How a weird “scientific” diet fad conquered America in the early 1900s—and easily could have lost World War One for the Allies...

How the unique properties of carbon produced a 1,185-letter word...

How a bottle of prison hooch doomed the most promising candidate in history for a male birth-control pill, and why scientists still can't make one today...

https://www.patreon.com/disappearingspoon

A two-fer: (1) A bonus interview with me about the orphan vaccine episode, from a great WNYC podcast called Science Diction. (2) A short episode of Science Diction on Edward Jenner and the very first vaccines.

How the women of America, exactly 100 years ago, scrimped and saved and sacrificed to secure a vital gram of radium for their scientific hero, Marie Curie...

How the legendary Peking Man fossils from China disappeared in the 1940s, and why archaeologists think that maybe—just maybe—they now know where to find them...

How did they spread vaccines around the world in the early 1800s? By injecting orphans and forcing them onto a ship...

Why otherwise sane and rational doctors love experimenting on themselves—up to and including self-surgery...

When a crank scientist needed to get the attention of Einstein and others for his crazy physics theory, there was only one sure way he knew to get publicity: murder...

How the brilliant geek Nikola Tesla grew obsessed with an outlandish “death ray,” and the ray’s surprising connection to Donald Trump