or ingested. Moreover, the level of the substance was not high enough to be harmful in the short term, since Sheldon was wearing proper gloves.

Second, low but prolonged exposure to radioactive substances can only cause cancer over the long term, say 10 years or more. And even then, it's only a probability, since both the young and adult Sheldon may have avoided the disease.

The same goes for fluorescent paint. Yes, in the early 20th century they added radium, which was obviously hazardous, but today's paints use non-toxic phosphorus, which is harmless. Unless you ingest it, of course.

So, no, Sheldon should not have cancer. In the meantime, we await the release of Season 7, which premieres on CBS on Thursday, February 15 at 8 p.m. ET.