This Podcast Will Kill You

The roots of the inequities we see in our modern mental health system can be traced back decades, to the earliest psychiatric hospitals founded on racist notions of mental illness. This week's book club features @ahylton26.bsky.social and her book Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum.

Today's episode is all about newborn screening - from its serendipitous origins, to what the process looks like from a parent’s perspective, and how cutting-edge technology could revolutionize these programs. We even brought on an expert guest to walk us through the future of newborn screening!

Yeast infections! We've all had them (er, around 75% of us probably have), but what really are they, where do they come from, and why are they so hard to get rid of? All this and then some on today's episode featuring Candida!

On this week's book club Erin chats with the one and only @maryroach.bsky.social about book Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, available TODAY! As with any Mary Roach production, this is the perfect combination of informative, fascinating, and fun. Tune in today!

Last ep, we took you through all the ways that cold can harm us. Ending the story there would be skipping over the parts where cold is the hero, rather than the villain. In the second of this frosty miniseries, we explore situations in which we might use cold to protect us and how it actually
works.

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. In this episode: the long and grim history of
hypothermia in war, what exactly happens inside your body when your temperature drops, and more!

On this week's TPWKY Book Club episode, Erin interviews author Lina Zeldovich about her book The Living Medicine, which takes readers through the incredible and long-forgotten story of phage therapy and the doctors who developed it. You don't want to miss this one!

In December of 1952, a thick, noxious smog surrounded the entire city of London for days on end. What led to such conditions? What was in the smog to make it so toxic? And how did this pollution event lead to massive changes in air quality regulations around the world? Tune in for all this and more.

YOUR GALLBLADDER! What is it? Do you still have yours? How can you live without it? Also - what the heck is bile? And what does it have to do with the humoral theory of medicine? All this and literally so much more on this week's episode!

In this week’s TPWKY book club episode, renowned science writer and journalist Carl Zimmer discusses his latest book Airborne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, which uncovers the long-forgotten story of an entire field of study - aerobiology. Tune in for a fascinating conversation!

😍 This is one of the best compliments we could ever receive! Radiolab is one of the podcasts that got us into podcasting!!

Last week, we took you on a journey of discovery, and today we’re gonna tell you how the heck it all works. The discourse surrounding SSRIs is complicated and contradictory, and this episode provides lots of answers and some terrible baseball metaphors to help you make sense of SSRIs.

This week and next, we tell the story of SSRIs in two parts. In part 1 we explore the origins antidepressants, a surprising journey that takes us back millions of years and across the animal kingdom, and one that proves that John Green was right - everything truly is tuberculosis. Tune in now!

Our first ever fiction book, Wendy Chin-Tanner's King of the Armadillos tells the story of a young man sent to a federal treatment facility after a diagnosis of Hansen’s disease (aka leprosy). Listen now to hear about about the writing process, and how her father’s life provided the story's basis.

PCOS or polycystic ovarian syndrome is, frankly, a poorly named disorder. So what is PCOS, really, and what can it teach us about our understanding of health and disease and our assumptions about sex and gender? Tune in to this week's episode to find out!

Do you miss purple ketchup? Or do you shiver when you remember that pink and blue "butter" was once a thing? Today we regale you with the story of food dyes! What the heck are they, why do we use them, are they really a problem and why?! All this and literally so much more on this week's episode!

In this week's Book Club episode, Erin Welsh sat down with Dr Steven Mithen to talk about how the heck we can even talk to each other! In his latest book, The Language Puzzle, he details the evolution of language, from the earliest sounds and gestures to the multitude of languages we use today.

Last week we took you through the history of fluoridation (and the anti-fluoridation movement). This week we get deep into dental caries and how fluoride works to protect our teeth, as well as what potential health risks may exist with fluoride exposure.

Fluoride continues to make headlines, but as always with controversial topics in science and medicine, this is nothing new. On today's episode, we take you through the history of fluoride and its introduction into community water sources - 80 years ago. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss part 2!

For this week's book club, Erin Welsh sat down with historian of medicine, professor, and author Dr. Wendy Kline to chat about her book, Exposed: the hidden history of the pelvic exam. From its dark origins to its current reclamation, this episode has it all!

Toxic Shock Syndrome - a name that likely lives in infamy in so many of our heads because of its association with tampons. But what really is it? What's making us sick and why are tampons so much to blame - or are they?

Image from Science History Institute Museum and Library Digital Collections.

This week we've got a little detour from all the debunking to bring you what feels like a classic topic... strychnine! Now used as a rat poison, this toxic plant-based compound was once a ubiquitous part of Victorian medicine, and a particularly horrific choice of murder weapon. Tune in now!

Measles is still making headlines as outbreaks in the US continue to grow. Erin sat down with Dr. Adam Ratner about his new book, Booster Shots. This book lays out the history of measles, its vaccine, why measles is so terrifying, and provides a roadmap for where to go from here. Tune in now!

Part 2 of raw milk! Today we get into the alleged health claims we've all seen circulating our social media feeds and contrast the (lack of) data to support these claims with the very real data on the risks of raw milk. If you've been searching for a deep dive, oh wow, you are going to love this.

Seriously though, what's the deal with raw milk? Why is everyone talking about it? Join us for part 1 of our two part series where we, too, talk about it. This week we dive into what the world looked like before pasteurization, how it came to be, and the growth of the anti-pasteurization movement.

It's time for the first #BOOKCLUB of the season! Erin Welsh sat down with the one and only @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social to talk about his latest book, Everything is Tuberculosis. Tune in for a tour through the history of tuberculosis and a reminder that investing in public health saves lives

So now you know what the childhood vaccine schedule protects us from, but you’ve still got questions - we’ve got answers. Tune in to learn who makes the schedule, how they make their decision, and why the US schedule looks different than other countries!
Image : Science Museum of London

Oh my gosh this is so thrilling!! I LOVED your book and it truly was so so fascinating (bringing up the total to at least 2 fascinatings) and everyone should read it!!

We're back with season 8! Already! We've got a big season planned but first up is a two-parter on childhood vaccines. What's included in the schedule and what diseases are we protecting against? Tune in now for all the details!
Image from Science Museum of London.

It's no April Fools joke... the final episode of our pregnancy series AND seventh season is HERE! Today we talk all about the Fourth Trimester - what is it, how has it changed as we've moved from home to hospital, and how can we improve our current reality? Tune in now all this and so much more!