Everyone knows the story of Phineas Gage, the young man who had a tamping iron shot through his brain in a freak accident and miraculously survived, only to have extreme personality changes. But the true story is far more complex -- and more interesting. In Episode 16 of Bedside Rounds, I revisit the primary sources on Gage's injury, delve into modern research into what actually happened, and take a field trip to visit the man himself.

Understanding statistics has never been more important for the practice of medicine. Unfortunately, innumeracy plagues the medical field. Listen to Episode 15 of Bedside Rounds to learn more, and maybe find a way out of this statistical morass with this one weird trick...

The Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) is the gold standard for how we know something works in the world of medicine. But how did we get to this point? The answer involves vegetarians and orange juice, spans two thousand years, and stretches from ancient Babylon to the high seas of the British Empire and back to America. Find all these answers (and more!) in Episode 14 of Bedside Rounds -- the First Trial!

Doctors recite an oath, often the Hippocratic Oath, when they graduate medical school, swearing to serve their patients and to do no harm. The common perception is that physicians have sworn an oath for thousands of years, leading back to Hippocrates. But the origins are far more modern and buried in the greatest atrocity of the twentieth century. Learn more in Episode 13 of Bedside Rounds!

Pimping ain't easy, especially when it happens on rounds. Where did the peculiar medical tradition of "pimping" come from? How did it get its name? Is it even effective? And does it still have a place in modern medical education? Find out in Episode 12!

Celebrate ten episodes of Bedside Rounds with a rerecording (with new material) of the first episode, Frank's Sign! The most powerful man in the world, the Roman Emperor Hadrian, dies of a mysterious illness. Learn how the case was (sort of) cracked 2000 years later using the physical exam and just a little bit of math. If that can't get you to listen to this podcast, I don't know what will ...

On episode 10, I discuss one of the best public radio shows of all time, Car Talk, and how it's an awesome example of clinical reasoning. I also talk a little bit about how doctors learn to think like doctors. Dedicated to Tom Magliozzi, who recently died.

In the beginning of a string of podcasts about sound in medicine, Bedside Rounds goes back to the beginning, with the invention of the stethoscope by Rene Laennec. How was the stethoscope invented? What are doctors listening for when they listen to their lungs? Who was Rene Laennec? Well, learn all the answers to these questions in Episode 9 of Bedside Rounds, Laennec's Cylinder!

In Episode 8 of Bedside Rounds, we explore the mysterious world of the nocebo effect, where words can literally hurt -- or kill. It's all in the mind, right?

In Episode 7, we take you to a galaxy far, far away to explore the medicine of the best Star Wars film, the Empire Strikes Back. How close are we to replicating their medical interventions? And what can Star Wars tell us about medicine back here on Earth? This is the first in (hopefully) a series of "Medicine in Science Fiction" podcasts.