This story originally aired on Janary 5, 2019. When someone eats something that gives them food poisoning, they probably know it when it hits them. It usually comes with stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. The lingering effects can result in a short-term lack of appetite, and perhaps the desire to avoid eating the type of food that made them sick in the first place. Typically, everything returns to normal after a while. But for Kacie Rahm, her bout with food poisoning had some long-term

This story originally aired on Janary 5, 2019. Eating an egg and a banana at the same time can kill you . Some lady found a fried rat in her bucket of chicken. That scone contains the anal secretions of beavers . Wait — did you “Snopes” that?

Our latest Sound Effect theme is “Friend or Foe.” First, we hear how artists took over a business group and changed Camano Island. Then, we meet an ex-Army Ranger whose flip-flop business is an olive branch for peace . We dive into the epic life of Sidney Rittenberg , a "towering historical figure" who settled near Tacoma. We learn about the ups and downs of having someone else’s DNA . And one woman shares how a bad fortune telling session led to a new outlook on life — and some payback.

Sidney Rittenberg was a singular figure — an American who was a close associate of Mao Zedong, who held high-ranking positions in the Chinese Communist Party, who was on the inside during some of the most important events of the 20th century. And Gregory Youtz was meeting him for lunch. “Well I was quit e nervous,” said Youtz, a professor of music and a China scholar at Pacific Lutheran University. “Here’s this historical figure. I had read his book before I’d met him. So I was aware of what a

Not all of the cells in your body actually belong to you. Some cells might be from your mother, passed to you from when you were in utero. If you had children, their cells passed into your body the same way. Researchers say that this can sometimes even be true for women who have a miscarriage in the second trimester or later, or who decided to terminate a pregnancy. This phenomenon is called microchimerism. So, what are these cells doing in our bodies? Scientists are just scratching the surface

The Rev. Chumleigh wasn’t exactly a regular at meetings of the Camano Island Chamber of Commerce. He’s a vaudeville entertainer who, at various times, has been known to walk tightropes, eat fire and get shot out of cannons. He’s also an irascible political lefty — in short, an odd fit for the business group. “The meeting was only attended by a couple of people,” said Chumleigh, whose given name is Michael Mielnik. “This chamber was largely consisting of people with little businesses that wanted

Back in the late 80s Melissa Reaves was all smiles. She was getting ready to move from Michigan to San Diego, where she could enjoy the sunshine and palm trees, and she had what she thought was a really wonderful boyfriend named Bill. But when it was time to move, Bill was a no-show. “He totally ghosted me. He completely dumped me on the day that I was moving into this new apartment. So I was really upset. And I remember that little voice in my head said ‘Girl you got it. Don’t worry about it.

Matthew "Griff" Griffin did four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan as an elite fighter with the Army Rangers. While there, he observed a kind of vicious cycle. Extreme poverty creates a breeding ground for extremism. War happens. War provides a kind of economic stimulus. War ends; the economic stimulus does, too. Things fall apart. The problem pained him, but he wasn't sure how to fix it. It was only after his service ended that Griffin struck upon an idea: Combat Flip Flops . The idea was

As soon as Daniel Lyon jumped out of the wrecked fire engine in Twisp, he was burning alive. “It was the loudest, brightest thing you’d ever seen,” he said of the wall of flames. “It sounded like a freight train all around you.” Lyon crawled up the ravine to the dirt road and took off running, toward the wildfire safety zone. That, he says, was the easy part.

For the latest Sound Effect, our theme is “New Year, New Me” — stories of reinvention, no matter what the calendar says. First, we meet a self-proclaimed former “couch potato” whose four-month solo hike changed how he sees the world. Then, we learn about the funk song former Mariners player Lenny Randle wrote about the Kingdome. We learn about an effort to eliminate legal debt for formerly incarcerated people. We meet a basketball player who made the unexpected leap to man of God . And finally,