In the early 1900s, an eccentric fitness guru named Bernarr Macfadden discovered what he believed was a treatment for everything: fasting. In this episode, how Macfadden’s miracle cure got big, was forgotten and came back nearly a century later.

We’re often taught that sex can come with consequences. But is our fear of these risks making us alienate and punish people with sexually transmitted disease?

The new “female Viagra” has been underwhelming. But researcher Nicole Prause is on a mission to find out what it takes for women to have better sex.

Jaime Lowe started taking lithium when she was 17, after a manic episode landed her in a psychiatric ward. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, andor more than 20 years, the drug has been her near-constant companion.

“It’s hard to know if lithium is actually -- like, if it dampens my personality, or if it normalizes my personality, or if it allows me to just sort of be who I am,” she says.

But now the drug that keeps Jaime sane is also making her sick. She faces a choice that’s not much of choice at all: an eventual kidney transplant, or giving up the drug.

A neuropsychologist and an opera singer have teamed up to create a form of vocal training for people on the autism spectrum. So far they’ve had success, but what does it mean for the patients who have to change and conform just to fit in?

Peter Grinspoon spent years addicted to painkillers – as a successful physician who also prescribed them. He kept his addiction secret and often shared pills with his patients, until he was caught. In this episode, the author of “Free Refills” talks about his lifelong infatuation with drugs, and his eventual recovery.

Calories, the longstanding building blocks of a diet, can be sneaky. It turns out that measuring what we eat through these units of energy isn’t as foolproof as we thought. We team up with the podcast Gastropod to find out the truth about calories, and how to burn them.

Dr. Willie Parker, a devout Christian, refused to perform abortions early in his career. Now he travels across conservative states like Alabama and Mississippi, amid threats and criticism, providing safe abortions for women. Parker talks about the Martin Luther King Jr. speech that changed his mind, and his work.

An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease had New Yorkers panicking last summer. We go behind the scenes to find out how the city stopped a deadly bacteria that claimed 16 lives, and left more than a hundred people sick.

Ever since Susannah Ludwig was born without an esophagus, her life has been a series of medical experiments. In this episode, the Academy Award-nominated movie producer talks about the uncertainty of living with a rare condition, and the optimism that moves her forward.