Haileywood

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union. 

In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.  

Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.  

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Lucas Reilly
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs
Additional Editing by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editor is Josh Fisher
Research and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas Reilly
Voice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris Childs
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Hear Also...
Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the Mediocre
Noble Blood: The Ice Queen
Ridiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner

And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2011, after many delays, one of the most anticipated musicals in theater history finally opened on Broadway. The show was Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The powerhouse creative team included a MacArthur Genius and Bono. But its downfall would be long and treacherous. Here's the story of what went wrong — and why we're still pushing for a revival.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Joe Kinosian
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs
Additional Editing by Emily Marinoff
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editors are Josh Fisher and Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Joe Kinosian
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

If you're enjoying the show, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The biggest Nancy Drew mystery isn’t hidden in the plots of the books. It’s right there on the cover. If “Carolyn Keene” is a pseudonym, who really wrote the series? For 50 years, two women laid claim to that title. And in 1980, with help from an amateur detective, the truth came out in court.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Zaron Burnett
Producer, Editor, and Sound Designer is Josh Fisher
Additional Editing and Sound Design by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editor is Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Jocelyn Sears, Austin Thompson, Marisa Brown, and Zaron Burnett
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Special thanks to Elizabeth Dutton, Katie Mattie, and Josh Fisher for their elite voiceover work. And to Geoffrey Lapin and Melanie Rehak for sharing their stories. Go check out Melanie's book!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a middle-aged manual laborer goes back to school to turn his life around, he’s reborn as a college football standout. But as midlife crises go, this one is going to hurt.

(Portions of today's episode were recorded on Radio Row in Las Vegas before Super Bowl 58.) 

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Jake Rossen
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Special thanks to Aaron Kaufman and Kurt Garin!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When a teenage astronomy fan is gifted a piece of the moon by NASA, he’s inadvertently pulled into the seedy underground moonrock trade. But don’t worry. With help from H. Ross Perot, NASA secret agents are on the case.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story every week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie!” Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Jake Rossen
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by John Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Story Editing by Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Marisa Brown, Austin Thompson, and Jake Rossen
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the last day of filming in Nova Scotia, someone poisoned the cast and crew of James Cameron’s Titanic with PCP. Bedlam ensued on a tight-knit set. Everyone became a suspect. Almost three decades later, we unravel a ‘90s Hollywood mystery.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story every week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie!” Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Katie Mattie
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by John Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Research and Fact-Checking by Marisa Brown, Austin Thompson, and Katie Mattie
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, Haileywood fans! iHeartPodcasts is pleased to introduce the second installment of the "What Happened to" series, which covers the tragic story of Libby Caswell. You can expect host Melissa Jeltsen's same in-depth, thorough reporting and exceptional storytelling in each episode of "What Happened to Libby Caswell," starting on November 2nd. Here's a peek into the season, so check it out and start listening to Libby's story today!

Show Description: In 2017, Libby Caswell was found dead in a motel room in Independence, Missouri. Police quickly ruled her death a suicide. But her mother Cindy thinks she was murdered — and she believes she has proof the crime scene was staged. Award-winning investigative reporter Melissa Jeltsen dives deep into Libby’s final days, finding new evidence that unravels the official story and threatens to implicate more than just those in the motel room that day. In her search for answers, Jeltsen exposes the web of failures that left Libby vulnerable and explores how her story fits into one of America’s most deadly epidemics.

Listen to What Happened to Libby Caswell on the iHeartRadio app, or wherever you get your podcasts!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"If you open a hole on the internet," UCLA professor Sarah T. Roberts tells us, "it gets  filled with sh*t."

The tragic death of Megan Meier was a turning point for MySpace. As the first social media company to operate on a massive scale, MySpace and its users were forced to grapple with the consequences of that scale.

In this episode, Joanne is joined by Thomas Kadri of the University of Georgia School of Law to discuss how our legal system was ill-equipped to deal with the social media era. UCLA professor and author Sarah T. Roberts chronicles the early days of content moderation. And Bridget Todd and Scott Zakarin are back to talk about bullying in the MySpace era.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MySpace forever changed the way we listen to music. The social network shifted artists' relationships with their fans, and the site helped launch the careers of many huge stars, from Panic! At The Disco to Adele.

What made MySpace such an influential platform for musicians? And why did all the music disappear?

In this episode, Joanne sits down with Roslynn Alba Cobarrubias (former Head of Artist Relations at MySpace) and Josh Brooks (former VP of Programming and Music at MySpace). She also speaks to American musician Damon Krukowski (Galaxie 500, Magic Hour, Damon and Naomi), creator Scott Zakarin, and Jason Scott of the Internet Archive. You'll hear more from Jason next week.

See Also...
The MySpace Music Dragon Hoard
https://archive.org/details/myspace_dragon_hoard_2010

Damon Krukowski's Newsletter
https://dadadrummer.substack.com/

Roslynn Alba Cobarrubias
https://www.instagram.com/roslynnc

Scott Zakarin
https://www.instagram.com/scottzakarin/

Jason Scott
http://ascii.textfiles.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A contentious 1824 presidential election and accusations of a “corrupt bargain” by rival Andrew Jackson raise the stakes for John Quincy Adams as he prepares to take the office his father held just two decades earlier.

Founding Son is a Curiosity Podcast and is a co-production of iHeart Podcasts and School of Humans. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.