Sprawling on the floor like a starfish beside an overwhelmed teen, staging Friday prank calls to fellow teachers, and orchestrating the chaos of a self-contained classroom with Sierra Patrick, a special ed teacher in South Carolina. What does she wish people understood about nonverbal students? And what's the most valuable piece of technology in her classroom?

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Chanting bids to whip up a bidding war, shipping $750,000 of Magic: The Gathering cards by armored car, and knowing exactly when to bring the gavel down with Joe Bodnar, an auctioneer in New Jersey. How does he separate junk from treasure? And what does it mean to "break up the pool"?

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We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Sleuthing through patient histories for the clue everyone else missed, asking patients about caves, scorpions, and shaman retreats, and sounding the alarm on a potential Ebola case with Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious disease doctor. What annoys ID doctors about the TV show House? And which infections can she diagnose by smell?

LINKS & REFERENCES

• Psittacosis is a rare bacterial infection spread from birds, explained on the CDC's psittacosis page
• A 2026 hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship killed three passengers, per this CDC health advisory.
• APOPO trains rats to sniff out tuberculosis in sputum samples. See how it works.
• Listen to Death, Sex, and Money

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We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.

Loading the mail truck before the day begins, dealing with aggressive dogs and bad weather, and keeping a neighborhood connected by showing up every day with John Ayala, a retired mail carrier in Los Angeles. How did a golf club help him deliver packages? And what does a mail carrier learn about us from our mail?

Thanks to Mike, one of our listeners, who reached out to suggest we talk with John after reading a profile of him in the LA Times.

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Digging line to redirect the country's fiercest wildland fires, sleeping in the dirt after a 16-hour day, and turning physical endurance into a public service with Ben Strahan, a hotshot crew superintendent in California. What does a wildfire sound like up close? And where does a crew go when the fire threatens to overrun them?

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Pitching airline executives during route-planning speed dates, opening a $1.7 billion new terminal, and making space for emotional airport reunions with Christina Cassotis, CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport. Why does she have a beekeeper on contract? And what did a missing freight elevator teach her about leadership?

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Designing runways for hot air and heavy planes, inspecting pavement cracks with measuring wheels, and protecting vicious little owls from construction crews with Eileen Vélez-Vega, a civil aviation engineer in Puerto Rico. What does the color of runway lights reveal to a pilot? And what's a "spall"?

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Sequencing departures like a moving puzzle, scrambling when a jet takes off without clearance, and catching what radar misses with a glance out the window with Michael Rejent, an air traffic controller. What does "tally ho" mean to a pilot? What phrase makes every controller in the cab look up?

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WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

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Hugging a mother through an anxiety attack, bidding for the best routes, and absorbing strangers' confessions at 35,000 feet with Linda Beall, a flight attendant. What does it mean when the cabin bells ring three or four times? And what makes a trip a “dog”?

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Shooting cat-three landings in the fog, using the “voice of God” on unruly passengers, and declaring Mayday after an engine fire with Paul Drusch, a commercial airline pilot. Why does the pilot’s paycheck start with the parking brake? And what does “sterile cockpit” mean? (Spoiler: it doesn’t mean “clean.”)

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WANT TO BE ON THE SHOW? Leave us a voicemail at (919) 213-0456. We’ll ask you to answer two questions:

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We can’t respond to every message, but we do listen to all of them! We’ll follow up if it's a good fit.