In World War II, men were starved for a year and a half to see how starvation affects the body. The impetus was that by the end of the war, one of the biggest problems,. the most important problems, was to be a good person. So they were trying to answer that question with some, or at least get some information about that.
Author, psychologist and professional poker player Maria Konnikova joins the show as Revisionist History’s first ombudsman. Maria advocates for the audience, reading letters from listeners and challenging Malcolm on matters great and small. They discuss how iodized salt is changing lives, the ethics of the Minnesota starvation experiments, and the ever-changing guidance around drinking alcohol. If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts, be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.
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