Challenging our assumptions on toxins

What’s more terrifying than the true life tales of bloodcurdling and breathstopping toxins? This Hallows' Eve we're taking a page from the history books to make sense of puzzling poisons of our past and present.

Dr. Kaylee Byers speaks with Toxicologist Dr. Kimberly Garrett as they connect the dots across the globe of some of the most notorious and subtle poisonings in history. From investigating the final words of a disgraced emperor, tragic fates of conquesting explorers, wisdom from whimsical alchemists and desperate Victorian candy maker ploys, they demystify the distinction between necessary warning labels to lifelines concocted with a drop of poison.

In these ghoulish stories, a healthy dose of information could be a lifesaver.

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Highlights:

(08:46) - Origins of 'the dose Makes the poison', a sometimes right alchemist

(20:30) - A deathly candy maker on hallows eve

(23:28) - Toxins in the water, understanding PFAS

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Learn-A-Long:  https://bit.ly/47ub5Qo

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Resources:

Was Napolean Poisoned? | American Museum of Natural History

A Visit to Longwood | Napoleon.org

Pick Your Poison - 12 Toxic Tales | National Geographic

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Safe Shellfish | Fisheries Research Board of Canada

Unprecedented toxic algal blooms impact on Tasmanian seafood industry

Paracelsus, the Alchemist Who Wed Medicine to Magic | Science History Institute

“The Dose Makes the Poison” | Chemical Safety Facts

Everyday Toxicology – The dose makes the poison & the cure | Michigan State University

Box Jellyfish | National Geographic

Phylogenetic and Selection Analysis of an Expanded Family of Putatively Pore-Forming Jellyfish Toxins (Cnidaria: Medusozoa) | Genome Biology and Evolution

Following Lewis and Clark’s Trail of Mercurial Laxatives | Discover

How Tainted Treats Led to a Halloween Tragedy in 1858 | Atlas Obscura

Multi- and Transgenerational Effects of Developmental Exposure to Environmental Levels of PFAS and PFAS Mixture in Zebrafish (Danio rerio) | Toxics

PFAS Resources | PFAS Exchange

PFAS Free Producsts| PFAS Central

The US National Institutes of Health's searchable chemical database | PubChem

Improving governance of “forever chemicals” in the US and beyond | One Earth

Arsenic Exposure and Toxicology: A Historical Perspective | Society of Toxicology

The gastric disease of Napoleon Bonaparte: brief report for the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death on St. Helena in 1821 | Virchows Archiv

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Credit:

Bonapartes Retreat - Kay Starr - Pee Wee King | Capitol

Rule, Britannia - Royal Choral Society - The Philharmonia Orchestra | His Master’s Voice