This Podcast Will Kill You

Come one, come all to learn of the miraculous news we’re buzzing to share with you at this limited time, low price offer. If you’ve been troubled by aches and pains, sores and sneezes, look no further than this very special episode - good for whatever ails you. Brimming with historical detail and outlandish claims, we’re marching through the wild west of patent medicines in the 19th century. We begin with the widespread rejection of professional medicine in the 1820s (sound familiar??) and continue through the century as quack doctors and snake oil salesmen proliferate and hawk their fraudulent goods across the landscape. Fueled by a lack of regulation and the eternal desire for a cure-all, these fraudsters grew ever wealthier and more daring in the claims they made. When consumer protections finally kicked in at the turn of the 20th century, it left people wondering: did the snake oil salesman truly die or did he just take on a new disguise? Tune in to learn that the more things change, the more they stay…

A diagnosis of dementia of any kind is devastating. For those with the hereditary form of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), it could mean an entire family is destined for the same fate. In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, award-winning author Robert Kolker paints an intimate portrait of one such family in The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate, and the Quest to End Dementia. Through Kolker’s compassionate and incisive writing, readers learn about FTD alongside this family and gain a unique insight into the painful and complex decisions the siblings face. Kolker also presents a scoping view of the history and possible future of dementia research, one that may allow fate to be rewritten. Tune in for all this and more. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, has long mystified the medical community and brought tremendous sorrow to those impacted by the condition. But to tell the story of ALS as one solely of tragedy would do a disservice to those who have long fought to develop an effective treatment or raise awareness. Because it is through their tireless efforts that those with ALS will eventually be able to rewrite their own ending. In today’s episode, we attempt to convey the full picture of ALS: from what we know about its causes to the earliest medical descriptions, from the baseball player whose impassioned speech captured the public’s hearts to the promising research on the horizon. Tune in for all this and more. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shortly after birth, many newborns are given vitamin K to help their blood clot properly and reduce the chances of hemorrhage. Increasingly, especially here in the US, parents are refusing this life-saving intervention, leaving these babies more likely to develop deficiency bleeding which can lead to life-long brain damage and death. In this episode, we explore the many dimensions of vitamin K: how it acts in our bodies as an essential compound, when we discovered the clotting properties of this vitamin and applied that knowledge to prevent catastrophic bleeding in newborns, and why some people are turning away from this life-saving injection. You’ve seen the headlines, now tune in for the full story. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine yourself as a 17th century English peasant or merchant or noble. Let’s say you’re dealing with some intense stomach pain or a cut on your leg that won’t heal. Where do you turn to for help? Today’s book club episode reveals that the answer depends on your medical needs, your wealth, your social standing, and your gender. But one thing’s for certain: you had some options up your sleeve. In The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack: How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England, Dr. Alanna Skuse, Associate Professor at the University of Reading, takes readers through the layered world of Renaissance medicine and the many different healers (both licensed and self-professed) that occupied it. As Dr. Skuse demonstrates, people have always sought experts to help them return to or remain in good health, and this has in turn fueled the growth of new medical professions as people carved out their healing niche. How did this era set the stage for the birth of modern medicine? Tune in to find out. Support this podcast by…

This week, we’re picking up where we left off last episode in our exploration of ECT by examining how this therapy is administered, which conditions it’s used for, and what we know about why it works. To start off, we take you through the procedure step-by-step, including prep and what someone might experience in the days or weeks that follow. We then examine the situations for which ECT might be recommended as well as the barriers preventing its wider use, which include issues with both access and stigma. How on earth does an electric shock improve symptoms of depression or catatonia? That burning question is one we do our best to answer. To help us present an accurate and comprehensive perspective of this important but underutilized therapy, we bring on an expert. Dr. Leonardo Lopez, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and Vice Chair of Inpatient Services in the Department of Psychiatry, works alongside NewYork-Presbyterian to expand access to ECT across multiple hospitals (check…

For many, a mention of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) conjures images of torture or mind control from popular media like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Requiem for a Dream. Comparatively few know that ECT is not only still used today but is an incredibly safe and effective treatment for an array of psychiatric conditions. In this and next week’s episode, we explore this stigmatized and misunderstood therapy from its questionable origins to its current uses. We start by diving into the history of ECT and placing its discovery in the broader context of psychiatric medicine and leading notions of the causes of mental illness. We learn that ECT’s troubling reputation is not entirely unearned but is a relic of the past, as substantial advancements in safety and administration have established this as a truly powerful therapy that has stood the test of time. Tune in for a big picture view of one of our oldest and most effective psychiatric treatments. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals…

Already this summer, heatwaves are causing thousands of deaths across the world, catastrophic flooding threatens millions, wildfires rage across enormous swathes of the globe, many regions face extreme drought conditions, and a very strong El Niño is predicted for later this year, leading to further climate chaos. It’s a lot to take in. The devastating consequences of climate change can be measured any number of ways, and in this week’s book club episode, we delve into some of the more insidious and less explored impacts: those on our cognition, our mental health, our brains, and our behavior. In The Weight of Nature: How a Changing Climate Changes our Brains, author Clayton Page Aldern, neuroscientist and journalist who leads the data journalism program at Grist, presents a compelling and sweeping examination of the many unseen ways that climate change is changing us. Why do we have a shorter fuse when it’s hot outside? How are our memories and language impacted by our changing climate? What pathogens pose…

Few spiders hold the dubious honor of name recognition among the general public. Most that do, like black widows, Australian funnel-web, the Goliath birdeater, are renowned not for their cute colors or weaving skills but for being fearsome, dangerous predators. The brown recluse is no exception. A bite from one of these arachnids can send someone to the hospital with a painful necrotizing wound and weeks of recovery. But do these spiders actually deserve all the hatred they get? In this week’s episode, we argue no. Breaking down not just the bite of thebrown recluse but also its behaviors, its distribution, and its lore, we present a more complete picture of this vilified arachnid. Tune in for the low down on this shy spider. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you have a medical question, where do you turn? How often is google or social media your first stop? As you sift through the AI overview and countless reels professing to have the answers, it becomes harder and harder to separate fact from fiction. Do these supplements actually do what they promise? Should I be wary of this commonly prescribed medication? Even if you’re not directly seeking this information, it finds you anyway, preying on health anxieties and promising an easy fix. In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Dr. Deborah Cohen, medically-trained, award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and editor, joins me to discuss the implications of this flood of health misinformation, which she explores in her recent book Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health. From podcast bros touting peptide injections to TikTok influencers swearing by supplements, Cohen demonstrates that the internet is a wild west in desperate need of consumer protections. But it has also been a double-edged sword,…

Last week, we set the stage by breaking down the science behind cholesterol: how it moves through our body, why it causes disease, and when we discovered the link between LDL and atherosclerosis. This week, armed with that knowledge, we’re asking the big question: what do we do about high cholesterol? Statins emerged as a highly effective intervention but one that is not without its share of controversy and misinformation. We delve into the story and science of statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs, from their brilliant discovery to early promising trials, from barriers preventing their use to the heaps of misinformation abounding on the internet. How do statins actually work? What does penicillin have to do with their discovery? What’s the deal with side effects? Tune in for all this and more. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So your latest blood test results have come in, and you see a couple of numbers for cholesterol. What do those numbers mean, and why do we care about them? In this first part of our cholesterol miniseries, we break down the science behind this compound and trace how we made the link between certain types of cholesterol and heart disease. First, we follow the path that cholesterol takes in our bodies and what LDL and HDL mean in the context of heart disease. Then we delve into the history of this compound, which involves an over 2 billion year journey back in time, fascinating experiments that revealed the stubborn nature of medicine, and a terrible - but hopefully memorable - baseball analogy. Tune in for the low down on cholesterol. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You’ve seen the headlines: a food-borne parasite is infecting people across the US, leaving them chained to the toilet sometimes for weeks on end, as they are ravaged by wave after wave of gastrointestinal upset. What the heck is cyclosporiasis and where did it come from? How scared should we be of our raspberries or lettuce or cilantro? To dish out the answers as fast we could, we put together this fact-filled episode about the biology of Cyclospora cayetanensis, how this parasite makes you sick, when we first learned about it (more recently than you might think), and what we know about this current outbreak (or outbreaks). We also probe how recent changes to foodborne pathogen surveillance on a national scale are contributing to the challenges in understanding the scope and origin of outbreaks such as this. You don’t want to miss this one! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Social media ads for egg freezing. A craigslist-like site for breast milk. Fertility fairs featuring IVF clinics alongside shamanic nutritionists. Surrogacy contracts offering a discount for multiple embryos. The rapidly-growing global fertility industry promises hope, fulfillment, and control, as long as you can afford it. Participating in this industry can be empowering. All parts of reproduction are commodified these days, so why not use your free will to take advantage of that, whether through selling breast milk or freezing your eggs? But the global fertility industry is also blatantly exploitative, preying on those who are desperate and vulnerable in order to maximize profits. In Cash Cow: How the Maternal Body Became a Global Commodity - and the Hidden Costs for Women, author and journalist Alev Scott explores that blurred line between empowerment and exploitation in this globally varied industry. Her reporting takes her through the underbelly of the breast milk market, the complicated world of…

In keeping with last week’s theme of “bodily excretions that are kinda gross that you don’t really think about but are actually really important”, we’re devoting this episode to earwax, aka cerumen. In one hour, we somehow manage to weave together stories of earwax impaction, misadventures in ear candling, glimpses of earwax in art history, and a whale of a tale as revealed by cetacean cerumen. The biology and history of earwax proves to be surprisingly rich and revealing and will have you second-guessing yourself as you reach for that cotton swab. Armed with this week’s episode on earwax and last week’s on boogers, you’ll be ready to take on even the most daunting office icebreaker. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hard and crusty. Green and gloopy. Clear and watery. Boogers come in a veritable rainbow of colors and a full spectrum of textures from liquid to solid. They’re really quite impressive if you think about it. Which, of course, few of us do, besides adding tissues to our shopping list or cursing the dagger-like boogers that emerge during a trip to a particularly dry locale. But boogers deserve a lot more credit, and this episode is our attempt at righting that wrong. What are boogers, and what purpose do they serve? How long have handkerchiefs been around, and when did mucus evolve? How many of us are nose-pickers, and how do other species deal with their boogers? More stuffed with snot facts than a nose during flu season, this episode has all the best tidbits to share at your next dinner party. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stories of unethical medical experimentation often center around the individuals who spearheaded such atrocities or highlight how patient protection laws were changed in response to the studies. But rarely do they focus on the people who fought to bring these harms to light: the whistleblower. What does it take to blow the whistle, and what does it cost? Are we all capable of blowing the whistle or is there a “whistleblower type”? What happens when there’s no one left to hear the whistle being blown? These are just some of the questions we explore in this week’s TPWKY book club episode, where I’m joined by Dr. Carl Elliott, [Professor of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota] to discuss his latest book The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No. In this profound and personal work, Dr. Elliott reflects on the drivers and consequences of blowing the whistle, interviewing whistleblowers in past scandals as well as drawing from his own experience. We may all think we’d…

At the turn of the 20th century, a severe burn was often a death sentence. Today, that is no longer the case. Over the past eighty years, burn care has undergone a profound transformation thanks to crucial advances across diverse areas of medicine, such as skin grafting, antiseptic technique, and fluid balance. In this episode, we trace how those pieces of the puzzle were integrated to bring new hope to those with severe burn injuries. But this revolution in burn care is far from over. As we discover, thrilling research in this area is blurring the lines between science and science fiction. Bioengineered skin? 3D-printed skin scaffolding? Nanoparticles? Tune in for all the exciting details! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Burns have been a part of the human experience since our hominin relatives began controlling fire 1.5 million years ago. Until very recently, we’ve been limited in our ability to manage burn wounds with any success, having instead to rely on our body’s innate healing responses. In this episode, we delve into those repair responses, explore what makes burns different from other types of injuries, and examine how we categorize burns based on severity. On the history side of things, we take a tour through humanity’s quest to alleviate the pain and suffering caused by the near-universal experience of getting burned. Ever wondered what Hippocrates would have recommended for a burn? Or what distinguishes a second- from third-degree burn? Tune in to find out. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An accurate diagnosis can give us so much. It can give us a path forward. It can give us answers to long-standing questions. And it can give us much-needed hope. Yet many people around the world wait years to receive an accurate diagnosis, which can take a profound physical and emotional toll. What underlies these missed or incorrect diagnoses, and what can we do about it? In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, health journalist Alexandra Sifferlin joins me to discuss The Elusive Body: Doctors, Patients, and the Diagnosis Crisis. Her compassionate and sweeping exploration of this topic takes readers across the US as she connects with patients, doctors, and researchers that are deeply impacted by the diagnosis crisis. While plumbing the depths of this pervasive issue, Sifferlin also encounters many people who have dedicated their careers to addressing the diagnosis crisis and bringing people the answers they need and deserve. Tune in for a fascinating conversation on a subject that has affected so many of…

It comes on sneakily. You become aware of your stomach. You break out in a cold sweat. Your mouth fills with saliva. And before you know it, you’re leaning over the side of the boat (or out of the car, or into the airplane sick bag), barfing up your breakfast. Motion sickness. We’ve all been there, or at least most of us have. Why? What is it about our physiology that breaks down as soon as we travel via water, vehicle, or air? That’s exactly what we’re going to explore in this episode. From how long humans (and other species) have been coping with these debilitating symptoms to what’s actually going on in your brain to trigger the breakdown, from what’s in the most nauseating historical “cures” for motion sickness to why the drugs we have today have some positive effect, we’re covering it all. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Once thought to be a rare, always fatal disease, histoplasmosis is now recognized as one of the most prevalent fungal infections in North America. It infects hundreds of thousands of people every year, and its distribution is growing. In this episode, we dissect this abundant fungus, examining how it makes us sick, who tends to get sick, and what we can do about it. We also take you through the history of this fungus, a story that features a surprise discovery, more evidence that everything is tuberculosis, and a spotlight on an extinct bird. Curious to know how all the pieces fit together? Tune in for the full picture. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a time when smallpox, tuberculosis, measles, and typhus ran rampant through the streets of London, there was another disease that instilled even more fear than these other killers: syphilis. So feared and so stigmatized was syphilis that it was sometimes called “the secret disease.” A diagnosis would not only sentence you to a drawn-out and painful illness possibly resulting in death, it also labeled you as an outcast and not fit for polite company. Skyrocketing infection rates drove a corresponding rise in syphilis “cures” and an increasingly desperate public. In this TPWKY book club episode, Dr. Olivia Weisser, associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston joins me to discuss her recent book The Dreaded Pox: Sex and Disease in Early Modern London. She transports readers to the hidden shops and stalls that promised a remedy to this feared disease, to the courthouses where a syphilis infection was an important piece of evidence, and to the country houses that held recipe books…

If you’ve come across the latest dietary guidelines, a few things may have caught your attention: a big ol’ steak front and center in the new “inverted pyramid”, beef tallow and butter recommended as “healthy” fats, a declaration that the war on protein is ending. “Since when have we been at war with protein?” you may reasonably ask. In part 2 of our episodes on dietary guidelines, we get to the bottom of the latest iteration of these guidelines and investigate which changes are good (there are a few), which are bad (definitely a few there), and which are somewhere in between. Then we explore what science has actually shown about what constitutes a “healthy” diet. Tune in for a lively discussion that features lots of complaining about protein-enriched products, exasperated sighs, and a few shocking revelations about “the American diet.” Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the decades, dietary guidelines have taken a diverse array of shapes, from pamphlets to wheels, from plates to pyramids. In many cases, the shapes have changed more than the recommendations they contain. This week and next, we explore those recommendations - who’s making them, how they have changed over time, and how closely they align with what we should be eating. First, we delve into the long history of dietary guidelines and how their intentions have evolved as the food landscape drastically changed over the 20th century. Then we interrogate the conflicts of interests at the heart of their formation, questioning how much these recommendations are backed by science vs industry interests. Ultimately, we come back to the question of “if few people actually use these guidelines, why should we care about them at all?” Turns out, we have lots of feelings on the matter. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener…

Why do we believe what we believe? Is what we believe the truth? How can we convince others of our beliefs? If you’ve ever found yourself pondering these questions, you know that the answers are rarely clear-cut. We need to form beliefs in order to navigate the world, but how skilled are we at evaluating evidence for those beliefs or weighing new data that contradicts them? In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Adam Kucharski, Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine joins me to discuss latest book, Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty. With this book, Dr. Kucharski presents a compelling and thoughtful examination of the concept of proof, delving into topics ranging from the justice system (what’s a reasonable doubt?) to infectious disease, clinical design to the founding of this country. And he leaves us with a powerful lesson: what convinced you of something might not convince someone else. Tune in for a fascinating conversation! Support this podcast by shopping our latest…

Tear gas is an expected, normalized part of protests today. But its use in international war is banned. How can that be? That’s just one of the questions we investigate in this episode. First, we take you through the long history of tear gas and its emergence alongside deadlier chemical weapons before discussing how its use became routine, fueled by industry interests. Then we delve into what’s in tear gas that causes the painful physical reaction and consider whether claims of non-toxicity are backed up by research (spoilers: not really). This is an info-packed episode that will leave you with many questions answered, but not all of those answers will be satisfying. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Though discovered relatively recently, Oropouche virus has been making headlines as an emerging vector-borne infectious disease on the rise. Not transmitted by the usual suspects (like ticks and mosquitoes), this virus is instead spread through the bites of midges or no-see-ums. Since these arthropods are already widely distributed and their range is growing thanks to climate change, this is a recipe for potential disaster. In this episode, we take you through the story of Oropouche virus, from how it makes us sick to what the construction of a highway has to do with its discovery, from surprising prevalence statistics to the history of One Health. Tune in for the full scoop on this midge and the virus it carries. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the entirety of our species’ history, our approach to cancer has largely been to react, to design new therapies and better combinations of treatments. This energy has certainly been well-spent, but what if we didn’t have to use treatment at all? Or what if we could minimize the use of aggressive therapies? Prevention and screening represent two under-appreciated pillars of cancer care, and we’re using this final installment in our cancer miniseries to show some appreciation. To grasp the impact that screening and prevention can have, we also need to consider the global landscape of cancer prevalence and incidence - where is it decreasing? Where is it on the rise? Where can intervention or prevention make an impact? As we’ve shown over these four episodes, science and medicine has accumulated a wealth of information about cancer - but the striking racial and socioeconomic disparities in cancer incidence and mortality in the US and around the world demonstrates that that knowledge has not been applied…

A century and a half ago, the list of effective cancer treatments was essentially a single entry: surgery. Today, in 2026, you’d need pages to contain the number of treatments available, and multiple notebooks to delineate all of the various therapies currently in development. It is nothing short of a revolution. Of course, no revolution is perfect, and many cancer treatments are ineffective or carry risks of serious side effects. In part 3 of our cancer series, we delve into all facets of cancer treatment, from the history of their development to how they actually work. Tune in to learn how far we’ve come and where we might go from here in our perennial quest to treat and cure cancer. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For centuries, physicians noticed that cancer sometimes ran in families, but until the 1960s, an answer to this mystery remained out of reach. Only then were scientists beginning to unlock the cellular dynamics underlying cancer, and what they found finally allowed grief-stricken families to put a name and explanation to their experience. It wasn’t simply bad luck. It was genetics: a heritable mutation in a key tumor suppressor gene that greatly increases the risk of developing cancer in your lifetime, a condition known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. Journalist Lawrence Ingrassia belongs to one of those families; he has lost his mother, three siblings, and a nephew to cancer. In this TPWKY book club episode, Ingrassia joins me to discuss his book A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery, where he weaves together his family’s story with that of the scientists who sought to uncover the cellular drivers of cancer. Tune in for a heartbreaking and inspiring journey. Support this…

Each of our cells can become cancerous. It’s an uncomfortable, yet unavoidable truth. Nor is it a truth restricted to our species - cancer is a consequence of complex life. The features that make a cell cancerous are those that, under other circumstances, are beneficial, essential even, for an individual’s growth and survival. How is that possible? In the second installment in our series, we’re putting cancer under the microscope to consider the qualities that underlie a cancer cell’s success in our body. By placing cancer in an evolutionary framework, we can not only understand why cancer is so darn prevalent, but we can also leverage that knowledge to devise new approaches to treatment - working with evolution rather than against it. If you’ve ever wondered why we haven’t come up with a cure for all cancer or why some animals get cancer more than others, this is the episode for you. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See…

Cancer has touched every one of us in some capacity, and learning of a diagnosis inspires many more questions than it answers. In this four-part series on cancer, we aim to lay a foundation of knowledge that will help make sense of this multifaceted disease. We begin our four-part series on cancer by asking a deceptively simple question: what is cancer? As we’ll discover over the course of these episodes, there is not one answer but many. After all, cancer is not one disease but many. In this first episode, we examine the clinical definitions of cancer - when someone receives a cancer diagnosis, how is that determined, and what does that mean? Viewing that question through a historical lens reveals our changing understanding of cancer and how that knowledge filters into the public perception of this disease. With cancer diagnoses on the rise, it’s tempting to label cancer a disease of the 20th or 21st centuries. But is that the case? Tune in to find out. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor…

What happens if you put a bunch of rats in an enclosure and provision them with unlimited food and water? Researcher John B. Calhoun was committed to finding out. Results from Calhoun’s “rat utopia” experiments from the mid-20th century revealed a behavioral dark side that emerged as space grew increasingly limited, ultimately leading to complete population collapse. As headlines conveyed dire warnings about global overpopulation, Calhoun’s work served to reinforce those fears and shape our understanding of the importance of personal space. In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden join me to discuss their book, Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B. Calhoun. Tune in for a fascinating a tour through Calhoun’s bizarre and influential research, which even inspired a beloved (if a little creepy) children’s book and movie, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link:…

Poop is an incredibly valuable and massively underutilized resource. However, most of us don’t see it that way because of our evolutionarily ingrained disgust towards poop. Flush toilets and intricate sewer systems have revolutionized health and hygiene by whisking our poop far away where we don’t have to think about it. But that poop has gotta go somewhere, and eventually, not thinking about it isn’t going to be an option. Similarly, not thinking about our individual poop is asking for disaster, since what we produce can reveal a great deal about our gut and overall health. In this episode, we explore the problems that poop can cause on both the individual and population level. From constipation to fiber, and the Great Stink to communal poop sponges, we’re continuing our journey into the curiously fascinating world of poop. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It might be stinky and it might be unpleasant to behold, but we all do it. For many of us, our poop is out of sight, out of mind once we flush it away. But for the next hour and fifteen minutes or so, we’re going to bring it back into mind as we delve into the rich world of poop. This episode, the first of a two-part miniseries on poop, features a wide cast of characters all with some role in the production or management of poo, like our intestinal tract with its sphincters and microbiota, dung beetles that perform the duties so crucial for ecosystem function, and the sperm whale that produces a revered substance used in perfumes. We’re going behind the scenes to understand how the sausage really gets made (in a manner of speaking) and why we need a big perspective shift to stop seeing poop as waste and start seeing it as a resource. Correction: EW says that elephants poop 15 pounds a day, but in reality it’s more like 10x that - 150-200 pounds! Sorry for the mistake - we noticed it while listening through.…

For much of the world, refrigeration is such a commonplace technology that we rarely stop to wonder at the many ways it has transformed our lives. From the foods we grow to where we grow them, from how they taste to what we eat, refrigeration has dramatically - and quite recently - changed our relationship to food, our health, and the environment. As Nicola Twilley describes in Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves, progress, as it so often does, comes at a cost. Twilley, who also cohosts the award-winning food podcast Gastropod, joins us in this week’s TPWKY book club episode to discuss the surprising history and tenuous future of refrigeration. You’ll never look at your fridge the same way again. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now that we know just how critical sleep is, we’re all making sure we get the amount we need, right? Unfortunately no. One-third to one-half of Americans are not getting enough sleep, according to public health guidelines. Why is that? Hypotheses abound, but many point the finger of blame at different aspects of modern society such as screen time, artificial light, a sedentary lifestyle. These narratives suggest that sleep in industrialized societies today is not just different but worse than in centuries past. Is that the truth? How did humans sleep in yesteryear, and what can that tell us about sleep today? In the conclusion to our sleep two-parter, we explore the many ways that humans sleep and the wide array of consequences when we don’t get enough (or too much) of it. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sleep is a universal experience. It’s not just the lion that sleeps tonight - it’s also the butterfly, the chicken, the jellyfish, the dog, the snake, the worm, and of course the human. What is this widespread physiological process whose spell we are all under? What purpose (or purposes) does it serve? Why do we sleep the way we do? These are just some of the questions we’re going to get into in this week’s episode, the first half of our two-parter on sleep. We break down the different components of sleep in humans before diving deep into how animals sleep and what drives the different patterns we see. Night owl or daybird? Light sleeper or deep slumberer? Frequent naps or one big chunk? One eye open or both eyes closed? Tune in as we unravel some of the mysteries of sleep. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The widespread use of leaded gasoline in the 20th century led to one of the world’s biggest public health and environmental disasters, the effects of which are still present today. Since its development in the 1920s, leaded gasoline has been linked to premature death, cognitive impairment, and behavioral issues in millions around the globe. How was such a toxic substance permitted to be sold, despite the tireless efforts of industrial medicine warriors like Alice Hamilton? In American Poison: A Deadly Invention and the Woman Who Battled for Environmental Justice, award-winning author and historian Daniel Stone tells the story of leaded gasoline - its heroes, its villains, and the lessons we can learn. What will emerge as this generation’s leaded gasoline? PFAS? Microplastics? Something else entirely? History doesn’t have to repeat, but it will unless we heed the lessons of the past. Tune in for a fascinating episode! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link:…

Ah, the new year. After the last month and a half of indulgent food and drink, disrupted schedules, and laying around the house, who doesn’t feel like they’re in need of a whole-body cleanse? There are plenty of companies who are more than happy to provide that product or service that promises to flush away toxins from your skin, gut, blood, brain, you name it. But what exactly are they selling you? In this episode, we explore the deep roots of the ever-expanding detox industry and the concept behind its billions of dollars in revenue: detoxification. What does detoxification even mean? Is there any truth to the claims that a certain diet or superfood or supplement or colonic or drink or enema or chelation therapy can “detoxify” you? Tune in to find out how many synonyms for scam we can come up with. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode originally aired on January 11th, 2022. Chances are you know someone with endometriosis, or perhaps you’re affected yourself. But despite its incredibly high prevalence, endo remains almost criminally understudied, undertreated, and underacknowledged. In this episode, we aim to shed light on many aspects of endometriosis, first by examining the “what” and “how” of this disease: what’s actually going on inside your body with endometriosis and how does it cause the symptoms that it does? Then we turn our sights to the why, exploring not only the possible evolutionary origins of this disease but also the deep historical roots contributing to the struggle many people still face today in obtaining a diagnosis. We discuss how although hysteria is no longer a valid medical diagnosis, it has left its mark on medicine in the form of implicit bias that leaves many people feeling unlistened to and unbelieved. We then wrap up the episode with a look at endometriosis by the numbers and some current research…

This episode originally aired on January 25th, 2022. In light of the recent changes by RFK jr’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to eliminate the universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine in the US, a decision which will result in preventable infections and deaths in this country every year, it seems timely to remind everyone of the global consequences of this incredibly prevalent pathogen. This week, we’re dipping a toe back into the vast waters of hepatitis viruses, this time with a focus on hepatitis B. The hepatitis B virus, though second to be named, was first to be discovered, and effective vaccines and treatments have been available for decades. Yet the global prevalence of this virus remains staggering, with nearly 300 million people chronically infected and 1.5 million new infections annually. So what’s going on? In this episode, we weave our way through the complicated biology of this virus and its deadly potential, the strange history of its identification that shows that…

Did your grandma ever warn you against going out in the cold with wet hair because “you’ll catch your death”? Or have you ever tossed a few more carrots into your shopping basket in the hope that they’ll improve your vision? There are countless health myths about how to prevent or treat disease, what food will give you superhuman powers or turn your kid into a whirlwind of energy. But is there any truth to them? Let’s find out. In this episode, we review a handful of the most popular health myths, exploring their origins and scouring them for any scrap of truth. Tune in to learn whether these myths are fact, fiction, or somewhere in between! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

[Content warning: self-harm, suicide, violence] In this day and age, we are equipped with an abundance of tools and knowledge to fight the spread of disease. Yet what good does that toolkit do if we lack the resources or the will to implement it where it is needed? One area of great need is our correctional facilities, our prisons, jails, immigration detention centers, and juvenile detention centers. In these settings, communicable disease is often allowed to spread unchecked, leading to high rates of morbidity and mortality. Meaningful change is needed, but what might that look like? In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, Dr. Homer Venters joins us to discuss his latest work, Outbreak Behind Bars: Spider Bites, Human Rights, and the Unseen Danger to Public Health. As the former Chief Medical Officer of the New York City jail system and through his current role as a federal monitor of health services in several jail and prison settings, Dr. Venters has extensive firsthand knowledge of the barriers that…

We ended last week’s episode on a bit of a cliffhanger: is salt actually bad for us and if so, why does there still seem to be a debate? This week’s episode holds all the answers. We’re sifting through the noise to figure out what salt actually does in our bodies, how it might impact our health, and why we crave this delicious substance. If you’ve ever wondered how we’ve arrived at the maximum daily sodium intake (2300 mg for adults) and why salt impacts blood pressure, then this is the episode for you! Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever thrown a pinch of spilled salt over your left shoulder? Or said to someone “well, take his opinion with a grain of salt”? Or looked up the potential salary of a job listing? Salt is so deeply embedded in our cultures, our languages, our history as a species that we often take its influence for granted. We may forget (or perhaps we never knew) how much history is held within the unassuming yet ubiquitous salt shaker. In the first installment of this two-parter on everyone’s favorite seasoning, we delve deep into some salt lore. When did humans start to ramp up their salt intake? Why was salt such a big deal? Which places are named for salt? When did we start worrying about how much sodium we were eating? Tune in for a fun, fact-filled episode that’ll forever change the way you think about salt. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an anatomy and physiology class, you may learn how the different heart valves work to circulate your blood, how the structure of your kidney helps to maintain electrolyte levels, and how the expansion and contraction of your lungs sets off a carefully orchestrated cascade of gas exchange and transport. The human body is an endlessly fascinating machine. But when you spend so much time learning about the body, you can lose sight of the fact that it isn’t a machine. It is the story of your life. In this book club installment, I am joined by surgeon and award-winning writer Gabriel Weston to discuss her latest book Alive: Our Bodies and the Richness and Brevity of Existence. In this compelling blend of memoir, science, and meditation, Weston examines different body parts chapter by chapter - what they have meant to her or her loved ones, their significance in history, and how their meanings are shaped by our scientific understanding. Weston inspires readers to take a moment to reflect on what it’s like to…

If you were asked to describe necrotizing fasciitis in three words, you might choose: rapid, deadly, and rare. The third of those adjectives may provide some comfort, but the first two are the clear inspiration for this infection’s more lurid nickname: flesh-eating bacteria. In this episode, we get up close and personal with necrotizing fasciitis and its causative agents. We start off by examining step by step how these infections wreak so much havoc and why doctors still struggle with its treatment. Then we take a tour through its grisly history, featuring maritime misadventures and wicked war wounds. We wrap up the story with a look at the global trends in these infections as well as some promising new research. This episode may not be for the faint of heart, but it is for the endlessly curious. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. A fly lands on an open wound and lays hundreds of eggs, from which hatch countless ravenous maggots. There they writhe, devouring flesh, insatiable and relentless. Every minute they dig deeper and deeper until flesh gives way to bone. Even the species name of these maggots inspires a shiver of fear: Cochliomyia hominivorax - “man eater”. This nightmare of a fly is the horrifying reality for many mammals in South America and some Caribbean islands, particularly cattle. And it seems to be making a comeback in the places it was previously eradicated - Central and North America. What exactly this fly does, why it’s such a problem, and how we came to defeat it (temporarily) all feature in this week’s episode. Sterile flies? Archival footage? Gnarly descriptions? This episode has it all. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3WwtIAu See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.