This Podcast Will Kill You
This podcast might not actually kill you, but Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke cover so many things that can. In each episode, they tackle a different topic, teaching listeners about the biology, history, and epidemiology of a different disease or medical mystery. They do the scientific research, so you don’t have to. Since 2017, Erin and Erin have explored chronic and infectious diseases, medications, poisons, viruses, bacteria and scientific discoveries. They’ve researched public health subjects including plague, Zika, COVID-19, lupus, asbestos, endometriosis and more.
Episodes
Ep 212 Burns Part 1: The first million or so years
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
Special Episode: Alexandra Sifferlin & The Elusive Body
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 TPW
Ep 211 Motion Sickness: It comes in waves
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 so
Ep 210 Histoplasmosis: Bats, birds, and budding yeast
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 hi
Special Episode: Dr. Olivia Weisser & The Dreaded Pox
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 deat
Ep 209 Dietary Guidelines Part 2: Why is there protein in everything?
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
Ep 208 Dietary Guidelines Part 1: Who’s behind these guidelines?
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
Special Episode: Adam Kucharski & Proof
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&rsqu
Ep 207 Tear Gas: How can a chemical weapon be “humane”?
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 wha
Ep 206 Oropouche Virus: More than a smidge worrisome
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 rec
Ep 205 Cancer Part 4: Where do things stand today?
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 c
Ep 204 Cancer Part 3: How do we treat it?
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
Special Episode: Lawrence Ingrassia & A Fatal Inheritance
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 heritab
Ep 203 Cancer Part 2: Why does it happen?
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 seri
Ep 202 Cancer Part 1: What is it?
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 t
Special Episode: Jon Adams and Edmund Ramsden & Rat City
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
Ep 201 Poop Part 2: Flushed away
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 thinkin
Ep 200 Poop Part 1: How the sausage gets made
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 i
Special Episode: Nicola Twilley & Frostbite
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 Fros
Ep 199 Sleep Part 2: Predictably unpredictable
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. The
Ep 198 Sleep Part 1: Sleeping with one eye open
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 goin
Special Episode: Daniel Stone & American Poison
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
Ep 197 Detox: Enemas for everyone
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 the
From the Vault - Endometriosis: Menstrual Backwash (Ep 88)
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&
From the Vault - Hepatitis B: Hepatiti, Take 2 (Ep 89)
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 incred
Ep 196 Health Myths: Fact or fiction?
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
Special Episode: Dr. Homer Venters & Outbreak Behind Bars
[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 cente
Ep 195 Salt Part 2: The Substance
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&rsquo
Ep 194 Salt Part 1: The Seasoning
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 with
Special Episode: Gabriel Weston & Alive
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
Ep 193 Necrotizing Fasciitis: A strange beast
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 exa
Ep 192 New World Screwworm: Oh-oh here they come
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”. Thi
Special Episode: Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal & Dead Ends!
Science doesn’t always get it right the first time (or the second, or the third, or even the ninety-ninth!). And while we may chuckle at the outlandish things people believed or the goofy experiments they tried, we forget two things: 1) those failures helped us get where we are today and 2) a hundred years from now, people will probably be laughing at the “cutting edge” medical k
Ep 191 Famine: More than starvation
As we learned last week, starvation extends far beyond hunger and what a lack of food does to the human body. Similarly, famine is much more than a food shortage and starvation on a population-level scale. This week, we’re picking up where we left off last episode to explore the definitions, drivers, and many dimensions of famine. We trace famines throughout human history, asking how they ha
Ep 190 Starvation: More than hunger
Deprived of food, our bodies do the best they can to keep us alive and functioning as long as possible. As the days pass, the rhythms of our lives change: our metabolism, our heartbeats, our hormones, even our thoughts shift to adjust to this period of scarcity. This response is evolutionarily engrained, following a variable but fairly prescribed path. In this episode, we trace that path, explorin
Special Episode: Antonia Hylton & Madness
The United States is in the midst of a monumental mental health crisis, with one in four people predicted to experience mental illness at some point in their lives. Adequate mental health care remains out of reach of so many due to a myriad of factors: unaffordability, stigma, shame, and racism, to name a few, leaving enormous gaps in mental health equity. The roots of these inequities can be trac
Ep 189 Newborn screening: The future is here
Every year, millions of babies around the world are screened for dozens of treatable conditions within the first day or two of life. What it takes is a few drops of blood on some filter paper, and what it gives is profound: potentially life-saving information. The advent of newborn screening is one of the greatest public achievements of the 20th century; since their earliest implementation, screen
Ep 188 Candida yeast: Here, there, and everywhere
None of us are ever truly alone. Our bodies are home to untold numbers of microbes, chilling on our skin, in our guts, throughout our respiratory tract, inside our bellybuttons, under our fingernails, and beyond. For the most part, we live in harmony with these critters, never giving them a second thought. But occasionally, they may grow a bit too friendly, taking advantage of our hospitality to g
Special Episode: Mary Roach & Replaceable You
When your car breaks down or your fridge goes on the fritz, you can order a replacement part and get things back up and running in no time. The same cannot always be said for another intricate machine: the human body. For centuries, scientists have grappled with making or transplanting suitable replacements for nearly every body part, from hearts to hair and from legs to lungs. We’ve come qu
Ep 187 Hypothermia Part 2: How it helps
Last week, we took you through all the ways that cold can harm us and the harrowing history of humans perishing at its icy hands. Ending the story there would be skipping over the parts where cold gets to play the hero, rather than the villain. In the second installment of this frosty miniseries, we explore the situations in which we might use cold to protect us and how it actually works. We also
Ep 186 Hypothermia Part 1: How it hurts
For all our wondrous adaptations as a species - our big brains, our capacity for language, our opposable thumbs - we humans are not well-equipped to deal with the cold. Take us out of our insulated dwellings, take away our winter clothes, and things can get dicey fast. From frostbite to hypothermia, the cold can settle into our bones, leading us down a path where injury or death are possible outco
Special Episode: Lina Zeldovich & The Living Medicine
The development of antibiotics was one of the greatest turning points in the history of medicine. Bacterial infections that were once death sentences were cured within a matter of days after administration of these lifesaving compounds. But the honeymoon didn’t last long, as resistant bacterial strains emerged and spread. Now, antimicrobial resistance poses one of the greatest threats to glo
Ep 185 The Great Smog of London: “Thick, drab, yellow, disgusting”
Some things just go together: peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, milk and cereal, London and smog. Or at least, that’s the way things used to be until the Great Smog of 1952. (Don’t worry, the first three pairings are safe). If you’ve watched The Crown, you may remember an early episode in which a thick, noxious smog surrounded the entire city of London for days on end. Peo
Ep 184 The Gallbladder: Humor us
For most of us, there probably hasn’t been a good reason for you to think about your gallbladder. Ever. Much of the time, it sits there, silently storing, concentrating, and, when needed, churning out bile every day. But occasionally, this unassuming organ will announce itself through waves of unceasing, excruciating pain brought on by a blockage of some sort. Why it does this to us, what we
Special Episode: Carl Zimmer & Airborne
In the first years of the COVID pandemic, a debate raged: was the virus transmitted via respiratory droplets, or was it airborne? For some, this distinction seemed overly technical, pedantic even. But for others, it represented decades of dismissal and missed opportunities - opportunities that had cost untold lives. In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, renowned science writer and journali
Ep 183 SSRIs Part 2: Action
Last week, we took you on a journey of discovery and innovation, and this week we’re gonna tell you how the heck it all works. That means a deep dive into the nitty gritty of SSRIs, from what serotonin does (A LOT, as it turns out), to why blocking its uptake has the effects it does, from the different side effects of SSRIs, to how effective they really are. The discourse surrounding this cl
Ep 182 SSRIs Part 1: Origin
Since first hitting the shelves nearly 40 years ago, SSRIs have become one of the most commonly prescribed classes of antidepressants around the world, as well as one of the most discussed and misunderstood. This and next week, we tell the story of SSRIs in two parts. In Part 1, we explore the origins of these medications and their predecessors, a surprising journey that takes us back millions of
Special Episode: Wendy Chin-Tanner & King of the Armadillos
We’ve got a very special episode of the TPWKY book club this week! We’re featuring our very first fiction book: King of the Armadillos by Wendy Chin-Tanner. This novel tells the story of a young man named Victor, who is sent from his home in New York City to a federal treatment facility in Carville, Louisiana after a diagnosis of Hansen’s disease (then known as lep
Ep 181 PCOS: Beyond the cysts
What’s in a name? What can you really tell from a label like “polycystic ovarian syndrome”? And how much of that is more misconception than truth? The answer, as it turns out, is the former. In this episode, we delve into the world of PCOS, a world that shows us how preconceived notions of health and disease, gender and sexuality can do far more harm than good. For many people wi
Ep 180 Food Dyes: It’s all marketing
This episode, we aren’t asking you to taste the rainbow, but we are scrutinizing the artificial dyes that give it its color. When you’re munching on brightly colored candies or dipping a french fry in purple ketchup, what exactly is it you’re tasting? In this episode, we take you through the story of food dyes, from their serendipitous discovery to their enthusiastic overuse, fro
Special Episode: Professor Steven Mithen & The Language Puzzle
From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of humanity’s most powerful tools. It allows us to connect, create, conspire, control, console, catch up, and so much more. How did we come to have this uniquely human trait? What anatomical changes or cultural developments were necessary for langu
Ep 179 Fluoride 2: Fighting tooth and nail
In last week’s episode, we traced the history of fluoridation (and the anti-fluoridation movement) to its roots in the early 20th century, but we left you wondering whether there’s anything to back up the health claims that anti-fluoridationists make. Today, we get deep into the weeds of the fluoride literature, explaining how this mineral works, the difference between topical and syst
Ep 178 Fluoride 1: The real tooth fairy
Is it just us, or does it seem like every other week there’s a new headline about some state or town banning water fluoridation? As it turns out, this has been going on for decades, basically since fluoride was first introduced. Why are some people opposed to fluoride? Is there any basis to their fears? What does fluoride actually do? And how the heck did we find out about it? This week and
Special Episode: Dr. Wendy Kline & Exposed
For many of us, pelvic exams are a routine part of our healthcare. Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t await them with some dread or anxiety; naturally, these exams evoke a wide range of emotions. But they are a cornerstone in gynecological preventative care - a relatively new one at that. In this TPWKY book club episode, we sit down with Dr. Wendy Kline, Historian of Medic
Ep 177 Toxic Shock Syndrome: A shock to the system
If you’ve ever read the little instructions pamphlet included in a box of tampons, you probably came across a paragraph calling attention to a condition called toxic shock syndrome (TSS). It describes the association between TSS and tampon use, symptoms of TSS, and guidance on how to reduce risk. This legally mandated warning label has formed an indelible link connecting tampons and TSS, and
Ep 176 Strychnine: The WD-40 of Victorian Medicine
This week, we’re coming at you with a classic TPWKY episode on one of the most notorious poisons out there: strychnine. Although strychnine might not flash across too many headlines these days, it was once imported by the ton in certain regions of the world. What did people want with so much strychnine? Depends on who you ask. Maybe it was for a revitalizing tonic, maybe a rat poison, or may
Special Episode: Dr. Adam Ratner & Booster Shots
For the past few months, measles has been in regular rotation in the news cycle here in the US, with outbreaks occurring across the country in regions with low vaccine uptake. These outbreaks represent a worrying trend in the rejection of scientific and medical expertise, with long-term consequences not only for those individuals refusing vaccines but also the communities to which they belong. In
Ep 175 What’s the deal with raw milk: Part 2
Last week, we started this two-parter with a big picture view of pasteurization and the raw milk movement. In this episode, we address the alleged health claims made by proponents of raw milk and dive into the very real risks carried by its consumption. Is raw milk actually better for you? Does it have more vitamins or prevent allergies? What deadly pathogens does it harbor? How much does drinking
Ep 174 What’s the deal with raw milk: Part 1
Seriously, what’s the deal? Lately, it seems like raw milk has started to pop up more and more frequently in our feeds, with influencers touting the alleged health benefits of raw milk over pasteurized milk. In this and next week’s episode, we explore the raw milk phenomenon as it has grown over the past few decades. We start this two-parter with a look at the dangers of milk in a pre-
Special Episode: John Green & Everything Is Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, or consumption as it was once known, might conjure up images of huge sanitoriums or writers and artists from the late 1800s (Moulin Rouge, anyone?). But this deadly disease is far from an illness of the past. In many parts of the world, tuberculosis remains an insidious killer, despite the fact that we’ve had effective drugs to treat the infection for decades. In this week&rsqu
Ep 173 Childhood Vaccine Schedule 2: Who’s making the call?
After last week’s episode, we all know about each of the diseases that we’re protected against thanks to our childhood vaccine schedule here in the US. And after this week’s episode, we’ll understand more about the schedule itself - why it might look different from other schedules around the world, how it gets made, and who makes the recommendations. We’ll also review
Ep 172 Childhood Vaccine Schedule 1: Let’s give it a shot
We’re already back with our first episode of season 8! This week and next, we’re exploring childhood vaccine schedules - what diseases they protect us from, how the schedule is arranged, and who decides on the vaccines to include and the timing of vaccinations. In this first episode, we start with a refresher on how vaccines work before running through the entire schedule we have here
Ep 171 Pregnancy: Act 4
Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. We close out our pregnancy series with a big picture view of how the childbirth experience has changed over the past century - both for the better and for the worse.
Ep 170 Pregnancy: Act 3
Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. In Act 3 of our pregnancy series, we arrive at the big moment: childbirth. We begin the episode with a closer look at one of the most commonly performed surgeries ar
Ep 169 Pregnancy: Act 2
Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. The second episode in our pregnancy series kicks off with a tribute to one of the most amazing organs: the placenta. We trace the evolutionary origins of the human p
Ep 168 Pregnancy: Act 1
Content Warning: This episode includes mentions of miscarriage, pregnancy loss, pregnancy complications, traumatic birth experiences, and other potentially disturbing topics related to childbirth, pregnancy, and the postpartum period. With this and the next three episodes, we’re delivering a four-part series on pregnancy, trimester by trimester. We start our series with a tour through the hi
Special Episode: Rachel Gross & Vagina Obscura
For much of history, female reproductive anatomy has been studied only in the context of or in comparison to male reproductive anatomy. This shows in clinical trial design, in healthcare disparities, in the research questions we ask (or fail to ask), it’s even apparent in our language - the word “vagina” means “sheath”, as if vaginas only exist to sheathe penises. Onl
Ep 167 Viagra/Sildenafil: Raising the bar
Has a name brand prescription medication ever shot to notoriety as quickly as Viagra did? Within a few months of its arrival on the market, it seems like everyone knew about the little blue pill, whether through commercials featuring celebrity spokespeople or from endless jokes on late night talk shows. But while everyone understood that this medication promised to treat erectile dysfunction, what
Ep 166 Amanita poisoning: Death Cap-tivating
In forests, in lawns, in city parks across the world lurks a small, pale, unassuming mushroom whose inconspicuous appearance belies its deadly nature. For within this mushroom dwelsl one of the deadliest poisons known to humans: amatoxin. It’s because of this toxin that the aptly-named ‘death cap mushroom’ (Amanita phalloides) is responsible for the vast majority of mushroom-rela
Ep 165 Fish Tongue Parasite: Parasite Appreciation Hour
Okay everyone, think about your tongue. Maybe move it around a bit, check in with it, consider what it means to you. Now imagine that your tongue suddenly shriveled up and fell off and that in its place is a tongue-sized isopod aka rollie pollie aka pillbug. Just there, hanging out, forever. How are you feeling? Horrified? Disgusted? Hey, we get it. But at least you’ll never be alone again.
Ep 164 Rift Valley Fever: Ruminating on ruminants
Hemorrhagic virus? Check. Deadly disease? Check. Mosquito-borne? Check. Affected by animal movement, human activity, and environmental change? Check. Rift Valley Fever has all the markings of a classic TPWKY episode. This week, we’re doing a deep dive on this deadly virus, taking a One Health approach to explore the intricate relationships between animals, humans, and the environment to understand
Ep 163 Circadian Rhythm: Live from Perth, Australia
We are coming at you with our very first live episode from Perth, Australia! Here at the 2024 Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists Annual Scientific Conference and Exhibition, occupational hazards and exposures get top billing. And one of the most ubiquitous hazards, experienced by nearly every industry is fatigue, specifically fatigue caused by circadian rhythm disruption. In this very
Special Episode: Robert Alpert, Merle Eisenberg, Lee Mordechai & Diseased Cinema
Everyone’s got a favorite disease movie. What’s yours? Does it feature zombies like 28 Days Later (2002), or is it more grounded in reality, like Contagion (2011)? Does it end with a glimmer of hope or with a dose of despair? Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys? From the early days of disease movies like Panic in the Streets (1950) to more recent films like Little Joe (2019)
Ep 162 Allergies Part 2: Shots, pills, & pens
Yes, the world may be out to get us with allergens around every corner, but we’ve got some tricks up our sleeve to help us cope. Our allergy treatment toolkit includes an impressive suite of tools, and in the second episode of our two-part series on allergies, we focus on three in particular: antihistamine medications, allergy shots, and the epinephrine auto-injector (aka the EpiPen). We tak
Ep 161 Allergies Part 1: Pollens, nuts, & bugs
Sometimes it seems like the world is out to get us: bees in our garden, pollen in the air, nuts in our brownies, any number of other things that could trigger an allergic reaction ranging from itchy eyes and a runny nose all the way to anaphylaxis. Why must our bodies react in such over-the-top ways to these seemingly innocuous substances? In the first episode of our two-parter on allergies, we ex
Special Episode: Philip Eil & Prescription for Pain
In February 2012, Paul Volkman was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life imprisonment for his role in illegally prescribing and dispensing pain medications that resulted in the deaths of several individuals in his care. This was a remarkable case, both in terms of the lengthy sentence as well as the perpetrator. Paul Volkman was a highly-educated physician researcher, who earned both his MD
Ep 160 Appendicitis: Don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone?
For decades, it seemed like the appendix would go the way of 8-track players, pagers, and the phonograph. Outdated, obsolete, not worth keeping around. Surgeons performed appendectomies like it was spring cleaning - when in doubt, cut it out. But then the tides began to turn as medicine started to question the long-held belief that the appendix is a defunct organ (on a good day) or a ticking time
Ep 159 Scabies: Tiny but Mite-y
Among the many conditions that creep under your skin and make scratching irresistible, scabies alone holds the honor of being called simply “The Itch” for centuries. In this episode, we examine how the burrowing scabies mites cause this extremely uncomfortable sensation, what we can do to halt their progress, and how contagious they really are (less than you probably think). Today, the
Ep 158 Scarlet Fever: You’ve changed
A mere 150 years ago, uttering the words “scarlet fever” was enough to strike fear into the hearts of many, especially parents of young children. For a brief period of time, this disease, caused by an infection with the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes, reigned as a leading cause of childhood death in many parts of the world. It left its mark on gravestones, in public health decre
Special Episode: Dr. Emily Monosson & Blight
We really don’t give fungi the credit they deserve. Over the years of this podcast, we’ve covered only a handful of fungal pathogens, and pathogenic fungi themselves represent a teeny tiny proportion of the incredible diversity of fungal life on this planet. But with this book club episode, we’re attempting to correct this oversight, at least a little bit. Toxicologist and scienc
