This is episode three of Swimming with Shadows: A Radiolab Week of Sharks.

Today, we take a trip across the world, from the south coast of Australia to … Wisconsin. Here, scientists are scouring shark blood to find one of nature’s hidden keys, a molecular superhero that might unlock our ability to cure cancer: shark antibodies. They’re small. They’re flexible. And they can fit into nooks and crannies on tumors that our antibodies can’t.

We journey back 500 million years to the moment sharks got these special powers and head to the underground labs transforming these monsters into healers. Can these animals we fear so much actually save us? 

Special thanks to Mike Criscitiello, David Schatz, Mary Rose Madden, Ryan Ogilvie, Margot Wohl, Sofi LaLonde, and Isabelle Bérubé.

EPISODE CREDITS: 
Reported by - Becca Bressler
Produced by - Becca Bressler and Matt Kielty
Original music from - Matt Kielty and Jeremy Bloom
Sound design contributed by - Matt Kielty, Jeremy Bloom, and Becca Bressler
with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom
Fact-checking by - Diane Kelly
and Edited by  - Pat Walters

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Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.