The Disappearing Spoon: a science history podcast with Sam Kean

Parasites can force animals to do nefarious things by manipulating their minds—including, uncomfortably, the minds of human beings.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In refusing to approve the drug thalidomide, FDA scientist Frances Oldham Kelsey spared thousands of babies from deadly birth defects and revolutionized drug research. But was her legacy all good?

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Japanese physicist Fusa Miyake has sparked a revolution in archaeology by studying radioactive tree rings—work that also terrifies astronomers, who fear it foretells doom for our civilization.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A woman who drowned in Paris became one of the most famous faces in the world as the model for CPR dummies, saving millions of lives and inspiring artists from Pablo Picasso to Michael Jackson—all while remaining completely unknown.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the early 1800s, the first Egyptian mummies in Europe served as a crucial test for evolution—a test that, according to people then, evolution flunked.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In the 1800s, mummies found their way into everything from fertilizer to food, and were especially prized as medicine. Mummymania was a strange time...

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

How did a man who developed a Nobel Prize–worthy idea (green-fluorescing protein, GFP) end up driving a shuttle van for a living, and missing the Prize completely? Therein lies a sad story...

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Physicist Gyorgy Hevesy had a talent for tricks and stunts—including one that prevented Nazi stormtroopers from stealing a gold Nobel Prize.

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A summer bonus episode: Russ Schnell's professors mocked him for believing that plants somehow caused hailstorms. He not only proved them wrong, but uncovered profound connections between life, earth, and the air above...

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, a look at the surprisingly important role science played in shaping—and remaking—an invasion that could have easily been a disaster...

Our Sponsors:
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON
* Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/SPOON


Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy