my favorite plague

On real life intruding on the podcast and the long, long, long history of malaria.

On ancient DNA and how plague shaped our world

On censorship and dogged determination

On riots and heroes, in the time of cholera

On the miracle of curing smallpox and how it all began

On the plague that almost wiped out the Aztecs during Spanish colonialism and that may or may not be salmonella.

On being a Mary Beard superfan and how she inspired the podcast. A special thank you to our listeners. This is an members-only episode we've made available on the regular feed.

We discuss two very different efforts to gain control of the plague and how both illustrate the dangers of living in an echo chamber.